After drafting a new ethics code for more than a year, the Wichita City Council on Tuesday moved to weaken the wording of the existing policy, scrubbing all mention of the word “friends.” The existing ethics code, which has been in place for 63 years, prohibits City Council members from making decisions involving friends, business associates, customers, clients and competitors. But the council is left to police itself and has not enforced the policy, saying friends was not well defined. The proposed policy would strengthen other parts of the ethics code. It would limit gifts to $150 a year, create an advisory board to handle complaints against City Council members and city board appointees, establish whistleblower protections, and allow penalties to be handed out for violations.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
