HomeMy WebLinkAboutExecutive Order 1-2012: City of South Bend Ethics Code SovTxsF
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND
PETE BUTTIGIEG, MAYOR
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
January 1, 2012
City of South Bend Ethics Code
This executive order hereby establishes an Ethics Code for the City of South Bend,
Indiana, which will ensure that the residents of the city have officers, appointees, and employees
adhering to an ethical standard that is consistent,transparent,understood, and most importantly,
followed, in the mayor's office and in the departments and agencies throughout the city. New
city employees are expected to read and acknowledge this code during the hiring process.
I. An appointee or employee shall not knowingly solicit, accept, or receive a gift, favor,
service, entertainment, food, drink, travel expense, or registration fee from a person who
has a business relationship or seeks a business relationship with the appointee's or
employee's agency or department or is seeking to influence an action by the appointee or
employee in his or her official capacity.
2. Notwithstanding section(1), an appointee or employee may accept:
a. Any gift, favor, service, entertainment, food, drink, travel expense or registration
fee that has a value of less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00),provided that the
appointee or employee does not knowingly solicit, accept, or receive gifts, favors,
services, entertainment, food, drink, travel expenses or registration fees from the
same person or his or her employer that have a cumulative value of more than one
hundred dollars ($100.00) in any calendar year.
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b. Gifts, favors, services, entertainment, food, drink, travel expenses or registration
fees from public agencies or public institutions; however, such gifts, favors,
services, entertainment, food, drink, travel expense, or registration fees shall be
utilized for the benefit of the city, and not solely for the benefit of one's self or
relatives;
c. Mementos or souvenirs with a cumulative value of$25.00 or less;
d. Food or drink consumed at a public meeting to which at least ten (10) individuals
are invited; a meeting will be considered public if
i. The event is a reception to which at least ten (10) individuals are invited or
other gathering that is not arranged to solicit government procurement of
goods or services from anyone who holds a public office at the federal,
state, or local level;
ii. The appointee or employee is giving a speech or participating in a
presentation in his or her official capacity; or
iii. The meeting has a formal educational program that the appointee or
employee is attending to assist him or her in performing official duties;
e. Food, drink, entertainment, travel expenses, or registration fees accepted in
furtherance of activities to benefit the city or region related to an economic
development effort, including job retention, expansion or attraction, reduction of
blight, and securing convention and visitor business, approved in advance by the
mayor or his or her director of economic development;
f. Gifts, favors, services, entertainment, food, or drinks from relatives, or a person
with whom the individual has an ongoing social relationship that existed before
the appointee or employee was appointed or employed by the agency, so long as:
i. The gifts or other items of value are paid for personally by the giver,
rather than a business entity, and not deducted as a business expense; and
ii. The giver is not seeking to influence action or inaction by the individual in
that person's official capacity;
g. Property accepted as a gift to the city or county and logged by the corporation
counsel; and
h. Any item of value for which face value or reasonable fair market value is
promptly paid and for which a record of the transaction is filed with the
corporation counsel.
i. The corporation counsel may waive application of subsection(a) of this rule in
individual cases when consistent with the public interest. The waiver shall be in
writing, shall be made available to the public, and include:
i. The name of the appointee or employee;
ii. The nature and estimated value of that which is being provided;
iii. The name of any person who paid a portion of that which is being
provided; and
iv. An explanation of why acceptance is consistent with the public interest.
3. The chief administrative officer of an agency or department, appointees, and employees
with final purchasing authority shall not solicit political contributions from persons with a
business relationship with his or her agency on behalf of any candidate for elected office.
4. Any civilian full-time city employee who is considering entering an agreement to work or
consult, in addition to his or her city employment, for financial compensation will seek
approval from corporation counsel prior to entering into a financial agreement. If
corporation counsel determines that the additional work would not be a conflict of
interest, he or she will issue a letter to this effect and maintain a record of the name of the
person or business compensating the employee, and the annual amount paid.
5. An appointee or employee may not solicit or receive compensation:
a. For the sale or lease of any property or service to a person with a business
relationship with the appointee or employee or an official's, appointee's, or
employee's agency or department that substantially exceeds the amount that the
official, appointee, or employee would charge in the ordinary course of business;
or
b. For the performance of official duties other than as provided by law.
6. An appointee, employee, former appointee, or former employee shall not disclose or
materially benefit from confidential information, as defined in Section 7 below, and shall
use such confidential information only in the course of his or her performance of official
responsibilities.
7. For purposes of this Code of Ethics, "confidential information" includes any and all data
and information, whether in written, electronic or spoken form, to which an appointee,
employee or official has access by reason of his or her employment and which is not
generally known to or readily ascertainable by others or otherwise subject to public
access or disclosure by law. Any and all records, copies of records, and other property
(including, but not limited to a-mails and electronic records) containing such confidential
information are and shall remain the property of the City of South Bend and must be
returned promptly to the applicable agency or department of the City upon any
termination of appointment, employment or engagement of the appointee, employee or
official.
8. For the purposes of this Code of Ethics, "relative" means any person related as
grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, brother, sister,
stepbrother, stepsister,uncle, aunt, husband, wife, son, daughter, stepchild, father-in-law,
mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchild, stepgrandchild, niece, or
nephew.
9. An official, appointee, or employee, or a member of an official's, appointee's, or
employee's immediate family, may not knowingly have a financial interest in a contract
made by that official's, appointee's, or employee's agency. This prohibition does not
apply to:
a. An official, appointee, or employee who does not participate in or have official
responsibility for any of the activities of the contracting agency, if:
i. The contract is made after public notice or, where applicable, through
competitive bidding;
ii. The official, appointee, or employee files with the office of corporation
counsel a statement making full disclosure of all related financial interests
in the contract;
iii. The contract can be performed without compromising the performance of
the official duties and responsibilities of the official, appointee, or
employee; and
iv. In the case of a contract for professional services,the chief administrative
officer of the contracting agency makes and files a written certification
with the office of corporation counsel that no other official, appointee, or
employee of that agency is available to perform those services as part of
his or her regular duties; or
b. An official, appointee, or employee who, acting in good faith, learns of an actual
or prospective violation of the prohibition in subsection (a), provided that, not
later than thirty (30) days after learning of the actual or prospective violation, the
official, appointee, or employee makes a full written disclosure of any financial
interests to the contracting agency and the office of corporation counsel, and
terminates the financial interest
10. A relative of an official or employee shall not be employed in the same agency as the
official or employee, if the relative would be hired by, supervised by, or directly
supervise the official or employee; however, this section shall not apply to sworn
members of the police or fire departments. This section will not be construed to nullify
employment decisions made before January 1, 2012.
11. This code of ethics will apply to the mayor as well as to appointees and employees.
Approved and signed by me on the day of January, 2012, at o'clock m.
Mayor, City of South Bend, Indiana
Attest:
Clerk, City of South Bend, Indiana