Frostburg City ethics committee reviews disclosure forms for elected officials and senior staff, finds no concerns

The Frostburg City Ethics Committee met to conduct its annual review of disclosure forms for elected officials and senior staff and voted to record no committee concerns after reviewing the submitted forms.

The committee’s chair, Jesse Ketterman, opened the session by saying, “This is our annual meeting for the ethics committee, and what we are gonna be doing is reviewing the elected officials and the senior staff.” The committee then reviewed each disclosure packet in sequence and discussed whether outside affiliations were consistently reported.

Committee members said several disclosure forms left the ‘‘outside affiliations’’ or ‘‘involvement’’ field blank even though other filers listed organizations and directorships. Members discussed whether filers received uniform guidance on how to complete the form and agreed the committee should ask filers to use an explicit ‘‘None’’ or ‘‘N/A’’ option when no outside positions apply. Chair Jesse Ketterman said the committee would assume forms are accurate unless new information arises that requires reconvening.

Lydia Flar, who identified herself as acting deputy city administrator and project manager for Frostburg City, described her duties to the committee: “I was initially hired to manage the American Rescue Plan Act funding. So primarily, I was in charge of projects that involve that funding.” The committee reviewed Ms. Flar’s form and other senior staff packets during the same session.

Members also sought clarification on specific items in several filings. In one instance the committee asked about a ‘‘remainderman interest’’ listed on a spouse’s property record; the definition was read during the meeting as “A person who inherits or is entitled to inherit property upon the termination of the estate of the former owner.”

After reviewing the elected officials’ packets, a motion was made and seconded to record that the committee found no conflicts or concerns evident from the submitted forms. The motion was moved and seconded; the meeting record shows members responded in the affirmative and the committee proceeded to review senior staff. Following the senior staff review, the committee again moved and seconded a motion recording no committee concerns and the chair called for a vote; the meeting transcript records members saying “Aye.” No roll-call votes or member-by-member tallies were recorded in the transcript.

The committee recorded two formal outcomes: a motion to find no concerns with elected officials’ disclosure forms and a motion to find no concerns with senior staff disclosure forms. Members noted the inconsistent completion of the outside affiliations field and asked staff to add clearer instructions for future filings so that filers either list affiliations or explicitly indicate none.

The committee adjourned after the votes.

Questions and directions recorded during the meeting were limited to internal clarifications and administrative follow-up; no disciplinary actions, referrals, or legal findings were taken or issued during the session.