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Mayor Shirley Lee Harris says ethics panel hasn’t convened because nominees weren’t brought forward
Summary
Mayor Shirley Lee Harris told the subcommittee that a year-long slate of ethics reforms was developed but never presented to the commission; she said nominees the administration proposed to fill the Ethics Commission were not heard by the commission, and she supports reducing the commission’s size and diversifying membership.
Mayor Shirley Lee Harris told the CEP subcommittee she and her administration spent more than a year reviewing and revising the county ethics chapter and assembled a slate of reforms, but the proposal was not taken up by the commission previously. She described outreach to ethics experts and meetings with commissioners during that review and said she would be willing to bring the reforms to the commission now if the body wants to consider them.
On why the Ethics Commission has not met, the mayor said the administration has not been allowed to bring nominees to the commission for consideration. "The reason why the Ethics Commission doesn't meet is because the administration has not been allowed heretofore to bring nominees," she said, and she noted proposals such as removing a requirement that members be lawyers or retired judges and reducing the panel size from 13 to seven as possible improvements.
