(A) No officer, employee or appointee of the city shall, directly or indirectly, solicit any gift or accept or receive any gift having a value of $75 or more, whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing or promise or any other form, under circumstances in which it could be reasonably inferred that the gift was intended to influence, or could reasonably be expected to influence the officer, employee or appointee in the performance of his or her official duties, or was intended as a reward for any official action.
(B) Excluded from the gift prohibition are the following:
(1) Gifts received from relatives.
(2) Gifts accepted on behalf of the city and transferred to the city.
(3) Reasonable travel and travel-related expenses, cost of admission, food and beverages, and entertainment furnished in connection with certain specified public events, appearances, ceremonies, economic development activities, or fact-finding trips related to official government business.
(4) Usual and customary loans made in the ordinary course of business.
(5) Awards presented in recognition of public service.
(C) Division (B)(3) above should be made a part of the Council minutes as a follow up to say economic development efforts or other government business trips/meetings.
(D) Penalty for the violation of this section will be the return of gift, money, discontinuance of service or additional verbal or written reprimand that the Enforcement Committee may deem appropriate.
(Ord. 503, passed 10-4-94)