CARMEL – The Putnam County Ethics Board is back in the news again not because of a debate regarding who has the power to appoint members but because a legal notice in the county’s lone official newspaper relating to the selection of those members failed to be published in a timely manner.
Putnam County legislators believe that balance of powers between branches of government are a core protection grounded in our nation’s foundational documents.
Earlier this year lawmakers voted 5-3 to approve a resolution giving the legislature control over selecting the five-members to the board. Previously, the county executive appointed board members, subject to confirmation by legislators.
The issue came to the fore in June when the division of the executive and legislative branches of government became evident after the lawmakers failed to confirm two members to the board of ethics who had been appointed by County Executive Kevin Byrne.
The ethics board ensures that government actions and decisions adhere to proven ethical standards by protecting public trust, promoting integrity, and preventing misconduct.
The board’s membership had recently changed significantly after the death of former Appellate Court Justice John Sweeny and the resignations of Roderick Cassidy and Joseph DeMarzo for personal reasons, leaving only Barbara Scuccimarra and Paul Eldridge to serve.
At Monday’s special meeting of the nine-member governing body, Chairperson Dan Birmingham said, “There was an issue with our legal notice required for a public hearing to be held by the county executive.”
Birmingham said the county clerk and law department “promptly sent the local law’s language to Putnam County’s only remaining newspaper. However, through no fault of the county, the legal notice was not published on time.”
Birmingham called it “emblematic of the fact that we have so few newspapers in Putnam County. Previously three newspapers were chosen so that if this would have occurred, we could have relied on one of the other two newspapers.”
Both the Putnam Courier and Putnam News and Recorder ceased publication at the end of March leaving the Putnam Times-Press as the only official publication.
Birmingham said the legislature’s Rules Committee will be discussing the publication of legal documents in official newspapers at its August meeting.
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