Examples of ordinance provisions on ethics for small communities?

[kbunker]

Does anyone out there work in a small community that has some good examples of ordinance language regarding ethics provisions for development review? I am a pretty new planner and I am working for a regional planning commission in Maine that wants to come up with a model for communities to ensure adequate adherence to due process requirements that are meant to protect the civil liberties of applicants and citizens alike (e.g., conflicts of interests and the appearance of such conflicts in the review of land use proposals, and the waiving of submission and design requirements without adequate justification and explanation in the record,).

The thinking is that without such an understanding of their obligations, municipalities jeopardize the planning process and add costs (including legal expenses andremedial mitigation measures for poorly designed projects) for themselves, taxpayers, and in many cases for the applicants as well.

I know that there must be some good examples of this out there; and am mostly looking for model language rather than unnecessarily re-inventing the wheel; but any experiences/expertise you guys/gals have had with this topic would be most appreciated.

By small I mean mostly under 10,000.

Thanks!

[Richmond Jake]

Just a few very broad thoughts...
Your local ordinances comply with state statutes as they apply to your review process.
Sufficient noticing on administrative actions and public hearings.
Your gov't operates "in the sunshine" and everything is public record.
Appropriate appeals procedures are in place to provide relief to affected parties.



Now, if you want to learn how to avoid getting caught in an ethics problem.....well, that's a topic for another thread.