Division
1: Declaration of Policy
Section
2-41
Statement of Purpose
It
is essential in a democratic system that the public have confidence in the
integrity, independence, and impartiality of those who act on their behalf in
government. Such confidence depends not only on the conduct of those who
exercise official power, but on the availability of aid or redress to all
persons on equal terms and on the accessibility and dissemination of information
relating to the conduct of public affairs. For the purpose of promoting
confidence in the government of the City of San Antonio and thereby enhancing
the city’s ability to function effectively, this code of ethics is adopted.
The code establishes standards of conduct, disclosure requirements, and
enforcement mechanisms relating to city officials and employees and others whose
actions inevitably affect public faith in city government, such as former city
officials and employees, candidates for public office, persons doing business
with the city, and lobbyists. By prohibiting conduct incompatible with the
city’s best interests and minimizing the risk of any appearance of
impropriety, this code of ethics furthers the legitimate interests of democracy.
Public
service
is a public trust. All city officials and employees are stewards of the public
trust. They have a responsibility to the citizens of San Antonio to enforce the
City Charter and the associated ordinances and codes. To ensure and enhance
public confidence in City Government, each city official must not only adhere to
the principles of ethical conduct set forth in this code and technical
compliance therewith, but they must scrupulously avoid the appearance of
impropriety at all times.
As
used in this code of ethics, the following words and phrases have the meaning
ascribed to them in this Section, unless the context requires otherwise or more
specific definitions set forth elsewhere in this code apply
(a)
Acceptance. A written or verbal indication
that someone agrees; “Acceptance” of an offer of subsequent employment or
business opportunities includes legally binding contracts and all informal
understandings that the parties expect to be carried out.
An agreement, either by express act or by
implication from conduct, to the terms of an offer so that a binding contract is
formed.
(b)
Affiliated. Business entities are
“affiliated” if one is the parent or subsidiary of the other or if they are
subsidiaries of the same parent business entity.
(c)
Affinity. Relationship by “affinity”
(by marriage) is defined in Sections 573.024 and 573.025 of the Texas Government
Code.
(d)
Before the City. Representation or appearance
“before the city” means before the City Council; before a board, commission,
or other city entity; or before a city official or employee.
Representation “before the city” does not
include representation before a board where members of said board are not wholly
appointed by the City Council.
(e)
Benefit. “Benefit” means anything
reasonably regarded as pecuniary gain or pecuniary advantage, including a
benefit to any other person in whose welfare the beneficiary has a direct and
substantial interest.
(f)
Business
Entity. "Business
entity" means a sole proprietorship, partnership, firm, corporation,
holding company, joint‑stock company, receivership, trust, unincorporated
association, or any other entity recognized by law.
(g)
Candidate.
“Candidate” means a person who knowingly and willingly takes
affirmative action for the purpose of gaining nomination or election to public
office or for the purpose of satisfying financial obligations incurred by the
person in connection with the campaign for nomination or election.
Examples of affirmative action include:
(1)
the filing of a campaign treasurer
appointment, except that the filing does not constitute candidacy or an
announcement of candidacy for purposes of automatic resignation provisions of
Article XVI, Section 65, or Article XI, Section 11, of the Texas Constitution;
(2)
the filing of an application for a
place on a ballot;
(3)
the making of a public announcement of
a definite intent to run for public office in a particular election, regardless
of whether the specific office is mentioned in the announcement;
(4)
before a public announcement of intent,
the making of a statement of definite intent to run for public office and the
soliciting of support by letter or other mode of communication; and
(5)
the soliciting or accepting of a
campaign contribution or the making of a campaign expenditure.
(h)
City. “City” means the City of San Antonio.
(i)
Code
of Ethics.
“Code of ethics,” “ethics
code,” or “this code” means Divisions 1 through
10 of this Chapter, its amendment(s) and/or
enhanced definitions.
(j)
“Complainant”
means
an individual who has filed a sworn complaint with the City Clerk as provided in
Division 8, Section 2-83 (Complaints).
(k)
Confidential Government Information.
“Confidential government information” includes all information held by the
city that is not available to the public under the Texas Public Information Act
and any information from a meeting closed to the public pursuant to the Texas
Open Meetings Act, unless disclosure is permitted under the Open Meetings Act.
(l)
Consanguinity.
Relationship
by “consanguinity” (by blood) is defined in Sections 573.022 and 573.023 of
the Texas Government Code.
(m)
Discretionary Contract. “Discretionary
contract” means any contract other than those which by law must be awarded on
a low or high qualified bid basis. Discretionary contracts do not include those contracts subject to Section
252.022(a)(7) of the Texas Local Government Code or those contracts not
involving an exercise of judgment or choice.
(n)
Economic Interest. “Economic interest”
includes, but is not limited to, legal or equitable property interests in land,
chattels, and intangibles, and contractual rights having more than de minimis
value. Service by a city official or employee as an officer, director, advisor,
or otherwise active participant in an educational, religious, charitable,
fraternal, or civic organization does not create for that city official or
employee an economic interest in the property of the organization.
Ownership
of an interest in a mutual or common investment fund that holds securities or
other assets is not an economic interest in such securities or other assets
unless the person in question participates in the management of the fund. Ownership
of stock in a publicly traded corporation does not constitute ownership for
purposes of this code if the employee or official owns less than 10% of the
voting stock or shares of the entity and the value of the stock is less than
$15,000.
(o)
Employee. Except as provided in Section
2-52 of Division 2 (Prohibited Interests in
Contracts), Section 2-58(c) of Division 3 (Discretionary Contracts), and
Division 7 (Financial Disclosure), the term “employee” or “city
employee” is any person listed on the City of San Antonio payroll as an
employee, whether part-time or full-time.
(p)
Former City Official or Employee.
A “former city official” or “former city employee” is a person
whose city duties terminate on or after the effective date of this code.
(q)
Gift. “Gift” means a voluntary transfer of property
(including the payment of money) or the
conferral of a benefit having pecuniary value (such as the rendition of services
or the forbearance of collection on a debt), unless consideration of equal or
greater value is received by the donor.
(r)
Indirect Ownership. A person “indirectly
owns” an equity interest in a business entity where the interest is held
through a series of business entities, some of which own interests in others.
(s)
Intentionally. A person acts intentionally,
or with intent, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to a result of his
conduct when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or
cause the result.
(t)
Knowingly.
A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to the nature of his or
her conduct or to circumstances surrounding his or her conduct when he or she is
aware of the nature of his or her conduct or that the circumstances exist. A
person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to a result of his or her
conduct when he or she is aware that his or her conduct is reasonably certain to
cause the result.
(u)
Official. Except in Division 5
(Lobbyists), the term “official” or “city official” includes the
following persons:
The Mayor;
Members
of the City Council;
Municipal
Court Judges and Magistrates;
The
City Manager;
Deputy
City Manager;
Assistant
City Managers;
Assistants
to the City Manager;
City
Clerk;
Assistant
City Clerk;
All
department heads and assistant department heads;
Internal Auditor and all assistant internal
auditors;
Market Square Superintendent;
Assistant to City Council;
Assistant to Mayor;
Secretary to City Manager;
Executive Secretaries;
Community Action Manager;
Public Utilities Supervisor; and
Members of all boards, commissions (except the Youth Commission
whose members are minors), committees, and other bodies created by the City
Council pursuant to federal or state law or City ordinance, including entities
that may be advisory only in nature, who are appointed by City Council or who
are designated in the by-laws or organization papers of the entity to serve on
behalf of the city; and board members of any entity who are
appointed by the City Council to such board membership.
The
term “official” has a different meaning in Division 5 (Lobbyists), which is
defined in Section 2-62(a)
of that Division. The term “officer” is defined in Section 2-52(e)(2)
of Division 2 (Prohibited Interests in Contracts) and
Section 2-58(c)(2) of Division 3 (Discretionary Contracts) and is not synonymous
with any use of the term “official” in this code.
(v)
Official Action. “Official action” includes:
(1)
any affirmative act (including the making of a
recommendation) within the scope of, or in violation of, an official or
employee’s duties, and
(2)
any failure to act, if the official or employee is
under a duty to act and knows that inaction is likely to affect substantially an
economic interest of the official or employee or any person or entity listed in
Subsections 2-43(a)(2) through (9) of Division 2 (Conflicts of Interest).
(w)
Official Information. “Official
information” includes information gathered pursuant to the power or authority
of city government.
(x)
Ownership. Ownership of an interest in a
mutual or common investment fund that holds securities or other assets does not constitute direct or indirect
ownership of such securities or other assets unless the person in question
participates in the management of the fund. Ownership of stock in a
publicly traded corporation does not constitute ownership for purposes of this
code if the employee or official owns less than 10% of the voting stock or
shares of the entity and the value of the stock is less than $15,000.
(y)
Partner. Someone who engages in an
activity or undertaking with another; “Partner”
includes partners in general partnerships, limited partnerships, and joint
ventures. One who
shares or takes part with another especially in a venture with shared benefits
and shared risks.
(z)
Personally and Substantially Participated. “Personally
and Substantially Participated” means to have taken action as an official or
employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, giving advice,
investigation or similar action.
The fact that the person had
responsibility for a matter does not by itself establish that the person “personally and substantially
participated” in the matter.
(aa)
Recklessly.
A person acts recklessly, or is reckless, with
respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct
when he is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable
risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of
such a nature and degree that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from
the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the
circumstances as viewed from the actor's standpoint.
(bb)
Representation. “Representation”
is a presentation of fact – either by words or by conduct – made to induce
someone to act. Representation does not include appearance as a witness in
litigation or other official proceedings.
(cc)
Respondent means an
individual identified in a sworn complaint to have allegedly violated the Ethics
Code or the Code of Municipal Campaign Finance Regulations of the City of San
Antonio.
(dd) Solicitation. “Solicitation” of subsequent employment or business opportunities includes all forms of proposals and negotiations relating thereto.
Division 2: Present City
Officials and Employees
Section 2-43
conflicts
of interest
(a)
General Rule. To avoid the appearance and
risk of impropriety, a city official or employee shall not take any official
action that he or she knows is likely to affect the
economic interests of:
(1)
the official or employee;
(2)
his or her parent, child, spouse, or other family
member within the second degree of consanguinity or
affinity;
(3)
his or her outside client;
(4)
a member of his or her household;
(5)
the outside employer of the official or
employee or of his or her parent, child (unless the child is a minor), spouse, or
member of the household (unless member of household is a minor);
(6)
a business entity in which the official
or employee knows that any of the persons listed in Subsections (a)(1) or (a)(2)
holds an economic interest as that term is defined in Section 2-42;
(7)
a business entity which the official or
employee knows is an affiliated business or partner of a business entity in
which any of the persons listed in Subsections (a)(1) or (a)(2) holds an
economic interest as defined in Section 2-42;
(8)
a business entity or nonprofit entity
for which the city official or employee serves as an officer or director or in
any other policy making position; or
(9)
a person or business entity with whom,
within the past twelve months:
(A)
the official or employee, or his or her spouse, directly or indirectly
has
(i)
solicited an offer of employment for
which the application is still pending,
(ii)
received an offer of employment which
has not been rejected, or
(iii)
accepted an offer of employment; or
(B)
the official or employee, or his or her spouse, directly or indirectly
engaged in negotiations pertaining to business opportunities, where such
negotiations are pending or not terminated.
(b)
Recusal and Disclosure.
A city
official or employee whose conduct would otherwise
violate Subsection (a) must recuse himself or herself. From the time that the
conflict is, or should have been
recognized, he or she shall:
(1)
immediately refrain from further
participation in the matter, including discussions with any persons likely to
consider the matter; and
(2)
promptly file with the City Clerk the
appropriate form for disclosing the nature and extent of the prohibited conduct.
(3)
a supervised employee shall promptly
bring the conflict to the attention of his or her supervisor, who will then, if necessary, reassign
responsibility for handling the matter to another person; and
(4)
a member of a board shall promptly disclose the
conflict to other members of the board and shall not be present during the
board’s discussion of, or voting on, the matter.
(c)
Definitions. For
purposes of this rule:
(1)
An action is likely to affect an
economic interest if it is likely to have an effect on that interest that is
distinguishable from its effect on members of the public in general or a
substantial segment thereof; and
(2)
The term client includes business relationships of a highly personalized
nature, but not ordinary business-customer relationships.
(a)
General Rule. A city
official or employee may not use his or her official position to unfairly
advance or impede private interests, or to grant or secure, or attempt to grant
or secure, for any person (including himself or herself) any form of special
consideration, treatment, exemption, or advantage beyond that which is lawfully
available to other persons.
A
city official who represents to a person that he or she may provide an advantage
to that person based on the official’s position on a board or commission
violates this rule.
(b)
Special Rules. The
following special rules apply in addition to the general rule:
(1)
Acquisition
of Interest in Impending Matters. A city official
or employee shall not acquire an interest in, or affected by, any contract,
transaction, zoning decision, or other matter, if the official or employee
knows, or has reason to know, that the interest will be directly or indirectly
affected by impending official action by the city.
(2)
Reciprocal
Favors. A city official or employee may not enter into an agreement or
understanding with any other person that official action by the official or
employee will be rewarded or reciprocated by the other person, directly or
indirectly.
(3)
Appointment
of Relatives. A city official or employee shall not
appoint or employ or vote to appoint or employ any relative within the third
degree of consanguinity or affinity to any office or position of employment
within the city.
(4)
Supervision
of Relatives. No official or employee shall be
permitted to be in the line of
supervision of a relative within the third degree
of consanguinity or second degree of affinity.
Department heads are responsible for enforcing this policy. If an employee, by
reason of marriage, promotion, reorganization, or otherwise, is placed into the
line of supervision of a relative, one of the employees will be reassigned or
other appropriate arrangements will be made for supervision.
(c)
Recusal and Disclosure.
A city official or employee whose conduct would otherwise violate this
Section shall adhere
to the recusal and disclosure provisions provided
in Section 2-43(b) of Division 2 (Conflicts
of Interest).
(a)
General Rule.
(1)
A city official or employee shall not solicit,
accept, or agree to accept any gift or benefit for himself or herself or his or
her business:
(A)
that
reasonably tends to influence or reward official conduct; or
(B)
that
the official or employee knows or should know is being offered with the intent
to influence or reward official conduct.
A
city official or employee may accept a public award or reward for meritorious
service of professional achievement, provided that the award or reward is
reasonable in light of the occasion and it is not prohibited under the Texas
Penal Code Section 36.08.
(2)
A city official or employee shall not
solicit, accept, or agree to accept any gift or benefit, from:
(A)
any
individual or entity doing or seeking to do business with the City; or
(B)
any
registered lobbyist or public relations firm; or
(C)
any
person or entity seeking action or advocating on zoning or platting matters before a city
body,
save and except for
i)
items received that are of nominal value; or
ii)
meals in an individual expense of $50 or less at any occurrence, and no more
than a cumulative value of $500 in a single calendar year from a single source.
Doing
business with the city includes, but is not limited to, individuals and business
entities that are parties to a discretionary contract, individuals and business
entities that are subcontractors to a discretionary contract, and partners
and/or parents and/or subsidiary business entities of any individuals and
business entities that are parties to a discretionary contract.
(b)
Special Applications.
Subsection (a)(2) does not include:
(1)
a gift to a city official or employee
relating to a special occasion, such as a wedding, anniversary, graduation,
birth, illness, death, or holiday, provided that the value of the gift is fairly
commensurate with the occasion and the relationship between the donor and
recipient;
(2)
advancement for or reimbursement of
reasonable expenses for travel in connection with official duties authorized in
accordance with city policies; such payments must be disclosed in a travel
report as required in Section 2-76; payment
for or reimbursement of expenses for travel in excess of authorized rates under
city policy will be treated as a personal gift to the official or employee for
any applicable reporting requirements under Sections 2-73,
2-74 or 2-78;
(3)
a public award or reward for
meritorious service or professional achievement, provided that the award or
reward is reasonable in light of the occasion and
it is not prohibited under the Texas Penal Code Section 36.08;
(4)
a loan from a lending institution made
in its regular course of business on the same terms generally available to the
public;
(5)
a scholarship or fellowship awarded on
the same terms and based on the same criteria that are applied to other
applicants;
(6)
any solicitation for civic or
charitable causes;
(7)
admission to an event in which the city
official or employee is participating in connection with his or her spouse’s
position;
(8)
ceremonial
and protocol gifts presented to city officials from a foreign
government or international or multinational organization and accepted
for the City of San Antonio;
(9)
admission to a widely attended event, such as a convention, conference,
symposium, forum, panel discussion, dinner, viewing, reception or similar event,
offered by the sponsor of the event, and unsolicited by the City official or
employee, if
(A)
the official or employee participates in the event as a speaker or panel
participant by presenting information related to matters before the City; or
(B)
the official or employee performs a ceremonial function
appropriate to that individual’s position with the City; or
(C) attendance at the event is appropriate to the performance of the official duties or representative function of the official or employee;
(10)