SMTX City Council To Consider Code Of Ethics Amendment On Final Reading

Staff Reports

The City of San Marcos will consider the approval of a new subsection to section 2.421 the San Marcos Code of Ethics on the second of two readings tonight.

The amendment adding subsection (e) will “clearly state that the policy and purpose statements in that section supporting the adoption of the San Marcos Code of Ethics shall not be cited, used, or considered by a citizen or by the ethics review commission as the basis of an ethics complaint filed against any officer or employee of the city.”

On May 13, the Ethics Review Commission met and discussed a recommendation to the council to amend the code to disallow the section to be cited in an ethics violation complaint.

The commission provided the council with a redlined draft, which contained suggested wording to provide clarification in a new subsection (e).

Councilmember Jocabed Marquez requested the item be brought forward for discussion by the council, who directed staff to bring it back as a formal amendment.

“There is several reasons why I wanted this item on the agenda,” Marquez said at the council’s May 19 meeting. “Since I’ve been office, which is from Dec. 2018 till now, there have been three ethics complaints filed against me citing section 2.421 of the ethics code as the violation. It’s so broad almost anything an officer or an employee does even in their private life could somehow be interpreted as a violation of that section.”

Marquez said while the complaints have been dropped, she couldn’t begin to explain the stress they had caused her and her family.

According to Marquez, the complaints came with unintended consequences including the City of San Marcos spending $1,004 in attorney’s fees to advise the commission on a complaint.

The council voted unanimously on the amendment on June 2 at their regular meeting.

“Things have gotten considerably out of hand on this,” City Attorney Michael Cosentino said. “This section is so broad almost anything could be deemed the basis of an ethics complaint.”

The San Marcos City Council will convene virtually for their regular meeting at 6:00 PM.

Those interested in submitting public comments must submit them to the City Clerk’s office by 12:00 PM on the day of the meeting, June 16.