(A) Fiduciary duty. Officials and employees shall at all times in the performance of their public duties owe a fiduciary duty to the city.
(B) Improper influence. No official or employee shall make, participate in making, or in any way attempt to use his or her position to influence any governmental decision or action in which he or she knows or has reason to know that he or she has a financial interest. An official or employee has a financial interest in a governmental decision or action when it is reasonably foreseeable that said decision or action will have a material effect on that official or employee distinguishable from its effect on the public generally.
(C) Use or disclosure of confidential information. No current or former public official or employee shall use or disclose, other than in the performance of his official duties and responsibilities, confidential, privileged, or other non-public information gained in the course of or by reason of his or her position or employment.
(D) Regulation of business with which official or employee is associated. Whenever the City Council or a committee or other subdivision thereof, or any city department, agency, board, commission or any other body, undertakes consideration of any matter in which one of its members or employees has a financial interest, that member or employee shall refrain or abstain from all official activity regarding such matter. However, such an interested member or employee shall be considered present for purposes of establishing a quorum.
(E) Acceptance of or participation in cases prohibited. No official or employee may represent, in any formal or informal appearance, any other person, for compensation, in any matter before the City Council or a committee or other subdivision thereof, or before any city department, agency, board or commission or in any court of law, in connection with any judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, investigation, charge, accusation or other particular matter involving a specific party or parties in which the city is a party or has a direct and substantial interest. Nothing contained herein shall, however, preclude any official or employee from exercising his or her duties and responsibilities as an official or employee of the city. Nothing in this division shall be construed so as to prohibit an official appointed to an unpaid position with a board or commission of the city from engaging in any matter before the city or other entity that does not involve the board or commission to which that person has been appointed.
(F) Post-employment restrictions. No person, having been an official or employee of the city, may represent any other person for compensation, before the City Council or a committee or other subdivision thereof, or before any city department, agency, board, or commission, or in any court of law, in connection with any judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, investigation, charge, accusation or other particular matter involving a specific party or parties, in which the city is a party or has a direct and substantial interest, and in which that person participated personally and substantially during his or her term of office or employment or in which that person acquired confidential or other non-public information.
(G) Contact with developers. Any member of the City Council or member of any board or commission having final or advisory jurisdiction over any development or land use issue shall, to the extent practicable, comply with the following procedure when he or she is contacted in his or her capacity as a city official by a developer who is proposing a development or redevelopment requiring city approval:
(1) The contacted member shall refer the developer to the Mayor, City Administrator, or the appropriate staff member who is assigned to review the type of development proposed by the developer.
(2) If the contacted member desires to be involved in a meeting or telephone conference with the developer regarding the proposed development, that member may meet with the developer provided that an appropriate staff member is present at the meeting or is a party to the telephone conference.
(Ord. 16-033, passed 5-18-17)