When the Lake County Council chose Christine Cid as president, it created a disturbing ethical precedent.

Cid, D-East Chicago, said she would set an agenda for county government that avoids major job layoffs but seeks to end expensive and controversial perks.

Nothing against ending costly perks, but the layoffs shouldn't be avoided. The Good Government Initiative recommendations by consultant Maximus Inc. should not be ignored.

This brings us to the main reason Cid should not have been named council president: She is a county employee and, therefore, cannot help but make decisions that affect her own department.

That is a major ethical no-no, and the rest of the council didn't prevent it.

Cid is a supervisor in the county clerk's office, overseeing operations in the East Chicago branch. It is difficult to imagine her being able to recommend eliminating her employees' jobs -- and possibly her own -- as part of a reasonable decision to consolidate operations in Crown Point.

The Maximus recommendations include eliminating 26 full-time jobs in the county clerk's office. As a council member, Cid has abstained on votes directly involving the clerk's office. But Cid's position as a council president presents an obvious conflict of interest.

The Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform's 27 recommendations included barring government employees from serving on a governing board for that same unit of government. That report came out in December, long before Cid was elected council president.

The report says, "Allowing the employees of a unit of local government to serve as elected policymakers for that unit is an unacceptable practice for a number of reasons. First, it is a clear conflict of interest for public officials to benefit from their actions as elected officials. Second, it undermines the chain of command and procedures for discipline that are critical to effective public services, particularly public safety. And perhaps most important, it diminishes the faith that citizens must have that local governments act in the public interest."

How disappointing that the Lake County Council would appoint a county employee as council president -- especially after the commission suggested a change that wouldn't even permit her to serve on the council, let alone as council president.

The council's next big decision should be to join the Shared Ethics Advisory Commission. It would be money well spent.