We the undersigned registered voters of the town of Hampton request for you to insert in the town warrant for 2021 town meeting the following article:
To see if the town will vote to update the code of ethics for the Board of Selectmen to include a social media policy and create an ethics committee which will have an appointed representative and an alternate representative from the select board, planning board, budget committee and the trustees of the library each of these representatives will be appointed by these elected bodies first thing after the annual town meeting to serve one year term in the committee.
The purposes of the committee should be as follows:
- Space to agent complaints and make recommendations concerning violations of the code of ethics.
- To disseminate the code of ethics and educate the public officials and the public about the code.
- To review annually proposals for revising the code of ethics.
What it means: This Article seeks to update the existing Code of Ethics to include guidelines with regard to members of the Board of Selectmen and statements made using social media. Further, a Board of Ethics would be assembled to review perceived violations and make recommendations, and to help educate public officials on expected ethical behavior.
Those in favor say: The Existing Code of Ethics was written before social media became an integral part of our way of communication. There should be some guidelines as to what is expected of public officials, and some way of holding them accountable.
Those against say: Those opposed cited potential issues vis-à-vis the First Amendment. Another speaker noted that those who have an issue with an elected official can vote accordingly the next time an offending official is up for reelection. It was also noted that the Article is somewhat vague regarding the operations of the proposed Ethics Committee.
Other statement: Town Counsel noted that towns only have the authority granted to them by the state via the RSA’s. If approved, this Article would be advisory only (not binding) due to the lack of authority granted. More information about Town Counsel’s point of view can be found by clicking here.
Fiscal impact: There is no direct tax impact if Article 22 is approved.