MUNSTER | The Town Council recently voted to adopt the revised Code of Ethics and Values written by representatives of the Shared Ethics Advisory Commission.
The commission was formed by Crown Point, Highland and Munster municipal officials through an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement originally dated Nov. 21, 2005. It was spearheaded by Cal Bellamy, a partner at Krieg DeVault LLP in Schererville.
Since then, the cities of East Chicago and Whiting and the towns of Schererville and Dyer have joined the commission, which is open to any Lake County community.
Last spring, the interlocal agreement was amended to permit Porter County communities to become members.
One of the commission’s major goals is to provide ethics training for members’ employees, all elected officials and appointed board and commission members.
The revised code will now be part of all training materials and will be updated on the commission’s website, Munster Assistant Town Manager Clay Johnson told the Town Council.
“For government to operate with transparency and accountability, it is essential that public officials and employees conduct themselves in ways that uphold the public trust,” the code’s preamble reads.
The public service values listed in the code are honesty/integrity, respect/civility, accountability/responsibility and fairness/justice.
“We have put feelers out in Lake County and Porter County for other communities to join the Shared Ethics Advisory Commission with varied success. There is a growing momentum,” said David Nellans of the Munster Town Council.
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