Mercer Island City Council voted unanimously at its Dec. 3 regular meeting to repeal its code of ethics for officials and place matters in the state’s hands.

Following the first reading of the ordinance, council fast-tracked the adoption without a second reading that was scheduled for next month if needed. With this vote, the council will now rely on state law to govern the conduct and ethics of its officials, according to a city document.

Mayor Salim Nice placed the item on the agenda and said they’ve grappled with the code of ethics’ lack of effectiveness since council adopted its initial code in 2018. Council adopted a revised code in 2021 and the standards and guidelines apply to councilmembers as well as appointed board and commission members.

“We’ve never found the right balance of how do we get policy and process on balance with public interest and trust in their officials. We’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars, plus people defending themselves have spent equal amounts of money, and we still haven’t gotten it right,” Nice said.

According to the city website, the code is aimed at, “Promoting high ethical standards and being accountable to those we serve, assures that our community can trust us.”

With the repeal, the code will no longer sit on the city manager’s work plan for 2025, according to city chief of administration Ali Spietz. City attorney Bio Park noted that ethics complaints will now be handled by the state Office of the Attorney General, the Public Disclosure Commission or Superior Court, all depending on the type of alleged complaints.

Ethics training is also part of the repeal, and councilmember Craig Reynolds feels that it’s appropriate to place it on the work plan for next year. Park said the city could tailor an ethics training course related to state laws and various provisions.

Deputy Mayor David Rosenbaum and councilmember Jake Jacobson echoed Nice’s sentiments at the meeting and mentioned that an ethics complaint was recently lodged against the deputy mayor and councilmember.

“I think we’ve had sufficient experience with this thing to see that it isn’t working and doesn’t deliver anywhere near the product that we thought it would and it costs a lot of money,” said Jacobson, who was cleared of an ethics complaint in April.

PLANNING COMMISSION

City council revealed the five members of the reconstituted planning commission at its Dec. 3 meeting.

In May, council voted 5-2 in favor of altering the commission, including reducing the members from seven to five. According to city documents and noted in a previous Reporter article, council is choosing to change the commission, “To increase land-use planning capacity and efficiency as well as provide additional direction to work program priorities.”

Following Mayor Nice’s motion to appoint the individuals to fill the vacancies, council voted 4-3 in favor of the following five: Dan Thompson (Position 1, resident paid practitioner); Nazim Nice (Position 2, non-resident paid practitioner); JB Gibson (Position 3, resident paid practitioner); Kate Akyuz (Position 4, resident paid practitioner); and Anthony Perez (Position 5, resident paid practitioner). According to the city website, paid practitioners are compensated $500 per meeting.

Council received 28 applications to fill the spots.

Councilmember Reynolds cast one of the dissenting votes and said that he carefully reviewed all the candidates prior to the meeting.

“I’ll just note that my priority in selecting people beyond ensuring that they meet the qualifications is to make sure we have people that are prepared to be team players, to be listeners, to be cooperative and to generally work together without being lone rangers — and I don’t think this is the best slate for that,” Reynolds said.

On Dec. 5, Mayor Nice told the Reporter that Nazim Nice is his twin brother. The mayor also shared an advisory opinion document issued by the Mercer Island ethics officer that concludes that, “Mayor Nice’s participation in the City Council’s decision on his brother’s appointment to the Planning Commission DOES NOT present a conflict of interest under the applicable law.”

Last month, Mayor Nice apprised council of the scenario — and that he requested a written advisory opinion — to ensure transparency and adherence to its ethical guidelines.

The advisory opinion added, “Legislative bodies are presumed to act ethically and reasonably, and there is no evidence or implication that the City Council’s decisions regarding membership of the Planning Commission will be based on anything other than the qualifications of the candidates.”