Mr. Mayor and Commissioners,
I want to first congratulate you all in proceeding with a much needed ethics ordinance here in the city of Lake Worth. While we have not been tainted to the degree that other sister cities and certainly the county, it is vital to respond to the climate of public discontent and lack of confidence in our public officials.
Many cities in our county are only making rudimentary progress in adopting transparency measures, which has only fed the public's poor perception of government. I strongly encourage you all to move quickly in adopting stringent ethics measures in our city for all public officials, elected and unelected. I also encourage you to implement for all public officials an ethics pledge modeled after Leadership Palm Beach County's Pledge (see below), if not using it directly. Likewise, I strongly encourage you to institute an ethics policy such as the one recently employed by our county tax collector (see below).
Ideally, the roll-out of these measures should be made publicly, with at least the most visible public officials taking the pledge in a public forum for the public and media to observe. These three facets will serve as a multi-tiered ethics and transparency approach that is likely to create an initial mood of good will from your citizens.
It is up to our public officials, elected and non-elected, to live up to the high ethical standards that are set forth in your ambitious new policy.
Thank you for your time in the matter.
Sincerely,
Rene' A. Varela
Lake Worth Resident
Palm Beach County Ethics Pledge
Palm Beach County Tax Collector's Ethics Policy
