Wichita ? Ethical lapses that cost two city employees their jobs last week have prompted Wichita and Sedgwick county officials to create new ethics codes.

Wichita’s code of ethics is 20 years old, and the county doesn’t have one at all.

Travel expenses and a questionable relationship with an insurance consultant were factors in the firing last week of city risk manager Mike Payne and retirement of city finance director Ray Trail.

The two were central figures in a media report that disclosed that during a 14-month period in 2002 and this year, Trail and Payne spent between $52,300 and $73,800 of taxpayer money on meetings with the consultant, David McCleerey of Borrego Springs, Calif.

Earlier this year, City Manager Chris Cherches was criticized for awarding a no-bid contract to a Wichita State University training program run by his wife, Susan.

“We need to have an updated code of ethics, and we need to have the checks and balances to enforce it,” Mayor Carlos Mayans said.

The city’s code of ethics for employees includes general guidelines to avoid conflicts of interest and maintain public trust, but the code is silent on appropriate travel expenses and whether to accept gifts of any kind.

In comparison, the code of ethics for state employees prohibits accepting travel, lodging or gifts worth more than $40.

Cherches said that even though the city code of ethics did not address those topics, other departmental regulations did. He plans to assemble all of the city’s ethical guidelines into a comprehensive code of ethics and present it to the City Council by the end of the month.

County Manager Bill Buchanan said the city’s ethical problems prompted him to start drafting a code that he plans to present to the County Commission within the next few weeks.