Tuesday, January 9, 2024–12:12 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Rome City Commission Craig McDaniel was elected Rome mayor by his fellow commissioners Monday night, and one of his first acts was to call for a review of the city’s ethics code.
The need for a new code came up during the resolution of an ethics complaint filed by a city employee against Rome City Commissioner Mark Cochran late last year.
“We’ve looked at some other communities and we’re pulling out something that has some teeth in it,” McDaniel said Monday night. “We’ve never really had a code of ethics. We’ve always had one, but it was never tested. Then it was tested this past year. What we are going to do is come up with something that will stand up to legal scrutiny from our attorneys, and get everyone on the same page. Everything we do is about how you treat people. We want to treat people in an ethical manner, and be treated that way.”
David Mecklin, one of the attorneys hired by the City of Rome for the ethics complaint, presented three proposed documents.
They included a new code of ethics, a grievance procedure, and a code of conduct for elected officials.
Mecklin also recommended a moratorium on new ethics complaints until the new ordinance can be enacted.
The ordinance suggested by Mecklin also stipulates that in the future no ethics complaints can be filed during an election campaign, adding that it’s not a good idea to allow people to use the ethics complaint system for political purposes.
