§ 16-8. Board
established.
There is
hereby established a Board of Ethics consisting of three members to be
appointed by the Mayor and who shall serve without compensation and at the
pleasure of the Board of Trustees. A majority of such members shall be persons
other than officers or employees of the Village of New York Mills, but shall
include at least one member who is an elected or appointed officer or employee
of the Village of New York Mills.
§ 16-9. Powers and
duties.
The Board of
Ethics shall have the powers and duties prescribed by Article 18 of the General
Municipal Law and shall render advisory opinions to the officers and employees
of the Village of New York Mills with respect to Article Eighteen of the
General Municipal Law and any Code of Ethics adopted pursuant to such article,
under such rules and regulations as the Board may prescribe. In addition, the
Board may make recommendations with respect to the drafting and adoption of a
Code of Ethics or amendments thereto upon request of the Board of
Trustees.
§ 16-10. Limitations on
requests for opinions.
Board of
Ethics may adopt rules and regulations relative to the conduct of its business
but may only render advisory opinions subject to these limitations:
A. Requests
for opinions shall be in writing.
B. Requests
or inquiries must originate with a municipal officer or employee.
C. Requests
or inquiries must relate to the conflict of interest law or a Code of
Ethics.
D. A
county board may not act with respect to a request from any municipality within
the county having its own Board of Ethics except at the request of that
board.
§ 16-11. Opinions to be
advisory only.
It should be
noted that the law defined and qualifies any opinion rendered by a board of
ethics as "advisory" and hence not a binding determination. This is
no way minimizes the importance or potential impact of the opinion. The opinion
may have an extraordinary effect on the persons involved or may be the subject
of inordinate public attention and therefor in all instances, must be regarded
as a decision made by an impartial and objective group which has acted only
after thorough study of the law, the facts and other evidence, including
testimony when necessary of a potential violator. Board members should be
mindful that the law authorizing Boards of Ethics has as its objective "to
protect innocent public officers from unwarranted attacks on their
integrity."
§ 16-12. Rules and
regulations.
Rules and
regulations should be adopted to govern the conduct of meetings of a Board.
These may include the following:
A. The
selection and terms of office of a Chairman and secretary and such other
officers are deemed necessary if such designations have not been made by the
governing board.
B. The
number of Board members constituting a quorum.
C. The
number of Board members necessarily in affirmative agreement to render an
opinion.
D. The
form and content of records of proceedings and other Board records.
E. The
form and content of requests for opinions which may include indication that
certain municipal officials or employees have been advised of such
request.
F. The
form and content of opinions to include:
(1) A
full statement of facts;
(2) A
full statement of pertinent law and/or or a Code of Ethics; and
(3) A
conclusion.
G. Distribution
of opinions.
