Mount Pleasant could institute ethics policy

A city-wide ethics policy could take effect in Mount Pleasant as early as next month.

City and Planning Commissioners discussed last week the possibility of an ethics policy for city officials. A preliminary draft of the policy calls for all commissioners — elected and appointed — and city staff members to excuse themselves from decisions where they or a family member could benefit financially, or that person’s company would benefit.

Vice Mayor Bruce Kilmer and Commissioner Kathy Ling were appointed to a two-person ethics committee, Mayor Jim Holton said.

“(Kilmer’s) goal… is to come up with something that will work,” he said. “I think there’s a mix on the commission.”

Holton said commissioners looked at other cities with ethics policies to gather ideas. The structure of Kalamazoo’s policy, he said, was attractive for use in Mount Pleasant.

“It was simple, yet effective,” he said. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

The committee will consist of just Kilmer and Ling, Holton said, because he would like to present another draft to the Planning Commission, which took a first look at the draft at a meeting March 4.

Planning Commission Vice Chairman Jeff Smith, who works at Isabella Bank, said the current draft would exclude him from voting in several issues because of lending issues. Smith the current draft would have excluded him from participation in several votes the planning commission took last year.

“I would have a conflict with 15 of them,” he said.

Holton said deciding what constitutes a conflict could become difficult if not examined closely.

“Everything could be viewed as a conflict, because it is a small town,” he said. “Vice Chair Smith brought up some excellent points.”

Planning Commissioner Rick Rautanen said the broadness of the current policy may lead to problems with establishing a quorum in votes taken down the road.

“We could have two people that could vote on this,” he said, “if you stretch it out.”

Holton said the ethics policy would most likely come to a vote sometime in April, as the city is preparing to work on the 2011 budget. The commission will meet in special session to discuss the 2011 budget at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 320 W. Broadway St.