AREA TOWNS – Published ethics policies in the 11 town Hardwick Gazette coverage vary from being in alignment with state mandated policies to nonexistent.
Only Plainfield’s website in the 11 town Hardwick Gazette coverage area, indicates the town has formally adopted a Municipal Code of Ethics. That policy, adopted by the select board on Jan 27, 2025, is a copy of the state’s code, from the Vermont statutes.
Hardwick’s personnel guidelines include conduct and conflict of interest sections, but no recommendations about reporting unethical behavior, or an anonymous way to report it.
Hardwick Town Manager David Upson said the town has had no issues or reason to contact the Vermont Ethics Commission since the Vermont Code of Ethics for State Public Servants became effective on July 1, 2022.
Upson said Hardwick needs “to adopt the state’s approved ethics policy ASAP.”
The Walden website contains a link identified as being for an Ethics & Conflict of Interest Policy, though the document linked there is conflict of interest policy, adopted in September. 2017, a year before the Vermont legislature created the Ethics Commission.
The Calais website offers a statement that the town “takes very seriously our obligation to promote transparency and inclusion when it comes to the work of our public official,” which continues, “State legislation from 2024 made it so that town-approved conflict of interest policies are no longer in effect; all towns are now required to follow the Vermont Municipal Code of Ethics.”
There are links there to the Vermont Municipal Code of Ethics, the Vermont Ethics Commission website, and a Calais Conflict of Interest Policy, which it says serves as supplement to the Municipal Code of Ethics.
Woodbury’s ethics policy also refers to the Vermont Municipal Code of Ethics and provides information about filing an ethics complaint with a form to do so. The town’s policy is that an ethics “complaint be directed to the town’s liaison to the state Ethics Commission, who shall investigate the complaint, and report the findings to the Select Board and Auditors.”
Last month Christina Sivret, the Vermont State Ethics Commission Executive Director said, “we don’t have oversight duties. We primarily provide training, complaint referral and advisory services.”
Her comments clarified that the state ethics commission is not established to investigate complaints. “Vermonters who have an ethics complaint under Act 171 can still file a complaint directly with their municipality, which is ultimately where any complaint filed with our office would be referred.”
Wolcott posts conflict of interest and conduct policies, while Marshfield offers only a conflict of interest policy. Cabot, Craftsbury and Greensboro offer no online policies related to ethics and
the Town of Stannard does not maintain a website.
“At the municipal level, we have had 22 complaints filed with our office this year, and 40 complaint inquiries, mainly prior to May. We have also had 54 requests for ethics advice from municipal officers, also mainly prior to May. These mostly relate to conflicts of interest and preferential treatment,” Sivret said. “Retaliation is another issue we hear about frequently.”
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
