There's nothing preventing us from making stronger rules.
I really can't say for sure what the consensus might be at this time. Obviously, the (landlord ordinance) is not a good one because it violates state law. I think we need to start off with that premise with anything we do.
Anything we do should be in the spirit of transparency and open government.
What I like best is that we're including every member of the council, the mayor and the city attorney. No one person has capitalized on the process.
The council is concerned about spending any amount of money on this.
Most of this council believes a stronger ethics code will go a long way toward promoting transparency in Marietta government.
The key is establishing probable cause. I think that's what we need to work on to make this thing work.
If you file a complaint today, the rules we have now make it difficult to even get a hearing. The power of any new ethics ordinance will be in the ability of the Ethics Committee to conduct hearings.
