Forsyth County's Board of Ethics is wrestling with an ethical question of its own.
The five-member panel has been slapped with an ethics complaint alleging misconduct over meeting dates, times and places.
Problem is, no one knows what to do with it. Board members say they can't consider the matter themselves, nor can they recuse themselves and appoint replacements.
"In this case, there doesn't appear to be any language in the ordinance that addresses any situation quite like this," board Chairman Robert Charles said at a special meeting Wednesday.
Following an executive session with board attorney Logan Butler, the panel voted to file an action with Forsyth County Superior Court seeking guidance on what to do with the complaint.
The ethics complaint centers around meetings the board held in conflict with county code. The original ordinance calls for no regularly scheduled meetings but does require the board to meet twice a year, six months apart. A special meeting can be called by the chairman with the time established by a majority vote of the board. The meetings are open to the public.
In September, the County Commission tried to simplify the ordinance by setting the meeting dates for the second Tuesday in November and May.
The Ethics Board did not hold a meeting the second Tuesday of November but did meet on Nov. 30.
In a letter to the County Commission and Ethics Board members Dec. 7, County Attorney Ken Jarrard noted that the board's failure to meet the guidelines of the ordinance could call into question any actions taken at meetings. Two weeks later, resident Terrence Sweeney filed the ethics complaint, listing half a dozen meetings the board had held or not held in violation of the ordinance.
At last Tuesday's work session, county commissioners took up the issue again and directed the county attorney to draw up a new ordinance to address issues of scheduling.
"We want to make sure the Ethics Board has the flexibility they need, but we also want to make sure that interested citizens can have some certainty as to how their matters are going to be handled," Jarrard said.
The Ethics Board is composed of one appointee each from the Forsyth County Bar Association, county elected officials, county employees, the county Civil Service Board and the County Commission. Members are not compensated for their time or travel.
Sweeney, who filed close to half a dozen ethics complaints in 2011 against the County Commission and the Planning Commission, says board members need to take the law seriously. He leveled his harshest criticism against the board's attorney for not correcting the situation at its source. The attorney, Butler, did not respond to requests for comment.
"The attorneys are giving bad legal advice, and the board cannot get it right," Sweeney said. "They're holding meetings at the wrong spots, at the wrong times. It is so screwed up, I don't even know how to explain it."
For his part, board Chairman Charles said he thinks this is a procedural matter that should get straightened out, but he doesn't think there has been any malfeasance. It's just hard to get five people together at a certain time and date, he said.
"We want to do the right thing, but we don't know right now what it is," he said.
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