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Board of Ethics: Common Council may reimburse legal fees for respondents cleared of violations
Summary
Anne, a commenter at a Norwalk City Board of Ethics meeting, said respondents and complainants in municipal ethics proceedings may be represented by legal counsel at their own expense and that the board can recommend reimbursement of reasonable legal costs to the Common Council if a respondent is found not to have violated the code.
Anne, a commenter at a Norwalk City Board of Ethics meeting, said respondents and complainants in municipal ethics proceedings may be represented by legal counsel at their own expense and that the board can recommend reimbursement of reasonable legal costs to the Common Council if a respondent is found not to have violated the code.
Anne said, "the complainant, who's the person filing the ethics complaint, and the respondent, the person who is the subject of the ethics complaint, may be represented by legal counsel at their own expense." She also told meeting attendees, "If the hearing board finds that the respondent did not violate the code, the board of ethics may recommend to the common counsel that the respondents reasonable legal expenses be reimbursed all or in part." (The speaker referred to the municipal legislative body; this article uses the spelling "Common Council" for that body.)
According to the explanation provided at the meeting, any recommendation from the Board of Ethics to reimburse legal fees is discretionary and "subject to availability of funding." The speaker directed listeners to Chapter 32 of the Code of Ethics and to the Citizen's Guide to the Code of Ethics for more details, and said anyone with further questions should contact the Board of Ethics staff member Brian Candela.
No formal vote or action on reimbursement policy was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The meeting remarks were procedural and informational: they describe (1) who may be represented by counsel, (2) the Board of Ethics' ability to recommend reimbursement when a respondent is cleared, and (3) that final reimbursement rests with the Common Council and available budgetary resources.
The transcript did not specify monetary limits, criteria for what counts as "reasonable" legal expenses, or examples of prior reimbursements. The Board of Ethics' referenced source is Chapter 32 of the Norwalk Code of Ethics; the speaker also cited the Citizen's Guide to the Code of Ethics as additional material.
