(a) Prohibitions. City officers and employees shall not engage in the following activities:
(1) Activities Subject to the Department’s Jurisdiction. City officers and employees shall not engage in activities that are subject to the control, inspection, review, audit, permitting, enforcement, contracting, or are otherwise within the responsibility of the officer or employee’s department. But City officers and employees may engage in certain activities including, but not limited to, the following: being a party to a matter before or otherwise appearing before one’s own department or commission on behalf of oneself or one’s immediate family, filing or otherwise pursuing claims against the City on one’s own behalf, making a public records disclosure request or other request for information as permitted by law, attending and participating in a meeting of a board, commission, or other policy body under the Brown Act or Sunshine Ordinance, and engaging in non-compensated, volunteer activity for a nonprofit organization with tax exempt status under 26 United States Code Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(5). Incompatible activities prohibited by this subsection (a)(1) shall include, but are not limited, to the following:
(A) contracting with one’s own department or serving on the board of directors for an entity that contracts with one’s own department (but this prohibition shall not extend to any entity solely because an officer or employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner serves as a member of its board of directors);
(B) acquiring an ownership interest in real property, if the officer or employee had participated personally and substantially in the permitting or inspection of that property within the 12 months prior to the acquisition; and
(C) having or acquiring a financial interest in any financial products issued or regulated by the officer or employee’s department.
(2) Selective Assistance. City officers and employees shall not provide assistance or advice that is not generally available to all persons, in a manner that confers an advantage on any person who is doing business or seeking to do business with the City. This subsection (a)(2) shall not prohibit an officer or employee from communicating with individual applicants regarding the individual’s application, bid, or proposal, provided that such assistance is provided on an impartial basis to all applicants who request it and is part of the officer or employee’s City duties.
(3) Use of City Resources. City officers and employees shall not engage in the use, other than minimal or incidental use, of the time, facilities, equipment, or supplies of the City for private gain or advantage. Nothing in this subsection (a)(3) shall be interpreted or applied to interfere with, restrict, or supersede any rights or entitlements of employees, recognized employee organizations, or their members under state law or regulation or pursuant to provisions of a collective bargaining agreement to use City facilities, equipment, or resources.
(4) Use of Prestige of Office. City officers and employees shall not engage in the use of any marker (including without limitation a badge, uniform, or business card), prestige, or influence of the City officer or employee’s position for private gain or advantage.
(5) Use of City Work Product. City officers and employees shall not sell, publish, or otherwise use, in exchange for anything of value and without appropriate authorization, any non-public materials that were prepared on City time or while using City facilities, property (including without limitation, intellectual property), equipment, or other materials. Nothing in this subsection (a)(5) shall be interpreted or applied to interfere with, restrict, or supersede any rights or entitlements of employees, recognized employee organizations, or their members under state law or regulation or pursuant to provisions of a collective bargaining agreement to use public materials for collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
(6) Acting as an Unauthorized City Representative. City officers and employees shall not hold themselves out as a representative of their departments, or as an agent acting on behalf of their departments, unless authorized to do so, including the use of City letterhead, title, e-mail, business card, or any other resource for any communication that may lead the recipient of the communication to think that the officer or employee is acting in an official capacity when the officer or employee is not.
(7) Compensation for City Duties or Advice. City officers and employees shall not receive or accept a payment from anyone other than the City for the performance of a specific service or act the officer or employee would be expected to render or perform in the regular course of their City duties or for advice about the processes of the City directly related to the officer or employee’s duties and responsibilities or the processes of the officer or employee’s department.
(8) Lobbying Activity. City officers and employees shall not receive or accept a payment from anyone other than the City in exchange for communicating with any other City officer or employee within their own department with the intent to influence an administrative or legislative action.
(b) Excessive Time Demands or Regular Disqualifications. No City appointed department head or employee may engage in any activity that either imposes excessive time demands such that it materially impairs the appointed department head’s or employee’s performance of their City duties or that disqualifies the appointed department head or employee from their City assignments or responsibilities on a regular basis.
(1) Advance Written Determination. An appointed department head or employee may seek an advance written determination from the decision-maker specified in subsection (b)(2) below as to whether a proposed outside activity would impose excessive time demands or require regular disqualifications and would therefore be prohibited under this subsection (b).
(2) Decision-Maker.
(A) For a request by an employee, the department head of the employee’s department or the department head’s designee shall be the decision-maker on a request for an advance written determination. If the department head delegates the decision-making to a designee and if the designee determines that the proposed activity imposes excessive time demands or results in regular disqualifications, the employee may appeal that determination to the department head.
(B) For a request by an appointed department head, the department head’s appointing authority shall be the decision-maker on a request for an advance written determination.
(C) The decision-maker shall respond to the request by providing a written determination to the requestor by mail, email, personal delivery, or other reliable means. For a request by an employee, the decision-maker shall provide the determination within a reasonable period of time depending on the circumstances and the complexity of the request, but not later than 20 working days from the date of the request. If the decision-maker does not provide a written determination to the employee within 20 working days from the date of the employee’s request, the proposed activity will be determined not to violate this Subsection 3.218(b).
(3) Effect. An advance written determination approved by the appropriate decision-maker that an activity does not impose excessive time demands or require regular disqualifications provides the officer or employee immunity from any subsequent enforcement action for a violation of subsection (b) if the material facts are as presented in the appointed department head or employee’s request for an advance written determination. An advance written determination cannot exempt the requestor from any other applicable laws.
(4) Public Records. Requests for advance written determinations and advance written determinations, including approvals and denials, are public records.
(c) Statements of Incompatible Activities. Statements of Incompatible Activities adopted and approved prior to March 5, 2024 are hereby repealed and shall no longer have any legal effect. Any administrative or disciplinary proceedings initiated prior to the repeal of a Statement of Incompatible Activities alleging violations of the Statement of Incompatible Activities may continue.
(Added by Proposition E, 11/4/2003; amended by Proposition D, 3/5/2024, Eff. 4/12/2024, Oper. 10/12/2024)