The Highlands Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted an updated code of conduct policy that gives the board the option to censure members who act outside the bounds of their office.
Town attorney Jay Coward presented the new code of conduct in February and after taking a month to digest the changes, mayor Pat Taylor asked the board for input.
“I have looked at some other towns’ codes of conduct and ethics statements and some require a super-majority to censure a board member and some allow for other alternatives,” Taylor said. “Some have a conflict of interest statement and recusal guidelines… There are a lot of options we can look at.”
Taylor explained that the board needed to update its code of conduct policy after it was learned that information from a closed session of the board was leaked to a business that was bidding on a town contract. The reason for the closed session was to protect the board’s attorney-client privilege with Coward.
“We received a letter from a private company stating that the town had violated its own request for proposal by voting to approve a bid that did not fit the RFP,” Taylor said. “After we conferred with our attorney, and three additional attorneys that we sought out for their opinion, it was determined that the bid in question did contain new information outside the scope of the RFP. That is why the board was asked ultimately to vote on the bid without that information included.”
Taylor noted that none of the information from the closed session was public record at the time the town received the letter, meaning it had to have been given to the competing bidder from someone privy to the closed session.
“I personally went back and re-listened to all my old radio shows, and read all my old columns in the newspaper from those months just to make sure I wasn’t the person who said anything in public that should have been kept privileged,” Taylor said. “When we go in to closed session we have to be able to talk freely with our attorney with the understanding that the information presented is between he and the board.”
Commissioner Marc Hehn noted that he was in favor of the code of conduct update and asked that future legal questions be directed to Coward prior to the board taking any action.
“I have been troubled since our December meeting when I asked our attorney for a legal clarification regarding a subdivision that I wasn’t sure fell in line with our own town policy or state statutes,” Hehn said. “That request essentially went unheard and the board voted to approve the item. We have to be more careful when we are making decisions regarding property and land use.”
Coward pointed out that the discussion in question was done in an open session of the board and in his legal opinion the board had the authority to act on the matter despite Hehn’s objection.
He reminded the board that discussions and votes taken in open session of the board are for public consumption, while information discussed in closed session is not.
“I have never seen this board come close to doing anything inappropriate in closed session, and if I did see that, it would be my duty to speak up and put a stop to it,” Coward said. “No votes are taken in closed session. All votes are cast in open session after whatever length of discussion the board feels is appropriate.”
Commissioner Donnie Calloway asked if the new policy allowed for retroactively censuring the board member who leaked the privileged information from December, should that person be made known. Coward replied that the policy would only become official once enacted by the board and thus could not be used retroactively.