SCARBOROUGH – For nearly three decades, it has been a tradition for Beech Ridge Motor Speedway to give town councilors season passes.

The passes, which cost about $200, are given simply to thank them for their public service and invite them to see for themselves how one of the town’s major businesses operates, according to Beech Ridge owner Andrew Cusack. Right now, such gifts are not prohibited by council rules. But proposed new ethics standards, which would define for the first time exactly what constitutes ethical behavior for councilors, may change past practices.

Whether the new rules would outlaw all gifts to councilors, or just gifts exceeding a certain monetary value, is unclear. Councilors debated the proposed new rules at their Sept. 16 meeting, but then sent the rules back to its Rules and Policies Committee for further revisions. Those revisions could return to the council as early as next month.

The new ethics standards are being proposed as a council subcommittee works on revising the council’s lengthy rules and policies manual. Town Manager Thomas Hall suggested to the committee that it spell out ethics rules for councilors.

The language on council behavior in the manual now, Hall said, “is fairly light and pretty general.” He said he made the suggestion not because there are any problems with unethical behavior by councilors, but to have rules in place should a situation arise.

“It’s all about good government, in my view,” Hall said. “Full disclosure and transparency are all good government.”

Bigger changes

The council’s Rules and Policies Committee so far has proposed many pages of revisions in the council’s manual. Changes include simple alterations – such as renumbering certain sections of the manual – and using more inclusive language – saying “he” or “she” and “him” or “her” instead of using only masculine pronouns.

But the revisions also could result in some significant changes – the ethics rules, for one example, or another change that would allow time at the beginning of council meetings for public comment on non-agenda items.

The council voted unanimously on Sept. 16 to approve the committee’s proposed amendments to the manual at first reading, but members decided to hold off scheduling a public hearing and second reading on the issue for its next meeting on Oct. 7. Instead, the council decided to wait until its Oct. 21 meeting or later so that the Rules and Policies Committee can have more time to rework some of the proposed changes. That committee next meets Sept. 28 at noon at Town Hall.

Among the sections the committee is looking at rewording is one titled “Breaches of Rules and Orders.” Currently, that section simply says that a councilor who is guilty of breaching the council’s rules and orders can’t vote or speak on the council unless that councilor “make(s) satisfaction.”

The committee is proposing an extensive rewriting of that section to define what constitutes proper standards of conduct for town councilors. The manual as rewritten would say that councilors need to “maintain a standard of conduct that will inspire public confidence in the integrity of the town’s government.”

Conduct inspires confidence

The proposed standards cover such topics as conflict of interest and disclosure of confidential information, and ban the use of town property by councilors for their own private use. They also cover gifts and favors.

“No Town Councilor shall accept any valuable gift, whether it be in the form of service, loan, thing or promise, from any person and/or business which to his knowledge is interested directly or indirectly in any manner whatsoever in business dealing with the Town,” the new wording would state.

The proposed rules also say that town councilors should not “accept any gift, favor or thing of value that tends to influence him (or her) in the discharge of his or her official duties.”

Councilor Karen D’Andrea raised the question of what “valuable” means. “We all get season passes to Beech Ridge (Motor Speedway),” she said. “A season’s pass at Beech Ridge is not insignificant.” Beech Ridge’s season runs from May to September and a season pass for the grandstand will cost $205 for the 2010 season. D’Andrea, who was elected to the council in November 2008, said she thanked the speedway for its generosity but was uncomfortable with the traditional gift.

“I gave mine away … I felt weird about it,” D’Andrea said.

It went to a group home for teenagers, she said. Council Chairman Michael Wood said that when he attended the opening of Famous Dave’s, a national barbecue chain that opened a restaurant in town earlier this year, he received a barbecue set that he in turn gave to the town fire department.

“I felt funny about it,” Wood said.

Courtesy cited

In an interview this week, Cusack, owner of Beech Ridge, said such gifts are not meant to influence councilors.

“I don’t think any business looks at it as a bribe,” Cusack said. “It’s simply to thank them. It’s a courtesy.”

He said the passes to councilors, which have been a tradition since his family first became owners of the speedway in 1981, also are a way of inviting councilors to see his business. He said the message is: “Come to the race track and see what we’re all about.”

He noted that councilors can just walk into other businesses in town and familiarize themselves with that business without buying anything. But at the racetrack, he said, one needs a ticket to enter. Cusack said the passes are not transferable, but he said Beech Ridge accommodated D’Andrea’s request to give hers away.

Cusack said he keeps a list of when season pass users attend races, and noted that councilors seldom use their free passes. In fact, he estimates that over the years, only 5 percent of councilors have taken advantage of them. More councilors than that come to the races, he said, but he said they tend to buy their own tickets each time. Hall said he also received a pass but has not used it.

The speedway does little business with the town except for the annual renewal of its liquor license, Cusack said. Usually, liquor license renewals before the council are routine matters unless a business has been cited for repeated violations.

The discussion about gifts at the council meeting last week led Councilor Carol Rancourt to say, “Maybe it begs the question of should we accept any gift.”

Hall noted that the intent of the language about councilors receiving gifts is to ensure town leaders aren’t biased.

“There’s a standard,” he said. “It has to influence your vote.”

Few set ethics standards

If Scarborough passes its ethics rules, it will be among only a handful of communities that spell out such standards for elected officials, according to the Maine Municipal Association. Mike Starn, association spokesman, said that there is no statewide ethics law for municipal officials, and state law regarding conflict of interest “is pretty broad.”

However, he said, previous court cases in Maine have provided some legal “ethics guidance.” Also, Starn said, non-elected local government officials, such as town and city managers, typically belong to associations that have a code of ethics for their members. If Scarborough does approve the ethics standards, then the next question becomes how to discipline violators.

Hall said the council’s only tool now is censure because it’s very hard to remove an elected official from office. However, Hall said, meetings of the town charter revision committee are under way, and that group may propose adding language to the town charter that allows for the recall of a councilor. Any charter changes that committee proposes must be approved by voters, likely in November 2010, Hall said.