Three new Ethics Commissioners have been selected by the Ad Hoc Ethics Commission Appointment Panel and will be sworn in at 4 p.m. Aug. 3 at the ethics commission monthly meeting at the Wyandotte County Courthouse.
The ethics commission meets at Division 18, old county commissioners’ chambers, second floor, Wyandotte County Courthouse, 710 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kansas.
The appointees are Wyandotte County residents who will serve a four-year term, according to a spokesman. The new commissioners were selected to serve on the Ethics Commission for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County-Kansas City, Kansas, by an Ad Hoc Ethics Commission Appointment Panel.
The new members of the Ethics Commission:
– John J. Bukaty Jr., retired Wyandotte County District Court Judge. He was appointed by the Kansas Supreme Court to sit on the Kansas Court of Appeals. Bukaty currently serves as a special master in Johnson and Wyandotte county district courts and is engaged in alternative dispute resolution practice. Bukaty spent two years in the U.S. Army. He has a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Kansas Law School. Bukaty has been a lifelong resident of Kansas City, Kansas, and remains active in the community.
– Linda Brown, a former special education teacher who also taught at the University of Texas and Purdue University. In 2000, she became a board-certified chaplain working at Truman Medical Center, Saint Luke’s Hospice in the metro and Saint Francis Health Center in Topeka. Brown has served as a member of ethics boards for two other professional organizations and on the ethics committees in the hospitals where she was a chaplain. Brown moved to Wyandotte County in 2015 and volunteers at the UG Animal Control office and a homeless shelter in Leavenworth County.
– Dachia T. Busch, currently employed as a counselor at Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley. She was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas, and the Wyandotte County area. She graduated from Washington High School and has a Master of Science in counseling psychology from Avila University, and both a Master of Education in sport administration and Bachelors of Arts in social work from Wichita State University. Busch serves on various professional committees in the Kansas City Metro.
Currently serving on the Ethics Commission:
– David K. Duckers, attorney, from the law office Horner and Duckers, Chartered. Duckers has resided in Wyandotte County for over 60 years. He graduated from Bishop Ward High School, graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in accounting, and graduated from Washburn Law School with a juris doctorate. He has practiced law for 41 years. He as served as the city prosecutor and as the municipal judge for the city of Kansas City, Kansas. He has also served as a trustee for the Kansas City Kansas Community College and chairman of the Park Board for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.
– Jerry Fiscus, retired from the KCKPD after spending 31 years on the police force. He spent the last six years working as a U.S. Marshal with the FBI. He has an associate degree from Kansas City Kansas Community College. He spent four years in the Air Force prior to joining the police department. He is active in his neighborhood as a watchdog for problems and notifying the appropriate officials.
The Ad Hoc Ethics Commission Appointment Panel is made up of R. Wayne Lampson, chief judge of the Wyandotte County District Court; Mark A. Dupree Sr., district attorney of Wyandotte County, and Thomas L. Wiss, legislative auditor of Wyandotte County.
Members of the Ethics Commission are unpaid and must be a Wyandotte County resident and be of good moral standing and reputation.
The purpose of the Ethics Commission is to recommend ways to improve the Unified Government’s Ethics Code, to review and report on any and all violations of the Code of Ethics, to render advisory opinions on questions of ethics, conflicts of interest and the applicability of the Code of Ethics.
Ruth Benien, ethics administrator of the Unified Government, serves as staff to the Ethics Commission.
– Information from the Unified Government