Letter to the Tattler: Emeryville Needs an Ethics Commission

Emeryville Should Have an Independent Ethics Commission Like Other Bay Area Cities 

Open Letter 

by Elisabeth Montgomery

The City of Emeryville recently devoted time and energy to establishing a Code of Ethics, which I applaud since small communities must stay engaged and diligent about upholding government standards in our democracy. The City Council was asked to begin this process based on behaviors exhibited by our councilpersons during the July hiring hearings in 2021 when several applicants were for the open City Planning Commission. One councilperson spoke in hostile words towards one or more applicants. Disclaimer - one of the applicants happened to be my husband Eugene Tssui. When researching how to send a complaint about a City Council member’s conduct, I discovered that Emeryville had no ethics code. “Who handles complaints against council members?” The reply from the legal department was, “City Council will decide if the complaint is valid.”

Emmy Award winning 
Emeryville resident
Elisabeth Montgomery

Thus, I began a journey to understand how a Code of Ethics can inform our city leaders about running our local government. I wrote letters to then-mayor John Bauters and spoke to city lawyers and clerks. I reviewed city council transcripts and spoke with regional organizations that assist cities in setting up a Code of Ethics. Like our US Constitution, I learned that developing a great Code of Ethics is a “living document” that is always “in progress” and needs annual reviews. 

One hallmark of a great Code of Ethics is not just writing up a legal template for the city staff and saying it is done. Instead, it requires gathering input from the residents and community. According to legal experts at the Institute for Local Government, the other explicit guarantee to be embedded in the Ethics Code is that the clear objective - when confronted by constituents with challenges to city staff conduct - the City Council should not be the only decision-makers on the issue. Instead, an independent governance body should help decide the case. This will assure elected officials avoid perceptions that their values are based on their views rather than the everyday ethics that determine our laws. 

The current Emeryville Mayor must take the next step to inform residents, gather input, set up an oversight committee, and update the Code of Ethics in 2024. 

Elisabeth P. Montgomery, Ph.D., GCDF is an international career development educator and an Emmy Award winning documentary film producer.  She has lived for 34 years in Emeryville with her husband Eugene Tssui, himself an international architect and author.  Mr Tssui's work is currently being shown at the New York Museum of Modern Art.  The couple have been advocating for an ethics commission for Emeryville for the last two years.  The current Mayor of Emeryville, John Bauters, has recently said NO to the question of an ethics commission for Emeryville.