a. That the Town Council now finds that it is required, necessary and appropriate to adopt a policy of conduct with regard to nepotism in employment with the Town of Schererville, as well as in contracting with the Town of Schererville, in order to continue to provide local government services to the residents of the town, as well as to comply with the new laws effective July 1, 2012, specified and set forth in the provisions of I.C. § 36-1-20.2 and I.C. § 36-1-21, respectively.
b. That the provisions of this section shall be become effective for the Town of Schererville July 1, 2012, and whereby the Town of Schererville shall establish hereby a Nepotism Policy and a Contracting with a Unit Policy, that complies with the minimum requirements of I.C. § 36-1-20.2 (hereinafter "Nepotism Policy"), as well as I.C. § 36-1-21 (hereinafter "Contracting with the Unit by a Relative Policy"). The Town Council further decrees hereby that implementation of each of the Nepotism Policy and Contracting with a Unit by a Relative Policy will become effective and whereby implementation will commence instanter on July 1,2012.
c. That the Nepotism Policy of the Town of Schererville is hereby established effective July 1, 2012, by adoption of the minimum requirement provisions of I.C. § 36-1-20.2, as the same currently exists, may be supplemented or amended thereto in the future, and as same exists hereafter. Such current minimum requirement provisions of I.C. § 36-1-20.2, and as such are supplemented or amended thereafter and as same is law in the State of Indiana hereafter from time to time, are made a part hereof and incorporated herein as though fully set forth and incorporated herein. Further, a copy of the provisions of I.C. § 36-1-20.2, entitled Nepotism, in effect July 1, 2012, is attached hereto.
d. That the contracting with a Unit by a Relative Policy of the Town of Schererville is hereby established effective July 1, 2012, by adoption of the minimum requirement provisions of I.C. § 36-1-21, as the same currently exists, may be supplemented or amended thereto in the future, and as same exists hereafter. Such current minimum requirement provisions of I.C. § 36-1-21, and as such are supplemented or amended thereafter and as same is law in the State of Indiana hereafter from time to time, are made a part hereof and incorporated herein as though fully set forth and incorporated herein. Further, a copy of the provisions of I.C. § 36-1-21, entitled Contracting with a Unit by a Relative Policy, in effect July 1, 2012, is attached hereto.
e. That the Town Council hereby acknowledges and concurs that each of the provisions of I.C. § 36-1-20.2 arid I.C. § 36-1-21 specifically permit a unit of local government such as the Town of Schererville to adopt requirements that are "more stringent or detailed", and that the Town Council hereby finds that more details are necessary and appropriate.
f. That the Town Council further finds and declares that a single Member of the Town Council, as Legislative Body, shall not act for the Town Council to make or issue work assignments, compensation, grievances, advancement or a performance evaluation without prior authority of a majority of the entire Town Council, and therefore, without such authority by the majority, such individual Town Council Member will not be in the direct line of supervision, (please note the provisions of I.C. § 36-4-6-11 and I.C. § 36-5-2-9.4).
g. That the Town of Schererville further finds and declares that a single member of governing bodies with authority over employees in the town shall not act for said governing bodies to make or issue work assignments, compensation, grievances, advancement or a performance evaluation without prior authority of a majority of the responsible governing body, when a statute provides the majority is needed to act, and therefore, without such authority by the majority of said governing body, the single member will not be in the direct line of supervision.
h. That all elected and appointed officials and employees of the Town of Schererville are directed and required to cooperate fully in the implementation of the policies established by this section, and in demonstrating compliance with these same policies. The policies established hereby shall be incorporated by reference in the Town Personnel Policy Manual, as the same is amended from time to time, as well as in the Town Ethics Regulations Policy Ordinance, as same is amended from time to time.
i. That failure to abide by or cooperate with the implementation, compliance and certifications connected with the Nepotism Policy is a violation of this section, as same may be amended from time to time, and may result in the discipline, including termination, of an employee or transfer from the direct line of supervision or other curative action. Any elected or appointed Official of the Town of Schererville who fails to abide by or cooperate with the implementation, compliance and/or mandated certification submission of either the Nepotism Policy or the contracting with a unit by a Relative Policy may be subject to sanctions, penalties or legal procedures and actions in conformance with by applicable law.
j. That the policies established and adopted by this section are hereby directed to be implemented by any of the following, namely:
1. Posting a copy of this section in its entirety in at least one (1) of the locations in the Town that posts employer posters or other notices to its employees;
2. Providing a copy of this section to each of its employees and elected and appointed officials, requesting from each distributee an acknowledgment of receipt of same and filing/depositing of such acknowledgment in the personnel employment file of each said employee, or elected and appointed official;
3. Providing or posting a Notice of the Adoption of this section in any other manner deemed appropriate;
4. By any such other action or actions that would communicate the policies established by this section to the town employees and elected and appointed officials.
Upon any of the aforesaid actions being made, the policies established hereby are deemed implemented by the Town of Schererville, Lake County, Indiana. The Town Manager and Town Clerk-Treasurer are additionally directed to report the implementation actions to the Town Council in its regular public meeting in July, 2012, for the public record and report to the Town Council of such.
k. That a copy of the provisions of I.C. § 36-1-20.2 and I.C. § 36-1-21, effective July 1, 2012, are annexed hereto, incorporated herein and made a part hereof.
l. That two (2) copies of I.C. § 36-1-20.2 and I.C. § 36-1-21, as supplemented or amended, are on file in the Office of the Clerk-Treasurer of the town for inspection as maybe required and requested by the provisions of I.C. § 36-1-5-4.
m. That all existing ordinances and Town Code provisions, or portions thereof, in conflict with the provisions of this section are hereby deemed null, void, and of no legal effect, and are specifically repealed.
n. If any section, clause, provision or portion of this section shall be held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any Court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect any other section, clause, provision or portion of this section.
(Ord. No. 1812, §§ 1-14, passed 6-13-12)