The Anaheim City Council has signaled its support for having an ethics officer, a new position that would be tasked with providing oversight of City Hall, local elections and lobbyists.

The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to direct city staff to come up with further details for what the ethics officer role would entail. The ethics officer was an idea that independent investigators hire to look into alleged wrongdoing in Anaheim recommended in their final report delivered over the summer.

The ethics officer’s goal would be to promote the public’s confidence in City Hall and help city officials comply with laws, advance new ethics policies and conduct investigations.

“I would prefer to approach it in a way that we have somebody here that knows the laws and can help us make sure that we all comply with the law,” Councilmember Natalie Meeks said.

The person would report to either the city manager or the city attorney.

The independent investigators recommended the ethics officer should be removable only for proven misconduct or malfeasance.

The council also discussed having an independent ethics commission that could monitor and enforce the city’s laws on campaign finance and conflicts of interest.

Other California cities with an ethics commission include Oakland, San Diego and Sacramento. Those commissions have five to seven members. However, some Anaheim councilmembers said they’d want to move toward having an ethics officer first before further exploring how the city could create an ethics commission.

Councilmember Carlos Leon said he wanted the ethics commission to be put before voters as a charter amendment next year.

Meeks said one of her concerns with an ethics commission is community members trying to opine on legal matters.

In September, the council asked for staff to budget for the new ethics officer position.

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