Chapter 9: Maintaining An Ethical Culture in Municipal Government through the use of A Professional Ethics Workshop for All City Employees

The City of Auburn, Alabama—home to Auburn University—is a thriving community of approximately 60,000 residents. It is located along Interstate 85 in east central Alabama. The city employs 465 regular employees in 13 departments who seek to provide a high level of professional service in a variety of areas to the city’s residents and visitors. Among the core values adopted by the employees of the city are respect, integrity, fairness, reliability, and professional excellence. Regarding professional ethics, the city’s statement of core values asserts, “Unquestionable integrity must be at the heart of our efforts to provide citizens with the best public services possible.” These are not hollow words. For many years the elected and professional leaders of the city have sought to maintain this ideal, and annual citizen surveys have documented the high level of effectiveness of the delivery of city services.