Norwich – The city Ethics Commission will go forward with a public hearing on an ethics complaint against a former volunteer docent accused of reading the mayor’s interoffice mail while staffing the City Hall information booth.

Commission Chairman Robert Davidson said the commission voted unanimously Monday night at a special meeting to continue with the July 31 hearing on the complaint against Joanne Philbrick filed by Bonnie Cuprak, secretary to Mayor Peter Nystrom.

Philbrick already had resigned from the docent’s position after City Manager Alan Bergren met with her in May after a City Hall video showed that she had opened the mail. Philbrick resigned from two city commissions last week, hoping that would lead to the Ethics Commission dismissing the complaint.

But Davidson said the commission felt obligated to hold the hearing to air the issues.

“She was certainly covered by the (ethics) code when the events occurred,” Davidson said. “And we have a duty to the community to establish a standard of conduct whenever we can.”

c.bessette@theday.com