Paris ethics policy sent for do-over

PARIS — Selectmen in Paris applauded the creation of a town ethics policy Monday, but that didn’t stop them from sending it back for revision.

The policy was proposed by the Rev. Anne Stanley last year during the sometimes bitter back-and-forth between factions in Paris that were squared off over the town’s subdivision ordinance.

Stanley has stated in past interviews her belief that an ethics policy might have helped to stave off much of last year’s controversies, which culminated in a lawsuit pressed and later dropped by Bob Moorehead, in which he charged two selectmen of voting with bias and failing to disclose potential conflicts of interest.

Stanley’s first attempt to create an ethics policy was blocked by selectmen, who refused to refer the request to the town’s policy and procedures committee.  That vote was overturned following a shake-up of the selectboard as a results of elections last June.

Some of those who subsequently joined the policy committee, including its chairman, were signatories to Moorehead’s legal complaint.

As proposed, the ethics policy states that “no officer or employee shall participate in any matter in which that person has a personal or pecuniary interest which may directly or indirectly influence that person’s decision making.”

State law only limits participation in public proceedings when an elected or appointed official has at least a 10-percent ownership stake in any matter under consideration.

The local policy also prohibits town officials and employees from using public property or confidential information for personal use and from accepting gifts from people or organizations with business  before the town.

Selectman Skip Herrick questioned the applicability of the policy’s disciplinary goals in regard to town employees.

“That’s a whole different ballgame versus committee members and board members as far as dismissal,” he said.  “That’s governed by Maine labor laws that address that.”

Selectboard Chairman Ray Glover also pointed out that the policy cannot be used as a means to “remove or discharge” selectmen, because Paris has no recall ordinance.

Policy committee Chairman Jack Richardson said the policy provides only “the basis” for removal, not the mechanism.  It is up to town officials, he said, to craft methods to remove people from office, using the ethics policy as justification.

“The ethics policy does not go into the process of removal,” agreed Stanley.  “It just states that we have an ethics policy and it’s the basis for a process that is subsequent to that, by somebody else.”

Selectmen also asked that the policy and procedures committee rework a system for appointing citizens to town boards and committees.  Of particular concern, they said, was the group’s proposal for establishing terms of office for any newly created committees.

Selectmen did accept by unanimous vote a new form to be used by citizens when applying for public appointment, as well as a policy governing the “establishment and operation of boards and committees.”

That policy says all Paris boards and committees “should prepare” annual work plans to include requests for funds, a list of work it will try to accomplish that year, and “a list of issues it can safely predict will arise in the coming year.”

An annual report of accomplishments and unfinished work is to be submitted to selectmen.

The policy also requires that all committees keep written minutes of meetings, while the selectboard, planning board, board of appeals and the historic preservation commission are compelled to record their proceedings.

Paris’ policy and procedures committee meets next at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4, at the town office.