Douglas County commissioners want an ethics policy.

On Monday commissioners said they favor forming a committee to develop an ethics policy for county government officials, department heads and employees.

Commissioners said their intention is to prevent trouble, and is not indicative of a problem that exists now.

“We’re doing this as a safeguard to the future,” Commissioner Jere McElhaney said.

County Administrator Craig Weinaug and his assistants will come up with a list of people who can serve on the committee. It could include elected officials and department heads or members of their staffs.

In January, Commissioner Charles Jones suggested developing an ethics policy. His suggestion came shortly after the Lawrence City Commission got into hot water with the Kansas Attorney General’s Office for discussing economic incentives for a pharmaceutical company during a closed-door executive session. The city had to go through a training session about the state’s open meetings law.

Although the county also approved the economic incentives package, county commissioners were not involved in any violations.

A study of ethics policies used by other cities was conducted by Jenny Hesseltine, a Kansas University graduate student working as a management intern for Weinaug. She presented three policies used by Chapel Hill, N.C., Mesa, Ariz., and the Unified Government of Kansas City, Kan.-Wyandotte County.

“I think the best way to go about that is to appoint a committee to pick one of the polices to modify for Douglas County,” Hesseltine said.

An ethics policy would likely address gifts, contractual roles and relationships. Also discussed was the possibility of having someone employees can report violations to.

“I think it’s critical to have some sort of third party – some reporting mechanism that people are comfortable in reporting to,” Weinaug said.

Commissioners said they wanted a policy that is clear.

“I have no interest in a ‘gotcha’ program,” Commissioner Bob Johnson said.

Commissioners said they hope to have a policy in place this summer.

Among other business items, commissioners approved a bid of $836,000 from Vimas Painting of Campbell, Ohio, for rust removal and painting of the Kansas River bridge at Lecompton. The bid includes the use of temporary traffic signals to allow northbound and southbound traffic to alternately cross the bridge. The work is expected to begin May 12 and be completed by Aug. 12.

The cost of the project will be split with Jefferson County. Douglas County will pay 89 percent with Jefferson County paying 11 percent.