Board Members' Statement of Personal Conduct

 

Purpose

To provide a statement drawing together key points of guidance and expectation related to the personal conduct of Board members in the course and scope of their role.  To provide a tool through which each Board member may individually commit to principles of ethical, professional, lawful and effective personal conduct.

 

Statement

The board commits itself and its members to ethical, professional, and lawful conduct, including proper use of authority and appropriate decorum when acting as board members.

Accordingly,

Recognize that the primary responsibility of the Board is to govern by use of board policy and to evaluate whether the college is best meeting the educational needs of the students and the communities it serves.

1. Understand that the Board accomplishes its responsibility to govern and evaluate the college, by adopting policies by which the community college is to be governed, and the administration of the educational programs and the conduct of college business are the responsibility of the President not the Board.
2. Board members must not represent conflicted loyalty to the interests of the citizens of the district. This accountability supersedes any conflicting loyalty such as that to advocacy or interest groups and membership on other boards or staffs. This accountability supersedes the personal interest of any board member acting as an individual consumer of the organization's services.
3. Board members must avoid any conflict of interest with respect to their fiduciary responsibility in accordance with ORS Chapter 244. Should a board member apply for employment by the college, the board member must resign.
4. Board Members speak with one collective voice, and that individual Board members will not represent themselves as speaking for the Board.
5. Board members may not attempt to exercise individual authority over the organization except as explicitly set forth in board policies.
6. Board members' interaction with the president or with staff must recognize the lack of authority in any individual board member or group of board members.
7. Board members' interaction with the public, press, or other entities must recognize the same limitation and the similar inability of any individual board member or group of board members to speak for the board.
8. Members will give no public voice to matters of presidential or staff performance. Specifically, staff performance is the responsibility of the president.  In assessing and addressing matters pertaining to presidential performance, the Board should utilize the venue of executive session.
9. As new issues come before the board, the board will first determine if a policy has been violated. If a policy has been violated, the board will specify monitoring to correct the violation. If no policy has been violated, the board may determine that clarification of an existing policy or creation of a new policy is necessary.
10. Members will respect the confidentiality appropriate to issues of a sensitive nature and recognize discussions of the Board in Executive Session are confidential to the extent provided in Oregon statute.

By the affixing of my signature below, at the time of swearing-in, I affirm ongoing knowledge of and commitment to the above:

 

 

 

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