About the Ethical Standards Board
The City is committed to holding its officers and employees to the highest ethical standards. To this end, the City adopted a Municipal Code of Ethics and charted the Jersey City Ethical Standards Board to ensure compliance. The Board was established on May 18, 2005 by Ordinance 05-049. It is empowered to receive, review and initiate complaints regarding violations of the Municipal Code of Ethics as well as violations of the State’s financial disclosure requirements. The Municipal Code of Ethics is available
HERE and you can learn about the State’s financial disclosure requirements
HERE.
The Board is also empowered to render advisory opinions to City employees as to whether an activity would constitute a violation of any provision of the Code of Ethics or the State’s financial disclosure requirements. Such advisory opinions are generally not made public except under extraordinary circumstances and even in such circumstances, the name of any City officer, employee or candidate involved will remain anonymous.
Members of the Ethical Standards Board
Francis X. Falcicchio, Chair
Mary Bloom, Vice Chair
Daniel Cronin
Choudhri Hussain
Nicholas Jayme
Victor Negron, Jr.
John J. Hallanan III, Secretary to the Board
Wilfredo J. Ortiz II, Esq., Attorney to the Board
File a Complaint with the Ethical Standards Board
Anyone wishing to file a complaint with the Ethical Standards Board may do so. All complaints must be in writing and signed by the requestor. If submitted in paper form, the complaint should be placed in a sealed envelope and addressed to the Ethical Standards Board as follows:
The Jersey City Ethical Standards Board c/o The Office of the City Clerk City Hall – 280 Grove Street, Room 118 Jersey City, New Jersey 07302
If emailed, the complaint should be emailed to
[email protected]
The identity of anyone filing a complaint shall remain anonymous.
The Board will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within thirty (30) days and initiate an investigation. If the Board concludes that the complaint is outside its jurisdiction or without factual basis, it will notify the complainant in writing as well as the officer, candidate or employee against whom the complaint was filed.
If the Board concludes that the complaint is within its jurisdiction and there is a factual basis to consider the allegation, the Board shall notify the officer, candidate or employee against whom the complaint was filed and hold a hearing giving the accused individual an opportunity to present whatever information concerning the complaint that the individual wishes.
If the Board determines that the officer, candidate or employee has violated the Municipal Code of Ethics or of the State’s financial disclosure requirements, it may impose any penalties which it believes appropriate within the limits of § 33-15 of the Municipal Code.
Seek an Advisory Opinion from the Ethical Standards Board
Any officer, employee or candidate for municipal office may request an advisory opinion from the Ethical Standards Board. Requests must be in writing and signed by the requestor. If submitted in paper form, the request should be placed in a sealed envelope and addressed to the Ethical Standards Board as follows:
The Jersey City Ethical Standards Board c/o The Office of the City Clerk City Hall – 280 Grove Street, Room 118 Jersey City, New Jersey 07302
If emailed, the request should be emailed to
[email protected]
The Board will acknowledge receipt of the request within thirty (30) days and provide an advisory opinion within sixty (60) days.
The identity of anyone seeking an advisory opinion shall remain anonymous.