The City Council on Monday night passed a pair of ethics reform bills, a signature initiative of Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake. The bills, which seek to limit the mayor's influence on the board, allow the council president and city comptroller to each nominate one member to the five-person board and gives the board the power to elect its own chairman. Under the new law, state, city and county employees and lobbyists would be prohibited from serving on the board and terms would be staggered to halt the current system of a new mayor's appointing an entirely new board. The bills would also require that city board members undergo ethics training. The city's ethics board came into the spotlight during the legal troubles of former Mayor Sheila Dixon. The bills must be signed by Rawlings-Blake before becoming law.

- Julie Scharper