National Ethics Awareness Month

With "sunshine" and profiles of "frequent FOIL-ers" ruling the recent press headlines, I thought I would make mention of another awareness campaign in the month of March. National Ethics Awareness month is an opportunity for local governments to assess the strength of their ethical cultures, codes of ethics and professional codes of employees and staff. The latter is often the toughest concept to grasp for both elected officials and the local citizenry. Residents of New York State, expectedly so, are used to politicking and partisanship in government and are often leery of ICMA member practitioners who adhere to a strict code of professional ethics. I took the accompanying picture this morning in my office. It's a framed copy of the ICMA Code of Ethics (along side a piece of artwork from my son, Christopher) and its a gentle reminder to those entering my office of my commitment to an established set of personal and professional standards for municipal managers. But ethics is more than just papers codes. It's about culture. And as ICMA.org states in an ethics piece this month, "Promoting a more ethical culture within your local government must be a priority. Maintaining public trust and confidence in what a municipality or county does on behalf of the community is essential. An ethical culture is the foundation for everything that organization says or does."