What better time than during National Ethics Awareness Month for local governments to promote ethics or craft a strategic plan for strengthening the ethical culture within the organization.

Coincidentally, it is also a good time for ICMA Full Corporate members to vote on proposed new language for Tenet 12 of the ICMA Code of Ethics. The voting started on March 2 and closes on April 2, 2015. We also invite you to explore the following resources on ethics and local governments to give meaning to ethics awareness:

• Promoting an ethical culture in local government is at the core of ICMA’s mission and happens via training courses, technical assistance, workshops, and enforcement. Check out this link for a summary of resources on ethics available on ICMA’s website.
• ICMA also annually publishes an ICMA Ethics Program Report, which provides local governments and members detailed information on ethics violations and efforts to promote ethics. The report on ethics violations and program highlights for fiscal year 2014 is now available.
• Ethics Matter! is a monthly column in Public Management (PM) magazine. The column offers practical advice on a variety ofethics issues and provides insight on real-world challenges.
• The sentencing of former Bell, California, city manager Robert Rizzo—who was found guilty of 69 charges of public corruption—underscores the significance of ethics and transparency in local government.
• For city managers, being ethical is more than not doing bad things. According to Ron Carlee, city manager of Charlotte, North Carolina, city officials are also entrusted with ensuring that the very institution of government is ethical.
• ICMA leads efforts to build ethical habits in local government professionals by offering online training courses, webinars, and peer assistance services:
  • Ethics 101 e-Course: Are members of your organization prepared to do the right thing when ethical dilemmas happen?
  • Real World Ethics with ICMA's Martha Perego: Webinar series dissecting ethical dilemmas and using examples from real life as learning opportunities.

Would you like to get more information related to ethics in local governments? Do you have some stories to share about your organization’s efforts to promote ethics? If so, please comment and share below.

Knowledge Network, Intern

Yalan Qin