Maricopa City Council members tonight approved changes to the city’s code of ethics in response to a civilian’s April attack on a council member.
Only city officials may file ethics complaints starting Oct. 30, and they can do so against any other city official.
The new revisions also featured an exposition on formal reporting procedures, like how complaints may be evaluated, what disciplinary actions may be considered or the circumstances by which the city manager or city attorney may dismiss a complaint.
Councilmember Vincent Manfredi confirmed the changes were instigated by an April 23 complaint lodged against him by Province resident and known agitator Terry Clark.
Clark in a notarized complaint charged the councilmember with “bullying, name calling and calling out of people [sic.] while discussing city business.”
Clark and his wife, Becky Clark, told InMaricopa in April they felt Manfredi “needs to be more diplomatic and needs to publicly apologize” for his behaviors.
A month later, council members unanimously voted not to act on the ethics complaint, stating it was not intended to allow third parties like private residents to file ethics complaints against their elected leaders.
Tonight, they made the precedent law.
Manfredi said he agreed with this reasoning but warned that even when such codes are restricted to city officials, they are often abused.
“The code of ethics has good intentions as long as city council members are willing to use it correctly,” Manfredi said. “It’s supposed to keep each other in check and facilitate a conversation, but people use it as a political weapon against each other.”
He cited several years of infighting and ethics complaints lobbed between Gilbert Town Council members and residents. This included last year’s debacle in which at least two council members faced multiple complaints that may have cost the city thousands of dollars.
Vincent Manfredi is an owner of InMaricopa.
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