Tallahassee’s newly-formed ethics board is trying to figure out how to get to seven. The number of people who can serve on it. The board is seeking applicants, but city officials and the board itself, say they don’t really know where the seventh will come from.
The city’s new ethics amendment mandates seven people serve on an independent oversight board. So far, the appointees have come from Florida A&M and Florida State University, the city commission and state prosecutors office. The amendment also calls on the chief judge of the second judicial circuit to appoint a member-- which he has declined to do. The city has its own ethics program and Commissioner Nancy Miller says it will take a while for the new board to get up and running.
“They have to figure out a budget, and they have no staff at this point-the city staff is staffing them. So I think in the intermediate period, we’re going to go on the way we are," she says. "I’m proud of our ethics program, I think it’s wonderful I think it’s a great example for others to follow and we have a great ethics officer.”
Miller suggests the city’s current ethics officer Julie Meadows-Keefe could become the seventh member of the independent ethics board. Whether that’s allowed is unclear. The city hired Meadows-Keefe shortly before voters approved the ethics board in November. The board is taking applications for two other open seats it has to fill.
