Gardner Proposes Ethics Ordinance

Fulfilling a campaign promise to restore trust in local government, Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner today announced proposed revisions to the county Ethics Ordinance. Her proposals include making it a conflict of interest for an elected official, a qualified relative of an elected official or a covered business entity to enter into a contract with the county. It would also be a conflict of interest for the county to knowingly enter into a contract for a county-funded capital project where one of those persons or entities is a subcontractor. In addition, the changes would include reinstating penalties for conflict of interest violations. The limitation for county-funded capital projects only applies for subcontractors. The provision for contractors applies to any county contracts.

Executive Gardner said, “After receiving public feedback and reviewing recent recommendations of the
Ethics Task Force, I am pleased to submit my proposed changes to the Frederick County Ethics Ordinance that I feel will go a long way in restoring citizen trust in county government. I believe that elected officials should be held to a high standard of conduct and that citizens should be confident that elected officials are making decisions in the best interest of the public good. Today, I took the next step toward revising the ordinance and am confident that the County Council will also see the need to adopt these changes to the Ethics Ordinance.”

Proposed changes to the ordinance include:

• Reinstating language from the prior ordinance making a violation of the conflict of interest, financial
  disclosure and lobbying provisions a misdemeanor subject to a fine of up to $1,000 or imprisonment of
  up to six months or both.
• Increasing the size of the Ethics Commission from five to seven members and providing for a two consecutive term limit.
• Requiring the Ethics Commission’s procedures to include a process for reconsidering advisory opinions.
• Giving the Ethics Commission power to administer oaths, issue subpoenas and provide for judicial
  enforcement of subpoenas.
• Adding a requirement that the name of a person found to have violated the ethics law be included in the
  commission’s written decision.
• Adding a section prohibiting retaliation against a complainant, a representative or a witness, except
  where one of these persons knowingly makes a false report or provides false information.

There are other minor revisions to the ordinance that will be proposed, such as changing “Ethics Ordinance” to “Ethics Law,” and removing references to “County Commissioners.”

The statement of purpose for the Ethics Ordinance clearly summarizes the importance for such standards
of conduct: “Frederick County, recognizing that our system of representative government is dependent in part
upon the people maintaining the highest trust in their public officials and employees, finds and declares that the people have a right to be assured that the impartiality and independent judgment of public officials and
employees will be maintained. It is evident that this confidence and trust is eroded when the conduct of the
county’s business is subject to improper influence and even the appearance of improper influence. For the
purpose of guarding against improper influence, the county governing body enacts this law to set minimum
standards for the conduct of county business.”

The Frederick County Council will consider the proposed revisions at an upcoming public session and
then there will be a public hearing.

For more information, contact Senior Assistant County Attorney Linda Thall at 301-600-1030 or via email
at lthall@FrederickCountyMD.gov.