Council to re-send code-of-conduct acknowledgement ahead of November reappointments; solicitor says signing not mandatory

The council discussed a reminder and deadline for elected and appointed officials to acknowledge the town’s code of conduct.

A councilor said the code of conduct was distributed by the clerk’s office in July and requested that staff resend the acknowledgment email so members can confirm compliance before November reappointments. The sponsor asked for an October deadline to allow councilors to consider acknowledgments before deciding on reappointments.

Councilors debated whether failure to acknowledge the code should influence reappointment decisions. Several members said they would consider whether an appointee had acknowledged the code when making reappointment recommendations; others said they would not make signing a precondition. The town solicitor advised that acknowledging receipt of the code and signing to indicate agreement are different: while the council can consider acknowledgement as part of its discretion, there is no record the council adopted a requirement that signatures are a condition of service. He recommended reviewing the record of how the council adopted the code to determine whether acknowledgement was intended as mandatory.

The council agreed to have the clerk re-send the code-of-conduct acknowledgement email and to set a deadline before November reappointments. The item will inform reappointment discussions but the solicitor said that, absent a prior council vote making signing mandatory, not signing alone does not automatically disqualify a volunteer.