The Metro Council will take a final vote on an extension of its ethics code next week, to apply it to all Metro employees.
The state legislature passed a bill last year requiring all local governments to craft ethics laws and apply them to employees by June 30th of this year.
Council members have already been operating under ethics legislation since 2005, but this is the first time Metro department heads, who are appointed, and other elected officials such as the mayor or judges will have to file financial disclosure forms to the city.
Members of boards and commissions, as well as regular metro employees won’t have to provide the information on personal or a spouse’s income. But sponsor Erik Cole says they will be subject to other provisions in the legislation.
“This is one that I think the personnel folks will have a challenge, you know, telling them about is the meal ban. To me it was problematic to extend the meal ban to the entire government. But that was the will of the Council and after working with my colleagues, I agreed that I would go with the will of the council.”
The meal ban prevents employees from accepting a meal from any person or entity with business before the government. Cole is concerned that it will be hard to administer.