Norwich — Members of the City Council, city department heads and the six city fire chiefs are being asked to take an online ethics course and test this month to obtain certificates stating they “successfully completed training for Ethical Behavior for Local Government.”

The course is the first step of enhanced ethics training for all city officials as requested by the City Council in November in the wake of the controversy that erupted after five city officials attended a lavish trip to the Kentucky Derby hosted by the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative in May.

The city Ethics Commission will hold a public hearing on Jan. 19 on six ethics complaints filed against trip participants alleging they violated the city's ethics code on gifts and conflicts of interest. Two complaints were filed against Mayor Deberey Hinchey and one each against Norwich Public Utilities General Manager John Bilda, NPU Division Manager Steve Sinko and utilities commission Chairwoman Dee Boisclair and Vice Chairman Robert Groner.

City Manager John Salomone said he arranged for the online course through the city's insurance carrier, Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency. Salomone initially has asked all city department heads, members of the City Council and the six fire chiefs — the chief of the paid Norwich Fire Department and five volunteer fire chiefs — to take the tests by the end of January.

The course is one of dozens offered by the firm LocalGovU, which works through partner agencies, such as CIRMA in Connecticut, to provide training to municipal officials, said Tony Green, operations manager for LocalGovU. The course takes about 40 minutes and features an oral overview followed by 10 multiple-choice or true-false questions on ethics.

The city manager's office will receive a report with participants' results. As of Tuesday, eight participants had completed and passed the course, he said.

Salomone said Tuesday he is “testing it out” with department heads and could expand the course to all city employees and boards and commission members in the future.

“We'll use it as a jumping-off point,” Salomone said. “If there are one or two questions that people get wrong, we'll focus on that.”

Salomone also plans to schedule ethics workshops for employees and members of boards and commissions under the resolution approved unanimously by the City Council on Nov. 7.

The resolution called for Salomone to “continue a program of ethics training for all officers, officials or employees of the city including members of all departments, boards, commissions, committees or other agencies of the city including the city council to be given at the time of their initial involvement with the city and periodically thereafter.”

c.bessette@theday.com