The Cottonwood City Council rejected code of conduct by a 4-3 vote during its regular meeting on Dec. 19.
Councilwoman Helaine Kurot and Councilman Stephen DeWillis had asked for the item to be put on the agenda on Aug. 24. City staff subsequently delivered a presentation on open meeting law and provided code of conduct examples from other communities in Arizona for council’s review and feedback. The council considered a draft code of conduct during a Dec. 11 work session, which a majority consensus found was suitable to be considered for adoption.
City Director of Strategic Initiatives Ryan Bigelow presented the code to the council, stating that it should be short and to the point and self-enforcing and that members have the primary responsibility to make sure that standards are understood and met. He also read highlights from the code, including the requirement that council members act in the public interest, not for any private or personal interest.
The code is designed to describe how council members should treat one another, city staff, constituents and others while representing the city of Cottonwood.
Councilman Michael Mathews, who had been sworn in earlier in the meeting, said that he was in favor of the idea of a code of conduct but wants it tabled and reworked. He claimed that the code was intended to be “used as a weapon, used to bludgeon,” but did not specify how and declined to provide any evidence.
He also claimed that when a council member “didn’t vote properly, she was kind of verbally accosted for that vote,” but again provided no evidence or specifics.
“I think what we need to do is really consider tabling this, letting things calm down and bring it back,” Mathews said. “I think it’s the height of hypocrisy right now to ask council members to sign this and abide by this.”
In his application for appointment last week, Mathews told council he possessed a recording of a private executive session meeting, which had raised ethical concerns about him from council members. He was appointed anyway by a 4-2 vote.
Councilwoman Lisa DuVernay said that she took issue with the code last week. “I illustrated two or three examples and if we’re self-governing, nothing was addressed at that point or even a discussion of what I have asked about,” she said. “I agree, I think we need a code of conduct, but I think we need to talk about it a lot more.”
Councilwoman Helaine Kurot said that she thinks the council needs it and is open to making modifications as necessary, but everyone also needs to be on the same page and this code provides a starting point.
“It’s normal for city councils to have a code of conduct and we haven’t had one and needed it for a long time,” Vice Mayor Debbie Wilden said.
“We do need one,” Councilman Stephen DeWillis said. “Due to events that are facing us right now, I am going to have to agree that we need to table it and probably tweak some wording on it.”
Councilman Derek Palosaari also wanted to table the item. Palosaari was subject of a council resolution later in the meeting condemning his sexual misconduct and sexual harassment of female members of Cottonwood city staff. Palosaari left the meeting before a vote to condemn his conduct but Mathews, DeWillis and DuVernay all refused to vote to condemn Palosaari’s sexual harassment, to which the code of conduct would apply.
Mayor Tim Elinski said that there were concerns from one council member but that the council had wanted to move forward with it during the last discussion.
“We liked the document, felt it was important and a good step forward,” Elinski said. “I don’t think we need to table it, I think we need to approve it. If things need to be changed in the future, by all means we can do that.”
The motion to adopt the code failed with Elinski, Kurot and Wilden voting in favor of adopting the code and DuVernay, Mathews, Palosaari and DeWillis — who had initially asked for the item — voting against it.
