Fulfilling a campaign promise made by newly elected Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza, the Mission City Council adopted a code of ethics Tuesday that will apply to all of the city’s elected officials as well as board and committee members.
The code of ethics, which was approved unanimously by the council, states that officials must not use their positions to secure privileges, must avoid conduct that would lead to perceptions of bias or partiality, and must commit to acting in the best interests of the city community.
“The code of ethics also centralizes federal, state, and local law that elected officials are required to follow so that these requirements are open and obvious to the officials and to the public,” City Secretary Anna Carrillo told the council. “The code is going to require that elected officials receive training regarding the laws that they’re required to follow.”
The code lists several government and procurement laws that the mayor and city council members must attend training on such as the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Public Information Act, conflicts of interest, nepotism, whistleblower protection, and competitive bidding and procurement.
There are also several criminal state laws they must receive training for such as bribery, coercion of public servant or voter, improper influence, tampering with a witness, retaliation, acceptance of honorarium, giving and receiving gifts, abuse of office, official oppression, and misuse of official information.
City Attorney Gus Martinez said the city has already set up training on some of those topics and added the city council will be asked to approve an instructor for the training.
The adoption of a code of ethics, similar to the one that was adopted by the city of Edinburg earlier this year, was among the goals that Gonzalez Garza listed as one of her priorities if elected mayor.
“I believe that training is the key to keep things in check,” she said during her swearing-in ceremony Monday, “so that was going to be one of my first things and, sure enough, it’s going to be the first thing tomorrow.”
Another change to the city leadership was the appointment of Councilman Ruben Plata as mayor pro-tem during Tuesday’s meeting.
The mayor pro-tem is a city council member who is appointed to take on the responsibilities of the mayor when the mayor is not present. The council member who fills that role is decided anew after every city council election.
Plata, a senior lender at Community First National Bank, has served on the Mission City Council since 2007.
