Kira Erickson reports for the South Whidbey Record from the Langley City Council meeting of Mon., Jul. 3, 2023.
Following the spread of a controversial unreleased opinion, the way ahead for the city of Langley’s citizen-led Ethics Training and Advisory Board remains unclear.
At a meeting Monday night, the city council mulled four different options for the commission, which has not met since February due to a lack of quorum of members. The council can choose to take no action, or eliminate the board altogether. Changes to city code could be made to define the board as a quasi-judicial body or, conversely, a body that is only educational in nature.
Following the legal advice of the city’s lawyer, Mayor Scott Chaplin recommended the latter option, which would focus more on hypothetical situations rather than the specific actions of individuals. He also recommended disavowing all previous opinions submitted by the board, which concern the conduct of city officials….
After completing some research, the council will discuss the issue again at a later meeting, perhaps in September.
They Said It
Councilmember Thomas Gill said he thought the Ethics Board is largely doing the job that it’s supposed to be doing. He did not feel comfortable making it a quasi-judicial body, however, or dropping it altogether. Having it as an educational organization, as the mayor has suggested, enables a code with no teeth.
The issue, Gill said, comes down to the board currently being too restrictive on membership requirements, and it is not educated to the point it needs to be to make the decisions it does. He suggested reaching out to a former council member who was around 10 years ago when the board was started to learn more about its history and why it was created in the first place.
On the Ballot in 2023
| CITY OF LANGLEY |
|---|
| City Councilmember, Position 3 Kay Kenneweg Chris Carlson Incumbent Thomas E. Gill is running for mayor. |
| City Councilmember, Position 4 Scott Chaplin Craig Cyr, the incumbent |
| Mayor Kennedy Horstman Thomas E. Gill Incumbent Scott Chaplin is running for a seat on the city council. |
