Ethics Board

Regular Meetings

The Ethics Board (EB) meets once or twice a month at times when the board members are available. Most of the discussion at our EB meetings is confidential and is held in executive session. Other Ethics Boards that we are aware of have their entire meetings in executive session. However, to comply with the Open Meetings Law the following policy has been adopted:

  • The meeting begins at an announced time as an open meeting.
  • Those topics, which are not confidential in nature, are discussed in the open meeting.
  • Once the confidential portion of the agenda is reached the open portion of the meeting is adjourned and the meeting reconvenes. Usually, the bulk of the meeting is closed.
  • The topics on the closed agenda are to be described only in the most general terms. Even when a topic involves a request by an individual for an opinion concerning him or her self, the deliberation may refer to other more confidential cases and is best held in executive session.
  • Requests for opinions on ethics decisions are accepted only in written form. If the written requests are from non-Brookhaven Town employees or officials they must be notarized. No questions are accepted from the floor in the open portion of the meeting.
  • The opinions reached by the Ethics Board will be published on our website in an encrypted form with names removed to protect confidentiality.

Members

  • Ron Manning, Chairman
  • Robert Vecchio, Vice Chairman
  • James E. McElhone, Esq.
  • Majorie Mesidor, Esq.
  • Karen Spanos, Esq.
  • Kyle Markott, Executive Director

Responsibilities

It is our charge to interpret the Town’s Ethics statutes and educate Town officials and employees to avoid possible conflicts. We are sensitive to the balance between encouraging the highest level of ethics and minimizing paperwork and forms.

Submitting a Request for an Ethics Board Opinion

The Ethics Board is interested in receiving requests for opinions.

  • Individuals might ask for an opinion as to whether a past or contemplated action is a conflict.
  • A person, or a group, might inform us of an action by others that may be unethical as defined by the Brookhaven Ethics Statutes.

Our Board is interested in receiving all such requests and giving them all attention and deliberation. These leads are important for the Ethics Board to our mission. We also consider all of these requests in a confidential manner. Some may not appear to require confidential deliberation, however, our deliberations may refer to other requests that are clearly sensitive and confidential. We also must respect the person(s) that are the object of the allegations.

These requests are treated as a first step of a possible litigation sequence.

Notarized Affidavit

If a non-Brookhaven employee or official is initiating the request, we ask that the request be in a notarized affidavit form. We ask that you:

  1. Outline what you feel has been at variance with the Brookhaven Ethics Code, the parties concerned, and enough particulars for us to understand the allegation.
  2. You should cite the Sections of the Ethics Code that are being violated. Often, the Ethics Board gets requests for opinions for actions outside of the Ethics Statutes.
  3. Finally, the note should be signed and notarized and sent to the attention of the Ethics Board.

You may mail or drop off your request for an Ethics Board Opinion to:

Town of Brookhaven Ethics Board
c/o Kyle Markott, Executive Director
1 Independence Hill
3rd Floor
Farmingville, NY 11738
Email Kyle Markott

A Brookhaven employee or official need not have the request letter notarized.

Written Requests

Please note that we do not accept requests for opinion by telephone. We wish to have a written or email record of any communication about opinions that we have rendered. Therefore, we would discourage phone calls or in person questions about ethics decisions and direct any questions to be submitted in written or email form.

Ethics Code

The Town of Brookhaven Code of Ethics and Disclosure can be found in Chapter 28 of the Town Code.