MONTICELLO — During the Executive Committee meeting of the Legislature on Thursday, April 18, the board moved to hold a special meeting on Thursday, May 2 to discuss and make reappointments to the Ethics Board. District 6 Legislator Luis Alvarez moved a resolution to reappoint two members - James Schmidt and Joanne McPhillips.

Alvarez made it clear that it had nothing to do with the two members up for reappoint, as he said they are good people who know what they are doing. What Alvarez has a problem with is the Ethics Board as a whole, and he recommended that they go back and review it before appointing anybody. 

“I am very much opposed to the Ethics Board,” Alvarez said. “They weaponized it and they go after anybody they want. We have to stop this from happening from here on out. I’m not gonna vote on it until we go back and review the whole entire board.”

Clerk of the Legislature AnnMarie Martin noted that she needed the resolution to be passed and would need five votes as two of the Legislators would need to abstain.   

“If we don’t approve this today, we don’t have an Ethics Board,” Martin said. “I have an issue that needs to be addressed and I need an Ethics Board. There are five members on an Ethics Board and there are three right now. Two need to be reappointed and then you need to appoint two more within the next two months.”

Reviewing financial disclosure statements filed by County officials and employees is one of the duties of the Ethics Board and without them being able to function, Martin said that she is not able to collect financial disclosures. 

But Alvarez remained firm in his stance to not vote on the resolution before doing a full review of the Ethics Board. District 5 Legislator Cat Scott agreed with Alvarez that the Ethics Board has been weaponized, but also noted that there needs to be a board in place to have a quorum on issues. According to Martin, if a board is not in place, they don’t have the authority to call meetings. 

Since the next full board meeting is on May 16 and financial disclosure statements are due on May 15, the board decided to hold a special meeting on May 2. This will give them time to take a look at the Ethics Board and fix any issues before reappointing the members while also making sure it is resolved before the disclosures are due.