There’s no question what voters in the coastal towns thought about the new ethics ordinance that includes oversight by Palm Beach County’s inspector general. They overwhelmingly voted “Yes.”
But opinions among the town leaders run a full range from support to skepticism to outright opposition.
Falling in with all the municipalities in Palm Beach County, more than 50 percent of voters in every coastal town voted in favor of extending Palm Beach County’s ethics ordinance and oversight by the Inspector General into the municipalities. The vote means every elected city, town and village official in Palm Beach County will be governed by the new ordinance. It also means it can’t be undone without another vote of the people.
Even in Highland Beach, which already has an ordinance that officials there believe is strong, and in Gulf Stream, where elected officials warned residents of the cost, voters approved. Those towns saw some of the lowest approval rates, though, with Highland Beach’s electors passing it by 60 percent and Gulf Stream’s approving by 61 percent.
On the high end, citizens in Delray Beach, Lantana and South Palm Beach all approved the measure by votes of 73 percent or more.
Lantana’s Town Council had adopted the county’s ordinance prior to the vote, and elected officials, staff and volunteers had gone through three workshops in October.
“We didn’t need the electorate to tell us to do the right thing,” Lantana Town Manager Michael Bornstein said. “The bottom line is our county and some of the cities have had an unfortunate set of events that occurred with some individuals. With our reputation, we needed to act.”
In South Palm Beach, where voters passed the ordinance by an almost identical margin, there seems to be great belief in the need for ethics. There are six ethics complaints now waiting to be heard before the state Commission on Ethics, most seemingly linked to the town’s rejection of a proposal to increase the land use for the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn to allow for a 10-story hotel instead of the current two-story building.
The mayor wanted an investigation into three members of the planning advisory board who recommended denying the change. They had something to lose, he said — their oceanfront views. Complaints also have been filed against two council members. And in October, the state ethics commission found probable cause that Mayor Martin Millar broke state law by trying to use his position to avoid arrest after being tossed out of Rachel’s strip club in August 2009. Although Millar didn’t return calls for this story, he previously said he believed the complaint was retaliation for filing his complaint against the planning advisory board members.
Councilwoman Stella Jordan said she thinks the voters want a better system.
“Our consitutents want us to identify and address fraud quicker, and they want to be able to stop fraudulent processes prior to spending taxpayer dollars on bad decisions due to fraudulent actions taken by their elected officials,” Jordan said. “My only concern would be that we may replicate what is already in place on a state-wide level. Our dollars need to go toward enhancing the system, not duplicating what we already have.”
Would anything have been different had the countywide ordinance been in effect already? That will depend in part on what the rules look like once a panel gets together to draft it.
But perhaps not.
Some towns, like Highland Beach, have their own ethics ordinances. Highland Beach Town Manager Dale Sugerman said he believes the vote simply gives another route to someone wanting to make a complaint.
His town’s ethics ordinance provides what he believes would be a more expeditious route than using the county’s ordinance, he said. “We’ve got to figure how the county’s route even works. We don’t know that yet.”
According to Alan Johnson, the Ethics Commission executive director, “When it takes effect in January, it provides for a drafting committee that has 90 days to put appropriate language into the codes to extend them to the municipalities. At that point, the board of county commissioners has to vote to make them effective.”
Gulf Stream Commissioner Chris Wheeler has a different perspective on its effect.
“The difference it will make in Gulf Stream is it’s just going to raise our cost,” Wheeler said.
Municipalities will be required to pay a quarter percent of every contract to support the office of the inspector general. “We’re looking at putting our electrical system underground in Gulf Stream. That will be a multimillion-dollar job if the residents decide they want to do it,” Wheeler said. “And if so, we’re going to pay some panel in Palm Beach County a quarter percent to oversee
their corrupt commission.”
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