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SANFORD -- Residents may vote this fall to create a board that would oversee the ethics of Seminole County's elected leaders.

The Seminole County Charter Commission began a review this week of several county and city ethics ordinances that could serve as blueprints for a county ethics board.

Charter Commission Chairman Ben Tucker predicted that some form of a charter amendment on ethics would get on the November general election ballot.

The commission, appointed every six years to review the county charter and proposed amendments, focused its discussion on four areas: gifts and travel, conflict-of-interest rules, registration of lobbyists and an ethics board.

Charter Commission member Grant Maloy, a former county commissioner, has pushed for stricter ethics rules. He twice proposed ordinances on lobbyist registration and ethics rules during his eight years on the County Commission.

"But they got loved to death and went nowhere," he said.

That is why it is important to get the issue on a charter amendment, he said.

"Politicians are not going to generally put tougher rules on themselves," he said.

Maloy said independent ethics boards have been created throughout the country, and Charter Commission members generally seemed to support an ethics amendment, he said.

Some members suggested the County Commission should appoint a separate committee to study the issue, but Maloy said he wants no part of that.

"I'm not interested in leaving it up to politicians to study something," he said. "We have to have government that people believe in and officials that people trust."

Tucker said it might be difficult to get specific questions on ethical behavior on the ballot -- ballot questions are limited to 75 words -- but voters might be asked whether the County Commission should be directed to create an ethics board, he said.

Maloy said the limits apply only to the ballot language, so the charter amendment itself can be long and specific.

In the past year, ethics scandals have rocked elected officials from Orlando to Washington, D.C.

Orlando City Commissioner Ernest Page was removed from office in March after he was indicted on bribery and misuse-of-authority charges.

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty's voting record and business dealings with prominent real-estate broker Daryl Carter are under investigation by a special prosecutor.

Robert Perez can be reached at 407-322-1298 or rperez@orlandosentinel.com.