Members Needed for Marshfield's New Board of Ethics

Thursday, January 21st, 2021 -- 3:00 PM

The City of Marshfield Common Council is seeking interested parties to serve on a newly created Board of Ethics.

According to a press release from the city, this board is intended to administer and interpret the City’s ethics policy as it pertains only to City elected and appointed officials.

The City of Marshfield has strong codes of ethics for employees, appointed officials and elected officials, but the codes for elected and appointed officials were ambiguous in how they are enforced and by whom they should be enforced.

The city corrected that in November by creating a City Board of Ethics to hear complaints from citizens and other officials concerning possible violations of the City and or State of Wisconsin codes of ethics for elected and appointed officials.

The success of a community depends upon the trust that the residents possess in their elected and appointed officials. They expect them to perform their duties in an ethical manner, devoid of personal interest in profit or power and with an eye toward protecting the public perception of the integrity of their government and community.

Now, the burden of enforcement falls upon the citizens of the community to step forward and volunteer to serve on this new board.  They need civic-minded citizens to apply to serve in one of the four positions created on this board.

The initial groups terms of this initial Ethics Board will be staggered: one person will serve three years, one person will serve two years, and one person will serve one year. The fourth person will be an alternate for three years.  There are no specific qualifications to serve on the board.

Since proceedings before the board are “quasi-judicial”, that is, they have similarities to court proceedings, persons with some familiarity with court processes would feel most comfortable with serving on the board.

The City of Marshfield will be accepting applications for Ethics Board Committee members through Wednesday, February 3rd.

Interested applicants should submit a letter of introduction and resume to the City Clerk via email or postal service to:

City of Marshfield

Attn: City Clerk

207 W. 6th Street

Marshfield, WI 54449.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.