One City Council member thinks it’s time for a code of ethics be introduced to the Port Arthur City Council.

Osman Swati, District 6 City Councilman, requested a discussion regarding ethics for the Council at their meeting Tuesday.

He said citizens have approached him about this issue in the past and it’s good for the City Council members to remind themselves what are their boundaries, to instill public confidence and integrity in public government.

He stressed council members have no authority to make decisions individually. Their authority comes collectively.

Swati said he looked at ethical and professional conduct practices in the cities of Houston, Dallas and Corpus Christi, but not any Texas cities the size of Port Arthur.

“I don’t have that much detail yet. This is an ice breaker (introducing ethical training to the council),” he said.

He said the training would be for the present City Council and future City Councils.

“This will give the City Council the tools to create a code of ethics,” he said.

Swati wanted to bring in Al Borquez with the Texas Center for Municipal Ethics for training for the council, but the council wasn’t receptive to the idea.

“The guy has a lot of knowledge about cities’ codes. It would be a starting point, but the guys (City Council) were very hesitant. They thought I was attacking them and they took things out of context. I approach this as a general thing to make policy.”

Some council members said Swati was bringing up the topic of ethics in response to a video that showed Thomas Kinlaw III, District 3 councilman, berating first responders at the scene of a traffic accident in which his daughter was involved on Jan. 6 at Memorial Boulevard and 19^th Street. They added that Kinlaw has apologized and shown remorse and that that should settle the issue.

According to the city charter, the City Council has the power to investigate the incident, but nothing beyond that point. Swati was curious about who would receive the information following the investigation.

Section 7 of the charter reads:

“The council shall have power to cause the affairs or the conduct of any councilman or appointed officer to be investigated, and, for such purpose shall have power to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers and other evidence, and, for that purpose may issue subpoenas or attachments which shall be signed by the mayor, and shall be served by any officer authorized by law to serve such process.

“The council shall also have power to cause testimony to be given under oath to be administered by some officer authorized by law to administer oaths; and, shall also have power to punish as for contempt any person refusing to testify to any fact within his knowledge, or to produce any books or papers under his control, relating to the matter under investigation.”

Investigation results may be presented to the City Council in closed session. However, a decision shall be made by a majority vote of the City Council in open session as to whether or not further action is indicated.

Willie “Bae” Lewis Jr., District 5 councilman, said he tried to introduce an ethics ordinance to the City Council, but it was voted down. Swati said he would like to see what Lewis did with his proposal and use it as a starting point.

During his research, he discovered other cities have an ethics committee incorporated. The City Council appoints someone to it with no political affiliation. They make recommendations on any ethical violation. Swati speculates the matter will come back to the Council and they will vote.

“It takes an immense amount of research to get it right. This is very preliminary. That’s why it wasn’t an action item (at the Council meeting).

“I will continue to push it. I understand it’s a big task,” Swati said. “We need the minimum basic code of ethics written in. For example, conflicts of interest, decisions based on merit, etc. Once formulated, I don’t see how a council member would oppose it.”