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Council discusses annual employee surveys and ethics-code procedures after public comments urging transparency

3624683 · January 6, 2025

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Summary

Residents and councilmembers debated instituting regular employee surveys and revising the city ethics code after public commenters said a prior survey revealed police-department problems and that ethics procedures were inconsistently applied.

Councilmembers and residents debated whether to make employee surveys a regular practice and how to address perceived ambiguities in the city ethics code.

Sherilyn Flick, speaking during public comment, told the council she supported placing the topic of annual employee surveys on the agenda and said the survey conducted last year revealed problems that helped bring issues in the police department to light. "The employee survey has proven to be an important tool to gather information and provide useful feedback," Flick said, and she urged the council to consider making surveys an annual requirement in the city-manager’s duties so results would be timely and available to council.

Another resident who identified themselves as having observed the recent ethics hearings urged revision of the ethics code’s timelines and enforcement procedures. That speaker quoted the ethics code and procedures in detail, including section references discussed in the meeting: "Section 2-5-3 subsection (a) states the ethics commission has the authority and duty to investigate written complaints..." The speaker argued complaints were sometimes handled inconsistently and recommended the council consider outside counsel and clearer timelines for hearings and investigations.

Council discussion turned to process. Some council members favored a two-survey model (a larger annual survey plus a smaller midyear check-in administered anonymously) and suggested incorporating an expectation about employee-survey practice into the city-manager contract rather than creating an ordinance that would alter operational control. Councilmember Adam Astelphur and others said the council must avoid legislating operational personnel procedures; one council member suggested placing survey expectations in the next city-manager contract so the role’s deliverables are clear. The council directed staff to arrange for the vendor who conducted the city’s prior survey to appear at the next meeting to update council on results and recommended follow-up actions.