The City
of
Gifts
Handbook
I.
Introduction
In November 1998, the City Council enacted the City of
II.
The Ethics Code Governs Conduct by City Officials,
Employees and City Council Contract Personnel
A. Officials
The Ethics Code applies to all city officials, employees and
contract personnel hired by members of the City Council. Under the Code,
“officials” are:
The
Mayor;
Members
of City Council;
Municipal
Court Judges and Magistrates;
The
City Manager;
Assistant
City Managers;
Assistants
to the City Manager;
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, 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.
B. Employees
The term “employee” is defined as
“any person listed on the City of
C. City Council Contract Personnel
All aides and assistants who are employed by contract by a
member of City Council are also bound by the standards of conduct in the Ethics
Code, including the provisions regarding gifts. Section 2-54.
III.
Ethics Code Restrictions and Limitations on the Receipt
of Gifts
A. General Rule
Regarding Acceptance of Gifts
Under the Ethics Code, an official or an employee may not
solicit, accept, or agree to accept any gift or benefit for himself or herself of
his or her business:
1) that
reasonably tends to influence or reward official conduct; or
2) that
the official or employee knows or should know is being offered with the intent
to influence or reward official conduct.
This general provision applies regardless
of the source of gift or the amount.
Any gift offered with the intent to influence or reward official conduct
must be declined.
B. Gifts from Lobbyists, Contractors, and
Individuals Seeking Zoning or Platting Decisions
In addition to the general rule,
the Ethics Code has specific restrictions and limitations on gifts from three
types of donors:
1) Any individual or business entity doing or
seeking to do business with the City;
2) any registered
lobbyist or public relations firm;
3) any person seeking
or advocating on zoning or platting matters before a city body.
City officials and employees must
not solicit, accept or agree to accept gifts or benefit from contractors or
those who seek to be contractors, registered lobbyists and public relations
firms or those seeking or advocating on zoning and platting matters, except
1)
items of nominal value up to $50;
2) meals
in an individual expense of $50 or less at any occurrence, or meals with no
more than a cumulative value of $500 in a single calendar year, from a single
source.
Exceptions. The Ethics Code provides
several exceptions to the gift restrictions for gifts from these three types of
donors. The full list of exceptions follows:
The restrictions on gifts from lobbyists, contractors, those
seeking contracts, and those seeking zoning or platting decisions do not apply
in the following circumstances:
(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
(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
(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)
(11) admission to training or education program, including meals
and refreshments furnished to all attendees, if such training is related to the
official or employee’s official duties and the training is in the interest of
the City;
(12)
lodging,
transportation, or entertainment that the official or employee accepts as a
guest and, if the donee is required by law to report those items, reported by
the donee in accordance with that law, up to $500 from a single source in a
calendar year.
The last exception pertaining to
gifts of lodging, transportation or entertainment is modeled after the state
statute regarding gifts of entertainment. Note that it requires that the
recipient attend the event as a guest of the person giving the gift. It
also requires that the recipient report the gift, if required by reporting
regulations.
C. Sponsors of Events
Some of
the exceptions require that the city official or employee accept admission to
certain types of events only from the event’s sponsor. For purposes of
these sections, a sponsor of an event is the person or persons primarily
responsible for organizing the event or sponsoring a table or tables. A person who simply contributes money or buys
tickets to an event is not considered a sponsor.
For
example, if a lobbyist were to purchase some extra tickets to a charity
fundraiser for a children’s hospital, that lobbyist would not be considered a
sponsor. A city official or employee could not accept the tickets from the
lobbyist under the provisions allowing the acceptance of admission to events
where offered by the event’s sponsor.
The
official or employee could, however, accept the tickets under the
“entertainment” exception provision, subject to the terms of that provision, i.e. the recipient goes to the event as a
guest of the lobbyist and the recipient is limited to accepting up to $500 in
entertainment in a single calendar year from a single source or donor.
D. Source
A source
is athe individual on entity that funds an expenditure or series of
expenditures. Expenditures made by multiple agents of the same source will be
considered to be expenditures from a single source.
With approval of the department director,
city employees may accept payment of or reimbursement for reasonable expenses
for travel related to city business.
However, if these expenses are paid by a non-governmental source, the
employee must submit a Travel Form before leaving on the trip.
The travel form lists:
1)
the name of the person or entity paying the
expenses;
2)
the place the employee will visit;
3)
the purpose and dates of the travel;
4)
the estimated amount of the expenses paid.
The form must be signed by the
employee and approved by the employee’s department director.
A significant feature of the
Ethics Code is the Financial Disclosure chapter. Annually, city officials, some higher-level
city employees and members of all city boards and commissions are also required
to file these reports.
Financial disclosure requirements
are separate and distinct from the gift provisions in the standards of conduct
section of the Code. The standards of conduct govern whether a city official or
employee can accept a gift. The financial disclosure section requires city
officials and employees to report the receipt of certain gifts, regardless of
their source.
In deciding whether to accept a
gift, a city official or employee should first consider whether they are
restricted from receiving the gift under the standards of conduct as set out in
gift rules. If the Code prohibits the acceptance of the gift, the official or
employee must not accept the gift. If the Code does not prohibit the official or
employee from accepting the gift, the next question is whether the official or
employee must report the gift.
Not all city personnel are subject
to the Ethics Code’s gift reporting requirements. The following sections discuss which
personnel must disclose information about gifts and what information they must
provide.
C.
Who Must Report Gifts and What Must Be Reported
1. City Officials – What to Report?
City officials must file annual financial disclosure statements with the Office of the City Clerk. Among other categories of financial information, these statements include the following information.
the name
of each person, business entity, or other organization from whom the reporting party,
or his or her spouse, received a gift with an estimated fair market value in
excess of one hundred dollars ($100) during the preceding calendar year and the
estimated fair market value of each gift.
Excluded from this reporting requirement
are:
1) lawful campaign contributions which
are reported as required by state statute or local ordinance;
2) gifts received from family members
within the second degree of affinity or consanguinity;
3)
gifts from an individual based on personal friendship
who during the preceding three calendar years: a) has not done or sought to do
business with the city; b) has not
sought city action on any issue before the City Council or any city board or
commission; c) is not associated with
any business or entity that has done or sought to do business with the city;
and d) is not associated with any business or entity that has sought city
action on any issue before the City Council or a city board or commission.
4)
gifts received among and between fellow city employees
and city officials; and
5)
admission to events in which the reporting party
participated in connection with official duties.
6)
payment of or reimbursement of travel and accommodations expenses accepted in
connection with official duties which have been reported under Section 2-76
(Travel Reporting Requirements); payment for or reimbursement of expenses for
travel in excess of authorized rates under city policy are gifts subject to the
reporting requirements under this section.
2. City Officials – Who Must Report
The city
officials who must file financial disclosure statements and report gifts are
those officials listed in the first section of this handbook. In addition, the following personnel must
also file these statements:
Police
Department Captains, Assistant Chiefs, and Deputy Chiefs, all appointed Deputy
Fire Chiefs and appointed Assistant Fire Chiefs, and any Assistant Fire Chief
who either works in the Fire Administration Building or any other division and
is involved in having input to any contract, vehicle specification, or who is
otherwise involved with the purchasing of any product, service, or land for the
Fire Department, any fire Inspector, Plan Reviewer or Uniformed Administrator
of the Fire Prevention Division, any uniformed employee involved in maintaining
Departmental Personnel Records located at the Fire Administration Building, any
uniformed Personnel utilized in evaluating or purchasing equipment, vehicles or
any other purchases who also have contact with contractor(s) who provide such
equipment or vehicles, and any Uniformed Personnel utilized in providing input
to any contract or composing specifications of equipment and vehicles, who also
have contact with contractor(s) who provide such services, equipment or
vehicles are required to file with the City Clerk a complete sworn financial disclosure
report.
D.
Specified Employees and City Council Contract Personnel
In addition to the gift reporting
requirements for city officials discussed above, other city employees specified
on a list compiled annually by the Human Resources Department and contract
administrative assistants retained by members of City Council must file a gift
report to the City Clerk’s Office. This report pertains only to gifts. These
employees are not required to provide the other categories of financial
information as city officials are required to do.
Specified employees must disclose
the source of
a gift received during the previous calendar year with a value of over one
hundred dollars ($100.00)
Excluded from this reporting requirement are:
1) lawful campaign contributions which
are reported as required by state statute or local ordinance;
2) gifts received from family members
within the second degree of affinity or consanguinity;
3)
gifts from an individual based on personal friendship
who during the preceding three calendar years: a) has not done or sought to do
business with the city; b) has not
sought city action on any issue before the City Council or any city board or
commission; c) is not associated with
any business or entity that has done or sought to do business with the city;
and d) is not associated with any business or entity that has sought city
action on any issue before the City Council or a city board or commission.
4)
gifts received among and between fellow city employees
and city officials; and
5)
admission to events in which the reporting party
participated in connection with official duties.
6)
payment of or reimbursement of travel and accommodations expenses accepted in
connection with official duties which have been reported under Section 2-76
(Travel Reporting Requirements); payment for or reimbursement of expenses for
travel in excess of authorized rates under city policy are gifts subject to the
reporting requirements under this section.
V. Advisory
Opinions
If a city official or employee, including City Council
contract personnel has questions or concerns about the receipt or the reporting
of gifts, please contact the City Attorney’s Office. The City Attorney’s Office
can provide advisory opinions in response to inquiries regarding the
application of the Ethics Code.