Most professions have a code of
ethics that members are held to in order to ensure the
high standards established for that profession are
maintained. We hear a lot about conflicts of
interest and ethical breaches, usually from coverage in
the press when someone gets caught in a compromising
situation, or worse, charged with a crime. Ethics
are the standards of conduct and morals we judge others
by, and by which we expect to be judged. Ethics
do not represent laws, however a flagrant abuse of
ethical practices may lead to a general disintegration
of one’s familiarity with legal behavior.
Organizations often adopt their own ethics code.
Local government management professionals have
the International City-County Management
Association’s (ICMA) checklist for guidelines to
uphold that association’s code of ethics.
Before joining any nonprofit or other civic
group, it is important that the manager and his/her
superiors consider these questions.
• Are your local
circumstances such that it would be wise to consult
with elected officials before making a commitment, or
to inform them after having made it?
• Could your board
service lead a reasonable person to question the
member’s first loyalty, which is owed to the
local government?
• Does, or is there a
likelihood that the organization will come before your
local government to request funding or other
consideration?
• Would your
involvement appear to lend support to one group
in the community over another?
• Is it likely that you
will be in a position of having to abstain from a
decision of the nonprofit board because of a
conflict of interest? [The ICMA’s Committee on
Professional Conduct has held consistently that it is
unacceptable for a member to abstain from or to
avoid advising elected officials because of the
member’s position on a community board or
commission that creates a conflict of interest.
Your primary duty is to provide advice and
counsel to the government body, and circumstances in
which such advice might be withheld must be avoided.]
• In instances in which you
must abstain from voting on a board decision because of
a conflict of interest, can you still be an effective
board member?
• Will you be expected to
engage in fundraising? [ICMA Tenet 12 advises members
to avoid soliciting money when “it could be
reasonably inferred or expected that the gift was
intended to influence them in the performance or their
official duties.”]
• Are there rules about
soliciting for donations within the local government
organization?
• Are potential donors,
whether employees or developers or individuals who have
no specific relationship with the local government,
really free to “just say no?”
• Having said yes to your
favorite charity or cause, will the donor expect
special consideration, treatment, or access?
• Could you be just as
effective by devising a fundraising strategy, but not
making the direct
solicitations?
• Will the local government
be a beneficiary of a successful fundraising effort?
• How might your
participation be reported factually by the media?
• Are you free to terminate
the outside involvement without difficulty in the event
that a conflict of interest arises that cannot
otherwise be avoided?
