An Ethics Officer Worth Emulating

Anonymous

Thu, 01/17/2013 - 03:58

Advisory Opinions

It's rare to find a newspaper article that truly appreciates the
work a city ethics officer does. So I'm including the entire article
below. It's <a href="http://members.jacksonville.com/news/premium-news/2012-12-26/story/jack…
the Jacksonville Times-Union</a>, and Jacksonville's ethics officer happens
to be City Ethics President Carla Miller. Had it been anyone else, I
would have run the article right away. But after a couple weeks'
thought, I decided to run it as an example of what an ethics
officer can do and how the word about the value of an ethics officer's work can get out through the news media. Carla's work is definitely worth emulating.

<h1>City's Ethics Officer Working
to Head Off Potential Issues</h1>

<h2>Jacksonville ethics officer
charting way in wide-open field</h2>

<h4>It's working; more people are asking advice in advance.</h4>
 
By Steve Patterson Wed, Dec 26,
2012 @ 7:04 pm 
 
In November the Florida Commission on Ethics
lawyers offered an opinion on Jacksonville Councilman Matt
Schellenberg. Inwardly, Carla Miller cheered.
Miller, the city’s ethics director, didn’t whoop
over the ruling, which carefully parsed whether a politician could
buy a poker party at a charity auction if he had previously voted
on a rezoning the poker room sought.
She celebrated because Schellenberg had asked.
“That’s what I’ve encouraged. If you have a
question, give me a call,” said Miller, an attorney the
Jacksonville Ethics Commission chose a year ago to head the office
of ethics, compliance and oversight.
A mayoral appointee for more than a decade before,
since last December Miller has defined a new role as the city’s
first ethics officer whose post is independent of mayoral
politics.
Part of that role has been stressing the chance to
work through ethical issues before they become problems, rather
than waiting for an action that could lead to a fine or other
repercussions.
“It’s been a very big switch this year in that more
people are asking me questions and more is being handled in
advance,” Miller said. 
“… That’s probably the biggest role of my office
now, giving people advice on which way to go in advance.”
There have been a lot of roles.
Miller said she’ll ask ethics commissioners next
month whether they want her to focus on select areas. She’s locked
into the job for a three-year term unless the nine-member ethics
commission votes to remove her “for cause,” which would mean
publicly hashing out some way Miller had brought discredit to the
post.
But for the first part of that term, the
$75,000-a-year part-time job meant keeping a lot of balls in the
air.
An ethics phone line Miller staffs has fielded 337
calls this year, all but about 30 coming after the City Council
confirmed the commission appointment in March.
There were 18 formal complaints people filed to the
commission, most already dismissed but a few still being processed
through different stages of review. No one has faced discipline
from the commission.
There were also 54 questions or requests for advice
on topics like lobbying or political activity, city workers
holding outside jobs, financial disclosure rules, city email and
tickets to Jaguars games.
Schellenberg’s question was part of that list.
The first-term councilman went to an auction run by
the Mandarin Rotary Club and paid $250 for a 25-person party at
bestbet Jacksonville, a poker room in the Regency area.
The party’s face value was $500, and Schellenberg
asked Miller in September whether state law required him to report
the cut-rate purchase as a gift.
Getting the answer right mattered more because the
year before, Schellenberg had voted (with 13 other council
members) for a rezoning that allowed full liquor sales at the
poker room, which some neighborhood figures had deeply opposed.
Miller forwarded the question to the Florida
Commission on Ethics — it involved a state law — and told
Schellenberg any questions the commission staff raised.
The commission lawyers concluded there was no
ethics violation, as neither the poker room nor the Rotary
controlled the auction outcome. But Schellenberg would have to
report the difference between the auction price and the face price
as a gift from the Rotary on his next gift disclosure. The state
commission members weren’t certain the matter needed to be
reported even as a gift and decided to discuss it further in
January, but agreed there was no violation.
Being able to ask before it became a political
headache helped, Schellenberg said.
“I think it’s great we have one person we can go
to,” he said.
He said council members have asked Miller this year
about rules for handling gift tickets to football games and to the
Georgetown-Florida college basketball game held aboard an aircraft
carrier during the city’s Week of Valor celebration.
Those subjects are pretty straightforward compared
to a small but growing stack of topics where Miller has opened
reviews on issues that spill across multiple agencies.
The city’s police and fire pension fund, facility
management contracts and texting on city-owned cellphones are
among about 15 subjects where Miller has asked questions she said
an inspector general would normally pursue — if the city hadn’t
closed its inspector general office in late 2011.
Miller has recruited volunteers — a retired FBI
agent and a government contracting specialist — to help cover more
ground.
She’s getting some accolades so far.
“The city could not have a better ethics officer
than Carla Miller,” said Cole Cartledge, a government contracting
lawyer and former city department director who helps Miller review
procurement issues.
“She’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but also
incredibly diligent,” Cartledge said. “She does it in a professional
and nice way, but she doesn’t back down when she sees things that
are wrong.”

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