DIXFIELD — The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Monday evening to adopt an official Code of Ethics policy and to discuss adding an addendum at a later meeting to detail what would happen if the board were to violate the rules.
The selectmen postponed approving the Code of Ethics policy at their previous meeting since they did “not have a full board,” Town Manager Carlo Puiia said.
While Selectman Mac Gill was not at Monday’s meeting, Chairman Hart Daley said he knows that he was in full support of the policy at their last meeting.
“Last meeting, (Selectman) Eugene (Skibitsky) wasn’t at the meeting, and since he’s here, and we know that Mac was in favor of the policy, I think it would be OK to approve,” Selectman Dana Whittemore added.
Skibitsky, however, said that he felt the Code of Ethics policy needed a section that would “explain to us what to do if a selectman were to violate one of these rules.”
“I didn’t know if you had a discussion already about that, because I think it’s important to have,” he said.
Daley said that they had not discussed anything about violations, and that the policy “should be approved tonight.”
“We should do it now rather than later, so we can have something on the books if something were to happen this week or next week,” Daley said. “At next week’s meeting, we can put it back on the agenda and discuss putting an addendum for violations on it.”
Skibitsky agreed, adding, “As long as we put it back on the table for discussion.”
Puiia said that the suggestion to place a violation addendum on the policy was a “good idea,” and told residents that the Code of Ethics policy was “similar to the town’s personnel policy that we have in place right now.”
“It shares a lot of the same ideas, but this Code of Ethics policy pertains to the Board of Selectmen,” Puiia said.
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