At its work session July 1, the Lynnwood City Council is scheduled to receive another briefing on the role of the city’s Board of Ethics, which currently plays “little to no role” in handling ethics complaints submitted to the city.

Previously, City Clerk Luke Lonie informed the council that since the board’s reformation in late 2020, ethics complaints are sent to the board’s attorney to consideration. In 2023, the Board of Ethics Attorney was paid $9,611.50 for work on ethics complaints.

While the city council has appointed volunteers to run the city’s Board of Ethics, the board members are not actually involved with the complaints unless an appeal is made. No appeals have been made and so the board has not been involved. Lonie suggested that the board of ethics be involved in processing ethics complaints. His recommendation and revisions to the complaint policy are scheduled for discussion at the Monday meeting.

Other items scheduled for the meeting include:

• How the $137,312 of American Rescue Plan funds should be used. The council has received a $87,000 request from the finance director to extend the term of the part-time accountant currently managing the funds. The police department is requesting $50,300 for 10 tasers to be provided to new officers, also funded using ARPA allocations. The two requests total $137,300.
• An announcement of the eight individuals moving forward in the councilmember selection process, per rankings submitted by councilmembers.
• A discussion on suggested edits to the Lynnwood Municipal Code’s budgeting policies.

The July 1 meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in Lynnwood City Hall Council Chambers, 19100 44th Ave. W., Lynnwood. Visit lynnwoodwa.gov/Government/City-Council/City-Council-Meetings for information on streaming or joining the meeting live. You can see the complete agenda for the meeting here.