Detroit Board of Ethics asks council for recurring funding, staff and independent counsel; council approves executive session on staffing

Crystal Phillips, executive director of the Detroit Board of Ethics, told the Detroit City Council that the board is seeking recurring funds to support a new learning management system and additional staff to carry out oversight of the city’s roughly 10,000 public servants.

The request includes a $95,000 recurring annual cost for the learning management system and $85,640 to hire two part‑time workers — a part‑time investigator and a part‑time marketing/outreach coordinator — for a supplemental total of $180,640 that would raise the board’s annual budget from a baseline request of $591,477 to $772,047. Phillips also described a proportional‑funding proposal the board has prepared that would total $1,383,664 and would fund three additional full‑time positions, including an in‑house attorney/independent counsel if proportional funding is adopted.

The board emphasized workload and timeliness metrics in explaining the request. Phillips said the board received a record 108 disclosures after working with the mayor’s office in 2024, compared with three disclosures in 2022 and 15 in 2023. She reported the board addressed requests for advisory opinions in an average of 44.2 days, sent opinions an average of 6.59 days after a board meeting, handled complaints in an average of 50.5 days and completed investigations in an average of…