FREEPORT — Freeport town councilors are considering a code of ethics and a conflict of interest policy to help municipal officials and employees follow the letter of the law.

The council’s Ordinance Committee is reviewing existing rules and guidelines for legal and ethical behavior that are scattered in the town charter, ordinances and elsewhere.

“Our intent is to create one consistent code for the town,” said Councilor Sara Gideon, chairwoman of the Ordinance Committee, which will meet at 9 a.m. Friday at Town Hall.

Councilors hope to address perennial concerns raised by residents and others about the appropriateness of votes and other actions by town officials in particular, said Council Chairman Jim Cassida, who serves on the Ordinance Committee.

Most recently, some residents questioned whether town officials who are leaders in Freeport’s business community should have promoted the development of a commercial indoor-outdoor soccer complex on town land.

The council decided last year to give 12 acres to Seacoast United Maine in exchange for some public use of the soccer fields. Last week, faced with overwhelming public opposition, the council rejected a zoning change that the soccer club needed, effectively killing the land deal.

Cassida, who is a board member of the Freeport Economic Development Corp. and a past board member of the Greater Freeport Chamber of Commerce, was one of several councilors who said their goal from the start was to provide additional playing fields at lower cost to the town.

“You can only put so much specificity into a conflict-of-interest rule,” Cassida said Tuesday. “But there must be adequate provisions to determine if someone has a conflict.”

Sandy Thompson is one resident who’s glad that the council is talking about adopting an ethics code and a conflict policy.

“I’ve been encouraging them to do it for a while because it’s a good way to build trust in the community and have a conversation about what we value,” Thompson said. “Honesty, integrity, things like that.”

Thompson said she has spoken up at council meetings in recent years when councilors have voted to approve public funding for community organizations for which they were volunteer board members.

Thompson declined to give specific examples of conflicts of interest for this story, saying she believes the council is taking a positive step on the issue.

“But even if it’s not a conflict by law, there’s still the perception of a conflict,” Thompson said. “People lose trust.”

Gideon said it’s difficult to define conflict of interest in a small town where many of the same people serve on various boards and committees. She’s on the board of the nonprofit Freeport Community Services, which is partially funded by the town.

“There’s a small number of people who wind up doing the lion’s share of the work,” Gideon said. “Having a formal policy will help us navigate questions of appropriateness when they come up.”

The town has no specific ethics code or conflict policy for elected or appointed officials.

The town charter advises town officials and employees who have “a substantial financial interest, direct or indirect,” in any company doing business with the town to make that interest known and refrain from taking any official action involving the company.

Gideon noted before the public hearing on Seacoast’s request for a zoning change that her child had played soccer at the club’s facility in Topsham.

The town’s personnel code stipulates that employees cannot have a financial interest in any contract, service, purchase, sale or work done by the town. The rules for the town’s Project Review Board urge members to “avoid participation in proceedings where they have a conflict of interest.”

The Ordinance Committee is reviewing ethics codes and conflict policies followed by other public bodies, including the Maine Legislature.

 

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at: kbouchard@pressherald.com

 

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