By Jason Crane
At the Aurora city government Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday, through the Zoom video conference platform, City attorney Rick Veenstra gave an update to the City’s Ethics Ordinance including the creation of an ethics hotline.
In January 2019, the City Council began to review the City’s ethics ordinance, ultimately adopting what is now Chapter 15 of the City Code in Summer 2019.
Chapter 15 contains all of the prohibitions previously contained in the Code of Ordinances as well as those previously adopted by reference.
Investigation and prosecution of complaints is handled by an independent investigator general with adjudication of violations by an independent ethics commission.
All employees and officers are required to complete ethics training annually.
Five live training sessions have been conducted since November 2019.
The new ordinance provided for an ethics adviser to answer questions from elected officials and staff members to help ensure consistency and independence in the rendering of legal opinions.
Since November 2019, the ethics adviser has issued nine opinions to City elected officials and staff.
In September 2019, the city government and DuPage County entered into an agreement to provide for fully independent enforcement of the Ethics Ordinance.
In-person ethics training will resume once it is practical to do so. If COVID-19 makes in-person training impractical, the City will revert to electronic training for all City employees.
The Law Department and the Human Resources Department will issue a joint letter to City employees regarding permissible and prohibited political activity this week in advance of the April 2021 consolidated election.
The City will promote an ethics hotline as an efficient way to report suspected allegations of misconduct.
• There were two speakers joining Nicole Mullins, Board president of Culture Stock, to make a public comment about seeking compensation for the merchandise they lost in 2018 as tenants of the City-owned property at the corner of Galena Boulevard and Water Street due to independent tests which showed elevated levels of mold.
LIFT Aurora, dba Culture Stock, is a 501c3 nonprofit that was founded in 2012 and began the mission by operating a used bookstore and community arts center in downtown Aurora until 2018.
Volunteers at Culture Stock reported feeling sick. Culture Stock had to recycle and dispose books and belongings after they said their independent test showed elevated levels of a toxic mold.
There was no response because council members aren’t permitted to respond to speakers.