From Staff Reports
TRAVERSE CITY — Voters could decide in November whether to change Traverse City’s charter to require an ethics ordinance that would apply to all city employees, officials and volunteers.
On Monday, city commissioners will decide on whether to put forth ballot language asking city voters to make that change. If so, Section 31 of the city’s charter would be amended to add, “The City shall have an ethics ordinance, which shall apply to all elected and appointed officers, employees and volunteers of the City of Traverse City.”
City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht in a memo said an ad hoc committee is still working on the ordinance but expects to have a draft ready to present soon. Commissioners are being asked to act on the ballot language now because it must be submitted to the governor’s and state attorney general’s offices.
It’s not the first time city leaders debated such an ordinance, and the current round stems from concerns over contracts city Manager Liz Vogel brought to commissioners in November.
Commissioners approved a contract with IT firm Millennium Digital Technologies, but not before emailers raised concerns about Vogel’s ties to company President Kenneth Andrews — he attended Vogel’s engagement party and Vogel’s fiancé owns a 10-percent stake in Andrews’ glider.
Vogel previously said she wasn’t aware of the glider’s co-ownership until an emailer pointed it out, but that it didn’t pose a conflict of interest.
While Vogel told the Record-Eagle in December she had disclosed her personal tie to Andrews to city staff in June when she brought his company on board in the aftermath of a cyberattack, she didn’t tell city commissioners at the time. Commissioner Mi Stanley later said that Vogel disclosed the tie to commissioners during a closed session when she introduced the company.
When commissioners voted on a three-year agreement with the company in April, Vogel told them she gave information to the International City/County Management Association’s professional conduct committee, which in February decided there was no conflict of interest and wouldn’t investigate further.
Commissioners on Monday will also consider a 10-year memorandum of agreement determining who is responsible for running and maintaining FishPass once construction is complete. Among the city’s responsibilities in the draft agreement are maintaining ownership and upkeep for the non-research components, while allowing the Great Lakes Fishery Commission full use and access to the facility.
Contractors are currently building the labyrinth weir that will replace the Union Street Dam, with construction of a headworks feeding a 400-foot-long concrete channel coming next. That channel will be the site where scientists develop a two-way selective fish passage system.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and Michigan Department of Natural Resources would also be parties to the agreement.