Charter panel tightens ethics rules, creates municipal ethics office and clarifies enforcement

The Charter Revision Commission on a motion adopted several substantive changes to the City of Bridgeport’s proposed ethics chapter, moving language into a prominent position in the charter and directing the new Office of Municipal Ethics to ensure officials and employees receive the city’s ethics ordinance and related policies.

The commission voted to move the opening sentence requiring the City Council to enact a code of ethics by ordinance into the chapter’s lead paragraph and approved a provision that "the Office of Municipal Ethics shall ensure all public officials and employees of the city receive copies of the ethics ordinance and policies enacted hereunder upon commencement of their public service and or employment and regularly thereafter," language read and proposed during the meeting by a committee member (speaker 7). That motion carried after discussion about implementation details and who would actually deliver materials.

Why it matters: the changes place duties and basic powers for an ethics oversight body into the charter rather than leaving all implementation details to later ordinance. Commission members said they expect the commission and its director to handle operational matters, but they wanted the charter to require distribution, acknowledgement, and recurring…