Fulfilling a campaign promise to restore trust in local government, Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner announced proposed revisions to the county Ethics Ordinance. Her proposals include making it a conflict of interest for an elected official, a qualified relative of an elected official or a covered business entity to enter into a contract with the county. It would also be a conflict of interest for the county to knowingly enter into a contract for a county-funded capital project where one of those persons or entities is a subcontractor. In addition, the changes would include reinstating penalties for conflict of interest violations. The limitation for county-funded capital projects only applies for subcontractors. The provision for contractors applies to any county contracts.
Executive Gardner said, “After receiving public feedback and reviewing recent recommendations of the Ethics Task Force, I am pleased to submit my proposed changes to the Frederick County Ethics Ordinance that I feel will go a long way in restoring citizen trust in county government. I believe that elected officials should be held to a high standard of conduct and that citizens should be confident that elected officials are making decisions in the best interest of the public good. Today, I took the next step toward revising the ordinance and am confident that the County Council will also see the need to adopt these changes to the Ethics Ordinance.”