MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA’S AIRPORT COMMISSION SETS NEW ETHICAL STANDARDS
Board of Airport Commissioners Creates An Office of Ethics and Business Conduct

(Los Angeles, California – October 17, 2005) Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Board of Airport Commissioners (BOAC) today created an Office of Ethics and Business Conduct to establish new ethical standards for the City’s airports department, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), and to oversee all complaints of suspected misconduct.

"The Office of Ethics and Business Conduct will establish the highest standards of conduct to enhance the public’s trust in our local government," said Mayor Villaraigosa. "Public service is an honor and with it goes responsibility. Every decision must be made in the public’s best interest."

The BOAC directed LAWA to establish and maintain an Office of Ethics and Business Conduct to create and oversee a code of ethics at the City’s airports department while providing a confidential means for employees, contractors, consultants and others to report instances of suspected misconduct, without fear of reprisal.

One of the first actions of this new ethics office will be to conduct an all-employee survey to measure employee attitudes, knowledge and perceptions of the current ethical climate of the department to use as a benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of the department’s ethics initiatives in subsequent annual surveys.

LAWA Executive Director Lydia H. Kennard, who attended her first BOAC meeting since returning to LAWA on Oct. 8, said, "High standards of ethics and business conduct are a pre-requisite for everything we want to achieve at our airports. My first goal is to ensure LAWA conducts its business in accordance with the highest standards of corporate citizenship, with honesty, ethics and integrity, and in accordance with all applicable rules of law, regulations, policies, procedures and guidelines."

Kennard told the commissioners the LAWA program will be modeled after successful programs initiated at corporations and governmental institutions throughout the U.S. She said she hoped it can serve as a prototype for similar programs in other City departments.

The resolution approved unanimously by the BOAC also directed the department to:

• Publish and distribute a Code of Ethics and Business Conduct for use by all LAWA employees, contractors, subcontractors and consultants.
• Develop an initial module for training all employees on their responsibilities under the Code of Conduct and to introduce them to the services offered by the new ethics office.
• Develop tools and communication devices to reinforce the department’s commitment to the highest standards of ethics and business conduct.
• Establish a convenient and confidential means for employees, contractors, consultants and others to inquire about ethics issues, raise concerns, and report instances of suspected misconduct, without fear of reprisal.
• Provide a series of on-line training modules to educate employees on rules, regulations and laws they need to know to properly do their jobs.