A change to the Bangor Code of Ethics will now allow city councilors to vote on the overall municipal budget, even if they have previously disclosed a conflict of interest.
There was little discussion among councilors about the new provision before it was approved 8-0 at the Monday, March 26 meeting. City Council Chairman Ben Sprague was absent.
Under the updated ethics code, councilors will still be prohibited from deliberating on specific aspects of the budget on which they have a special or financial conflict of interest, but they would all be allowed to participate in the final budget vote.
“The intent of this ordinance is that every councilor votes on the full budget,” City Solicitor Norm Heitmann said.
“As long as a councilor discloses them during the deliberation, they should still be able to vote on the budget, as a whole,” Sprague, who proposed the change, said last month.
In a city the size of Bangor, where the majority of councilors work or own businesses in the community, conflicts are likely to arise, he said. The change to the code will ensure that all councilors are able to vote on the annual spending plan, rather than risk having too few councilors able to participate in the vote.
The ethics code change comes two months after the council voted for the city’s Board of Ethics to investigate Councilor Cary Weston, for appearing to violate the city’s ethical standards when he failed to disclose a financial conflict of interest last summer.
In the past, the language of the ethics code has required councilors to disclose any personal or financial conflicts of interest, and councilors have been prohibited from deliberating or voting on anything related to that conflict.
This story appears through a media sharing agreement with Bangor Daily News.
