Sec. 2-206. Procedure.
(a) Ethics officer review. In the event that a citizen has a complaint based upon personal knowledge of an alleged violation of this article by a town official or employee, the citizen shall deliver and submit a written notarized complaint of such alleged violation on a form prescribed by the Town, and verified under the penalties of perjury, to the clerk treasurer's office in a sealed envelope addressed to the Town Council president as ethics officer. The verified complaint submitted shall contain specific reference and identification of the article provisions alleged to have been violated. In the event that the subject of the submitted noncompliance is the Town Council president, then the person submitting the notice shall address the envelope to the Town Council vice-president. The ethics officer shall review the verified citizen complaint to determine whether a violation of this article, as amended from time to time, has been properly stated and made consistent with the requirements herein. In the event that the ethics officer determines that no violation has been stated or occurred, then the ethics officer shall so notify the citizen complainant in writing, and there shall be no further proceedings herein. In the event that the ethics officer determines that a citizen complaint has been properly stated, and is within the jurisdiction of the ethics committee, then the ethics officer shall notify the ethics committee and transmit the verified citizen complaint and all information gathered on the citizen complaint to the ethics committee for further review and next consideration. The ethics officer shall have the right and authority to receive, review, and assess a citizen complaint for substantive compliance with the terms of this article for the further processing of any citizen complaint, and is authorized to utilize staff and legal counsel for assistance whenever deemed appropriate and necessary.
(b) Ethics committee review.
(1) The ethics officer shall inform the official or employee of the citizen complaint made and provide the official or employee an opportunity to explain in writing any response deemed necessary by the official or employee pertaining to the alleged article violation, which response shall be forwarded to the ethics committee for review along with the citizen complaint and information gathered by the ethics officer pertaining to the citizen complaint.
(2) When required, the ethics officer shall notify and convene the ethics committee in executive session meeting to review any complaint and response thereto. The ethics committee may review the citizen complaint as the ethics committee deems appropriate and required.
(3) In the event that the ethics committee, upon completion of its review of all information provided pertaining to the citizen complaint, determines that an official or employee has violated this article, the ethics committee may:
a. As to an official, recommend an appropriate notice and/or corrective action;
b. As to an employee, refer the matter to the Town Council, Town Manager, or appropriate board or commission for notice, hearing, and/or action in accordance with the Town personnel policy manual and/or applicable Indiana statutes; or
c. As to an official, employee or other person, take any other action as may be required by the particular circumstances of the violation determined to have occurred.
The ethics committee shall have no authority to require or compel any action, but only authority to report its determination on the citizen complaint submitted with recommendation thereon.
(4) After a determination of violation or no violation, the ethics officer shall report the findings and recommendation of the ethics committee to the Town Council and file such report in a file designated for such purposes.