04/22/2010 Special Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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kw) n n is an enuiy, tne rype oT enury; (iv) The person disclosing's relationship to it, such as sole proprietor, owner, partner, official, director, member, employee, bondholder, or shareholder. c. With respect to each outside ernployer or business* of the person disclosing's spouse or domestic partner*, the information required by paragraph (b) of this subsection. d. The names and addresses of all relatives* employed by the city as employees, contractors, or consultants', including relati) who work for or are subcontractors of contractors, consultants*, or subcontractors. e. Failure to disclose the information required by subsection 4 of this section with respect to a person disclosing's spouse or o relaiive* does not constitute a violation of that subsection if the person disclosing made a good faith effort to obtain the inform and if he or she also sets forth those efforts in his or her disclosure statement. 5. Any person who is subject to the disclosure provisions of this and the following subsection is required to obtain and prese for a period of three years following the date of the relevant disclosure statement, all accounts, bills, receipts, and other documents necessary to complete and substantiate such disclosure statement. These documents will be made available for inspection upon request by the Ethics Commission or its agent after reasonable notice. 6. The Director of Finance must certify to the Ethics Commission, no later than May 15 of each year, a list of all business enti doing business with the city, currently bidding for business with the city, or that have done business with the city over the prio three years. This list will be made available to the public at no cost. Comment: While less significant than transactional disclosure, annual disclosure does fill an important role in an ethics progr, in particular, annual disclosure reveals potential conflicts of interest before they arise and thus alerts the official - and the citiz - to those potential conflicts. Annual disclosure thereby provides a check on transactional disclosure and protects officials by identifying potential ethical pitfalls, which the official can then take steps to avoid. Politicians often focus their condemnation of ethics codes on annual disclosure statements. They insist that forcing people to disclose their interests will prevent people from getting involved in city government. But the disclosure statements in this mod code are far from what, say, U.S. Senators are required to file. No one is being asked to disclose how wealthy or poor they ar They are only being asked to say who their employer is (not what they're paid), what local companies they have financiai inte in (not how big their interest is), what land they own in the municipality, and which of their relatives work for the city. The only people who will truly mind disclosing this information are those who have so many interests or involved relatives, or so much in town, that they probably would face many conflicts of interest and, therefore, should probably not be involved in city government, except in areas that do not deal with businesses, developers, or contractors. After ali, the biggest complaint peo have about municipal governments is that they're run by local businessmen, developers, and contractors, those who represer them, and their relatives. This problem is only compounded when officiais do not want to admit publicly what they do for a livii Some cities will want to go beyond these minimal disclosure requirements, especially for senior officiais. Such cities will want annual disclosure of all information directly relevant to the ethics code, including ail interests, direct and indirect, that might cc with government responsibilities (see 100(1 ) above). Major debtors and creditors may also be listed, as well as any applicatio made to the city during the year. it may be specified that the disclosure statement is being filed under oath. Subsection 1: For the sake of clarity, each municipality should list the job titles or positions of the persons required to file anni disclosure statements. Subsection 2: May 15 was chosen because it is one month after personal income tvc returns are due, providing them with bo fresh information and the time to prepare the disclosure statement. Subsection 4: In the event a person disclosing, after a good faith effort, is unable to obtain the required information from an estranged spouse or from a relative, he or she need only set forth his or her efforts in the disclosure statement; there is no ne review land records. Subsection 6: Information in disclosure statements is useful only if it can be checked against information. That is the purpose this subsection: to allow the comparison of an official's business connections with a list of businesses that do business with tF city. Should failure to fiie a disclosure statement be a violation requiring a complaint to be filed, placing the burden on citizens or tl ethics commission and requiring an investigation and hearing for a clear-cut violation? Or should the burden be on the persoi disclosing to file (at least a request for a 30-day extension), requiring from the ethics commission only a notice and a reasone length of time before a stated penalty is automatically due? There have been cases, such as in Rhode Island, where a large number of officiais did not file disclosure statements, makinc almost impossible for the ethics commission to take action against them all (it is my understanding that they chose to go aftei governor first). A late fee and serious penalty for not filing would require officiais to take the requirement seriously. I would lik know others' experiences with enforcement of annual disclosure. 104. Disclosure by Applicants. To discuss this provision, click here. 1. When a person requests that the city, or a city official or employee*, take or refrain from taking any action (other than a ministeriai acY") that may result in a financial benefit* to either any official or employee or to one of the other persons listed in (1) of this code, the person requesting must disclose the name of any such person or persons, to the extent of his or her knowledge at the time of the request. 2. If the request is made in writing, the disclosure must accompany the request. If the request is oral and made at the meetini public body, the disclosure must be set forth in the public record of the body. If the request is oral and not made at the meetir a public body, the disclosure must be set forth in writing and filed with the city clerk, who will send a copy to the Ethics Commission. Comment: An example of how this section works is that an applicant for a zoning variance is required to list the name of any official or empioyee, or others listed in 100(1), who might benefit from the granting of the variance. Applicant disclosure provil check on transactional and annual disclosure. This section does not require that the applicant research which officials, if any, have an interest in the matter, but only require that the applicant disclose the names of interested officials to the extent the applicant knows of the interest. Also, the section imposes no burden on the applicant to update the disciosure if the applicant later learns that certain officials have an interest the application. 00 of a a of 44