Pictured from left: Chief City Court Judge Michael Martinelli; City Council President Chuck Lesnick: Ethics Board Members Helen Henkel, Andrew MacDonald, Michele Graffeo and Peter Smith; Mayor Phil Amicone. 

Mayor Phil Amicone presided over the swearing in of three members of the Yonkers Board of Ethics last week, one of the city's most important volunteer governmental bodies.

The members include Michele Graffeo, an attorney and former Yonkers City Court Judge; Peter Smith, the former Executive Director of the Yonkers Municipal Housing Authority; and Andrew MacDonald, also an attorney.

Smith and MacDonald will each serve three-year terms expiring at the end of 2012. Graffeo will fill the remainder of a term expiring at the end of this year.

The Yonkers Board of Ethics was proposed by Mayor Amicone's Charter Revision Commission in 2005 as part of a tough new ethics code for city officials and employees. It was confirmed by a city wide voting referendum that November and became active in 2006.

The Ethics Board hears and investigates ethics complaints, conducts hearings, recommends disciplinary actions, renders opinions, and administers the annual disclosure of financial statements for city employees.