The idea that an elected official or municipal employee needs only their common sense to navigate the complexities of ethical conduct could potentially lead an ill-advised or unprincipled decision.
This is where groups like the Shared Ethics Advisory Commission (SEAC) come in, offering resources to its member communities across Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.
Julie Wendorf, Crown Point’s SEAC representative and Director of the Crown Point Community Library, spotlighted SEAC’s efforts in a recent presentation before the Crown Point City Council.
Wendorf said the ethics training that SEAC provides can help prevent elected officials and their appointees, governmental employees, vendors and candidates for public office from compromising their ethics while helping them understand the consequences of their decisions.
Wendorf emphasized the importance of ethics across the administration of Crown Point Mayor Pete Land, noting that all of the city’s elected officials had signed SEAC’s Primary Election Candidate Pledge, as did a number of their challengers.
“This commitment in Crown Point is much higher than the average commitment of 37% in all NWI communities,” Wendorf said.
In September, SEAC will officially launch its Candidate Ethics Pledge campaign, which asks candidates to commit to providing ethics training for all municipal employees, establish a comprehensive ethics policy and vigorously enforce it, and to support whistleblower protections for employees who file ethics complaints.
Wendorf and her fellow commissioners along with the SEAC executive board continue to update and distribute new training videos and materials to the members.
She noted that SEAC does not investigate unethical behavior, take public positions on issues, or enforce ethical rules.
Some Northwest Indiana cities and towns have adopted their own ethics ordinances. Those that officially join SEAC are required to adopt by resolution the organization’s Code of Shared Ethics and Values and to pay an annual membership fee.
Member communities must nominate both a private citizen and a public official to serve on the SEAC’s board.
Wendorf believes that ethics training should extend to open and transparent government, including the right of the public and the press to receive information.
“Those that are not members miss out on the resources that SEAC has thoughtfully created and provided to assist their community in ensuring that leaders are adequately to serve the public good,” she said.
According to SEAC’s website, the following communities belong to the organization: the counties of Lake, LaPorte and Porter; the cities of Crown Point, East Chicago, Gary, Hobart, Lake Station, Portage, Valparaiso and Whiting; and the towns of Burns Harbor, Cedar Lake, Chesterton, Dyer, Hebron, Highland, Lowell, Merrillville, Munster, Ogden Dunes, St John and Schererville.
Jim Masters is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
