Shasta supervisors vote down code of conduct policy for board members

The Shasta County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted down adopting a code of conduct for members of the panel.

Before voting 3-2 against the proposed code, board members spent more than 12 minutes arguing over whether the item was necessary. The board also used the occasion to air complaints over alleged insults board members made in the past.

Board members Mary Rickert and Tim Garman voted in favor of adopting the conduct code, while supervisors Kevin Crye, Patrick Jones and Chris Kelstrom voted against the measure.

Rickert said she wanted a code of conduct to guide members’ behavior during board meetings. To develop the 17-point code, she used a template offered by the Rural County Representatives of California, a nonprofit organization that serves rural county government interests.

She said many organizations and businesses have codes of conduct to guide employee behavior.

But discussion over the proposal broke down into disagreement.

At one point, Jones asked Rickert if she would vote to censure herself for past behavior aimed at Jones. He said Rickert once said something that could be a violation of item No. 9 in the proposed code.

“Supervisor Rickert, I did have a question for you. With regards to No. 9, ‘treat each other with mutual respect to remain civil,’ you brought up a past relationship, in a derogatory manner, against me. Would you agree to censure yourself?” Jones asked.

“That was in context of another conversation,” she said. “When you called Nathan Blaze (a.k.a. Pinkney) a domestic terrorist from the dais, should we not censure you for that?”

“That was not directed at a board member. This is talking about board members,” Jones said.

The code of conduct generally asked that board members conduct themselves with dignity, regularly share information, avoid conflicts of interests and treat people with respect, including members of the public and the board.

The proposal also says board members should adhere to all laws, not discriminate against or harass others and that supervisors should refrain from directing day-to-day operations of county staff.

Crye said he didn’t think the code was necessary because 14 of the 17 of the items listed in the proposal were already included in the county employee handbook.

“But one of the things is when you talk about redundancy, I don't know why we would have something about ‘don't be redundant,’ but yet of these 17 items, only three aren't redundant,” Crye said.

He also objected to the use of the word “democratic” as it was used in item No. 2 in the code:

“We subscribe to the concepts of democratic, effective, and efficient governance by responsible, knowledgeable members of the Board of Supervisors with the understanding that official decisions made, and actions taken, are always made in the best interest of public service,” the proposal says.

But Crye said he wanted the word “democratic” taken out of the code “because I can't stand when something says democratic because we are a constitutional republic. So, I'd like to strike that and put in a constitutional republic.”

While Crye proposed several changes to the code, the board did not vote on them.

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Some members of the audience at Tuesday’s meeting disagreed with the proposal because they thought the code of conduct applied to them, but Rickert reminded them that it was for board members.

Susan Weiss of Redding told supervisors she thought the board could benefit from a code of conduct.

“If anybody's been to the Board of Supervisors meetings the last few months or watched on television, I think it'd be hard to say that we do not need a code of conduct,” Weiss said. “It is important that we treat each other civilly. It's super important in this day and age.”

Nick Gardner of Redding said he didn’t think government should tell people how to behave.

“It is my opinion that respect is earned and should not be legislated. Only liberals want to legislate respect. Mary (Rickert), this shows that you're not a Republican. You’re a liberal Democrat just like (former supervisor) Leonard Moty was, claiming he was a Republican,” Gardner said.

Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County supervisors vote down conduct policy for board members