Mayor Guy Martin, Councilmembers Cindy Gjerswold, Clayton Briggs, Dale Stainbrook, Don Cavalier and City of Crookston Finance Director Angel Weasner met on Thursday afternoon to discuss a Code of Conduct and Ethics for the City of Crookston.
Each attendee voiced the belief that a Code of Conduct and Ethics should include all members of the City including elected officials, appointed committee and board members and employees. Weasner said she didn’t foresee an issue with including a Code of Conduct and Ethics when employee contracts are renewed.
Cavalier said he has found a Code of Conduct and Ethics to be common among other cities and provided the group with several versions from Bemidji, East Grand Forks, Thief River Falls and a draft document he had created for review. Stainbrook said he thinks it is something the City of Crookston probably wants to see happen, but that they should be careful to not undue or repeat things from the Charter or employee documents. “There are a lot of pages there, and some of it repeats itself with the charter,” said Stainbrook. “There are like 14 pages and we’ll try to get it down to three pages with the Code of Conduct and Ethics pieced together in one document. It’s going to be time-consuming. We want to get it right and present it to the council. I think the City of Crookston would like to see us have a Code of Conduct and Ethics policy so we’ll see what happens.”
Briggs also added that the Crookston Police Department has a Code of Conduct from the state. He said that is probably stricter than what the City would have, but it is good to be aware of it. The group also said they should probably get the document down to a version close to what they want before sending it to the City Attorney.
Mayor Guy Martin said a Code of Conduct should be a clean slate, so if anyone were worried about it, nothing from the past can be used against them with the Code of Conduct. Cavalier also said he doesn’t think it would affect anyone currently in a position with the City, but it would be good to have if something ever came up with anyone in the future. The group plans to meet again after reviewing the Code of Conducts that Cavalier provided on Thursday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m.
