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Imagine a small town where the promise of progress and innovation has captured the hearts of its residents. The local council is bustling with activity as new initiatives are proposed to revitalize public spaces and improve community services. However, beneath the surface of these ambitious plans, whispers of unethical practices begin to emerge. A trusted council member is observed accepting favors from a contractor bidding on a major project, raising eyebrows and questions about the integrity of the process. As suspicions grow, citizens start to lose confidence and trust in their local government.
Individuals have many reasons why they might run for office or serve in administration positions, and we want all of them to be the town heroes — driven by commitment to our schools and municipalities, to students and citizens. But whenever individuals have power, temptation can follow it.
Sad to say, our local governments are not immune from bad actors doing harm from within — in other words, engaging in corruption. Citizens should be able to believe that their candidates' motives are genuine and that their tax dollars will be used ethically to support and improve their community. But the news shows that isn’t always the case.
Read on to discover how to identify corruption, how to report it and how local governments can set up protections against future illegal or unethical behavior. In this article, you will learn:
Government corruption is when people in power use their position for personal gain instead of serving the public good. Some of the most familiar acts include:
Essentially, it's when leaders or officials break the law or act unethically to benefit themselves.
Spotting corruption can be difficult, especially if no one is looking for it. However, history has shown us that there are telltale signs of corruption in local government.
Corruption is more likely to occur when there are few or no watchdogs. If you live in an area where one political party dominates the government, there is less likely to be any objective oversight. Investigations may be light or nonexistent. It's the old adage, “What you don't know won't hurt you” — until it does.
Don't assume corruption doesn't occur in your area. Because Illinois is known for its public corruption, the University of Illinois did a study of local government corruption. Chicago topped the list historically, but, when taking into account a more recent period, the city fell to sixth place, after cities including Richmond, Virginia; Newark, New Jersey; and the Austin/San Antonio area in Texas.
Other signs of possible corruption are when family members get insider jobs, public officials suddenly become wealthier or the local government budget doesn’t seem to reflect the community tax rates.
Whether you suspect or have hard evidence of corruption, it can be hard to decide to take action. An individual can be unclear on the steps to take, not want to get involved, fear reprisal or feel fatalistic that taking action can do any good.
But — if not you, who? Allowing corruption to continue not only does immediate harm to the community, but it exposes the community to future harm, normalizing the behaviors that work against the common interest. Whistleblowing can be stressful, but it has to be done to uphold the public trust. After all, the resources being wasted or rerouted illegally or unfairly include yours and every other tax payer in your community.
Download our guide to ethics and compliance for publicly elected boards to discover how you can transform ethical oversight and governance for the better.
Would you know how to report corruption in local government if you suspected it? Smaller cities and towns are actually more susceptible to corruption than large cities. With smaller budgets, smaller locales often lack the budget to employ an official oversight body.
Regardless of the size of a community or the size of its budget, every community can take action to prevent corruption within their local government.
To prevent future corruption, every town or city should have a known authority to which citizens can report suspicions of fraud or corruption. Each area is at liberty to make their own decisions about who or what body has the authority to investigate and address allegations of fraud and corruption.
If your town doesn't have such an authority, it's a good idea to have some discussions with elected officials about establishing a watchdog authority. Alternatively, it's something citizens can bring up for discussion at a public meeting. You might just find that other citizens are equally concerned.
If your local government doesn't know where to start, it's helpful to share ideas with them on how other small towns and cities have approached the issue. Here's a starter list of ideas that various municipalities have implemented to improve accountability and transparency in their communities:
Ethics officials should be independent of city positions in order to avoid a conflict of interest. Their job descriptions should include overseeing city officials, management and staff. They should also be responsible for conducting investigations over allegations of ethics violations and make all ethics decisions public via public postings. Ethics officers usually also coordinate ethics training classes and ensure that all public officials are compliant with ethics education.
The use of a city auditor isn't always the best solution, as city auditors usually limit their investigations to allegations regarding financial issues.
For very small communities with extremely limited finances, it may not be possible to hire an ethics officer or an equivalent. In that case, at a minimum, citizens should verify that their local government has a system of internal controls, such as having more than one person open the mail and having more than one person check over the accounting records.
Board management software, including a full-featured solution like Diligent Community, can support your and your team’s efforts to reject corruption and embrace accountability and transparency in several key ways:
Preventing and reporting corruption is everyone’s responsibility, and Diligent Community is a powerful tool to boost the transparency and accountability necessary to support responsible governance, rebuff bad actors and reassure citizens. Sign up for a demo today to learn more about what Diligent Community can do for your team.
