It is hard to understand what the Durango City Council does not get about its own ethics policy. Appointing the spouse of a sitting city councilor to a board that could be charged with looking into allegations of ethical violations by the City Council is so clearly out of line that one has to wonder if the council has read its own rules.
The city adopted a code of ethics in October. That was a healthy move that acknowledged in its text the fact that perceptions count.
“City officials,” the code says, “must be mindful that the appearance of impropriety can be as corrosive of public confidence as an actual impropriety and must strive to avoid situations which may create an appearance of impropriety.”
Nonetheless, with the ink on the code hardly dry, the City Council proceeded to appoint Faye Schrater to the ethics board. Schrater is married to City Councilor Dick White.
(The other members of the board are Roger Haar, Patricia Hall, Chuck Owens and Mike Todt.)
This is not to suggest that either Schrater or White have done anything wrong. What the council and city administrators were thinking is another question. Did no one think to speak up? Did no one see the obvious?
White recused himself from the council vote appointing his wife. And Schrater likely would have recused herself had anything to do with White come before her board. But why appoint someone who would be required to step away from what could be the most important cases the ethics board could hear?
Schrater and White’s relationship, and her position on the board, anonymously were pointed out to the Herald earlier this month. It is unknown whether that tip was related to White’s run for re-election to the council.
It also is irrelevant. Schrater and White are not the issue; again, there is not so much as a suggestion they have acted unethically. The concern is the collective judgment of the city staff and council.
Asked about the situation, Mayor Sweetie Marbury objected to the anonymity of the tip, as if that were the problem. The city attorney, Dirk Nelson, said the councilors did not ask him if the appointment would create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Did he not think to bring it up?
Schrater seems to understand the situation best. Told that an unnamed group was expressing concern over her appointment, she stepped down from the Board of Ethics.
“I determined I would not remain in a position to be used against the board or City Council either collectively or individually,” she said.
That sounds as if she understands that her appointment presented at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.
It is hard enough not to be conflicted in a small town. But a marriage is a special relationship. Like blood relations, it transcends almost any other bond and is reflected in all aspects of life. No judge would be allowed to preside over a case involving a family member. No juror could serve in a trial with a spouse as defendant or plaintiff.
This should not be difficult to grasp. Nor should it be necessary to work around. There are a number of people in Durango, active and retired, with specific experience and training in ethics – attorneys, physicians and members of the clergy, for example. And most have no direct ties to city officials. There is no need to foster suspicion and undermine trust in government by involving anyone who has such a relationship.
