00;00;00;03 - 00;00;11;26 Stephanie Wiechmann County Council President Jessica Piper told council members she's had multiple people reach out to her about making a code of conduct for the council. She says she's not opposed to it and asked for volunteers to serve on a committee that would create it. 00;00;11;29 - 00;00;25;23 Jessica Piper We have a code of ethics and such in the county handbook. It's there, but as elected officials, it doesn't necessarily pertain to us because it isn't necessarily enforceable. This is more just a objects to the public saying like, look, this is just as how we're going to conduct business. 00;00;25;29 - 00;00;34;27 Stephanie Wiechmann Eugene Whitehead, Bill Hughes and Dan Flanagan volunteered to form the committee, and council member Ryan Webb talked about his apprehension over what such a code would regulate. 00;00;35;04 - 00;00;41;05 Ryan Webb I am the most outspoken elected official in the entire county, and I have very strong opinions that I openly speak out about. 00;00;41;09 - 00;01;06;06 Stephanie Wiechmann In April, several individuals and a student group from a local high school called for Webb to resign after saying on social media that he identified as a woman of color and as a lesbian. In the same announcement, he also said he'd retain his first name and his male pronouns. Community members said he was insulting transgender Hoosiers. At Tuesday's meeting, Webb says he'd approve of a code that talked about conducting official business and creating conflict of interest and nepotism rules. 00;01;06;10 - 00;01;30;12 Ryan Webb But we're talking about code of conduct for personal use. You know, I'm very, very vocal. I believe in two genders. I don't believe a man can be a woman. One can be a man. And and I'm open about that. That could be offensive to someone. And they think that's a violation of code of conduct. And I'm I'm not going to filter myself and my opinion when I'm speaking to reality and truth based off of the committee. 00;01;30;14 - 00;01;50;10 Stephanie Wiechmann Council attorney Ben Freeman says the council has very limited authority to actually remove or expel a member, and that would require a breach of official duties. The Muncie City Council has created a similar committee to consider what an ethics commission or new code of ethics should look like for Muncie elected officials and public employees. That committee has more than a year to do its work. 00;01;50;13 - 00;01;53;06 Stephanie Wiechmann In Muncie. Stephanie Wiechmann, IPR news.