Lakeway Board of Ethics members— including (from left) Vice Chairman Tom Brewer, Member Jessica Putonti and Chairperson Laurie Higginbotham—convened today to discuss a proposal to amend the city's code of ordinances in light of recent admissions made by Mayor Joe Bain.[/caption]Following complaints filed with Lakeway’s Board of Ethics in May, board members today approved recommending to the City Council four changes to its ordinances that would make recent admitted actions by Mayor Joe Bain a violation of the city code.
The board unanimously voted to refer to Lakeway City Council for final approval of the following four amendments to the city’s Code of Ordinances:
- Add a violation for an official to misrepresent the official’s identity when communicating with any person or entity, including matters in and before the city, issues of city business and city elections;
- Create a one-year statute of limitations for coming before the Board of Ethics with a complaint; that is, a complaint must be filed within one year after either a violation occurred or the complainant should have known the violation had occurred through reasonable discovery;
- Give the subject of a complaint a copy of the complaint filed against him or her when the complaint is referred to a Board of Ethics subcommittee for review; and
- Codify the Board of Ethics subcommittee review process.
Lakeway Assistant City Manager Julie Oakley and Mayor Joe Bain attend today's Board of Ethics meeting at Lakeway City Hall.[/caption]In his April 28 online blog, Bain apologized for posting on Nextdoor.com under the pseudonym “John Smart” and for making statements regarding his position on items in the city’s May 6 election.
Chairwoman Laurie Higginbotham said she would present the proposed code amendments to the council for approval at its July or August meeting.
“I think the questions and comments that have been raised to me, just in various neighborhood meetings, have been addressed by the changes we have made today, which is the concerns of misrepresentation of identity,” Higginbotham said during a discussion of comments made to individual board members. “When we reviewed the complaints regarding that, there wasn’t anything in the code at that time that gives us the power to take action on that. Now, we have passed statutory language that would give us the opportunity to do something about that in the future.”
Additionally, the board voted to further investigate two of the nine complaints it received in May—from Carl Hunter and Mike Stotts—with its subcommittee finding that seven complaints could not be actionable under the existing code, Higginbotham said.
Residents, including former Lakeway City Council candidate Tiffany McMillan, thanked the board for its service.
The Lakeway Board of Ethics meets every other month. The next scheduled meeting is Aug. 16 during which the two complaints are slated to be discussed. Higginbotham said she would try to push the meeting up to July depending on the summer schedules of board members.
