Islip is weighing whether to loosen its conflict-of-interest rules by lifting a ban on town officials holding party leadership roles.

The ban, when adopted in 2016 , was intended to mitigate the impact of party politics on day-to-day governance.

The current ethics rules prohibit elected Islip Town officials from serving in “any position other than a committeeperson of a town, county, state or national major political party committee.” At least four other Suffolk County towns have similar rules on the books.

The goal of such policies, according to municipal lawyer Paul Sabatino, is to keep separate the goals of political parties — which focus on strategy to get candidates elected — and public officials, who are charged with practical governance at the local level, such as making sure “

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