LAKELAND, Tennessee (May 21, 2013) – The City of Lakeland, Tennessee announced today that it selected Ethical Advocate for its ethics hotline service.

The City is committed to the principals of good ethics and governance and recognized that a third party provided ethics hotline is an industry best practice.  The hotline will support the goal of ensuring residents are provided the best value services and to reduce or eliminate potential for fraud, waste, and abuse.

The ethics hotline service is being made available to employees and Lakeland residents so that they may provide anonymous feedback without concern of retribution or reprisal.  The service gives employees and citizens the ability to provide anonymous feedback to the City and for administrators to interact with the reporter anonymously to complete the investigation process. The hotline covers all aspects of City operations and administration 24 hours a day, every day of the year via the internet and toll-free number.  It includes system and service customization to meet the City’s unique needs, reporting and statistics modules, and all administrator training and technical support.

The City of Lakeland chose Ethical Advocate because it gives the City the necessary tools to examine the full spectrum of risk and exposures. The City encourages anyone who works for or with the organization to call the hotline, if they need to notify the organization of a serious matter but need to remain anonymous. As always, in addition to the new hotline, public comments by residents are always encouraged by contacting City Hall at (901) 867-2717.

The new, independent and anonymous ethics and anti-fraud reporting hotline phone number is (855)-487-4839, which will be available to contact 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  If a resident, City staff or other interested party would prefer to report an issue online, go to www.lakeland.ethicaladvocate.com.  The URL may also be found on the City of Lakeland’s website at www.lakelandtn.gov.