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Beyond Ethics: Establishing a Code of <br />Conduct to Guide Your Council <br />Rod Gould is vice chair of the board of the Institute for Local Government, the <br />League’s nonprofit training and education affiliate, and a senior par tner at <br />Management Partners. Gould previously ser ved as city manager in four California <br />cities and is a past president of the League’s City Managers’ Department. He can be <br />reached at rodg ould17@gmail.com. <br />It is often said that ethics is the foundation of public ser vice and essential for public <br />tr ust and confidence in public officials. This is tr ue, but ethics alone is not enough. <br />A 2019 study conducted by the Pew Research Center reports that public tr ust in <br />g overnment remains near historic lows. The cur rent dear th of public confidence in <br />g overnment requires elected and appointed officials to lead by example even more <br />than in the past. This means conducting themselves with the highest levels of civility <br />and decor um, thereby giving residents a reason to reconsider negative stereotypes of <br />g overnment leaders and to modulate their own behavior when engaging with <br />g overnment officials. <br />Many obser vers lament the coarsening of civic dialogue in the United States and note <br />its creeping effects in council chambers. Sometimes this manifests in a few shrill <br />advocates and critics who spew vitriol and discord to disr upt the public process. At <br />other times, council members themselves display an appalling lack of respect for each <br />other, staff and/or the public they ser ve. Invariably, the council’s example sets the <br />tone. Disrespectful conduct on the council’s par t nor malizes such behavior by the