CR 93-134 Conduct And Gifts Policy
- ;........- '-';.'
, ~::. ~
..... . ......
,
. August 10, ~993 Council Report #93-134
CONDUCT AND GIFTS POLICY
Proposed Action.
staff recommends the following motion: ~ Move that council adopt.
the pOlicy on 'Conduct and Gifts. _ Upon adoption, staff will take .' J
'the steps "necessary to implement the poli~y including:
- '". -Distributing. the 'policy"to all 'city Officials and' employe~s~;.';,,;
'- . Enclosing a copy in, all ttNew Employee"- and City Official
handbooks'. '
Overview.
staff initiated the creation of a Conduct and Gifts policy for'
the purpose of ,better defining the actions and behavior expected
of council members ,. '. commission members. and 01 ty employees. It is
,the 'intent of this policy to prevent a situation where an
. employee acts inappropriately by providing guidance on.'
appropriate conduct.
.. co~oil in pre"?,io~s' action instructed staff to send a copy of the
pol~cy to Comm~ss~on members for comment, and to undertake a
survey of several communities to 'see which form of an ethics
document is mast common, policy, or ordinance. Staff was also
instructed to see how these communities are 'enforcing 'their
ethics, policy.. . A third question was brought to the staff by a
,commissionmember.as to why the collective bargaininq units are
exempt .from secti?_nS "subsection ~.:-' ,..
, '
':Thi~ report W':i.l~': addr~ss alltlu-ee' questiorisby~comparing our
policy to the results of a '10 city sUrvey and explaining why'
collective bargai-ning units are exernptedfrom Section, 5,.'
subsection ~. ~".' '" ' .,. _
., " . . . ,"'. .'" .'
". 'priinarv IssuestoConsfder.- ,. ',~ " ,
.. . ,.'
... . "> .. _.... - / .~ I
o " Pol~cy. vs .Ord~nance
o ' Enforcement '-,', '.'
o Exemption of Collective. Bargaining Units ..
, . Supoortinq Documents .' .
.. - ..
" Analys~s'6fissues __ ' . ...... ",
. Policy . , . . ' . . -
tIt-
f
_ "k
"
.
. Analvsis
- Policy or Ordinance
Of the ~O cities surveyed, seven have an ethics document in
the form of a policy, and three in the form of an ordinance.
When asked why the ordinance form was chosen, one J;esponded
that it was required by their city Charter, the remaining
two commented that there was not a noteworthy reason other
than the fact that it gives more authority to the provision
requiring city Officials to disclose their financial
interests.
The survey revealed that there is a distinct difference
between an ethics ordinance and an ethics policy. The
difference is that the primary focus of each ordinance is a
provision for the disclosure of financial interests required
of city Officials. This provision is either the only
provision of the ordinance, or it constitutes nearly all of
its content.
Unlike the ordinance form, this provision is either non-
existent or a very small portion in the ethics policies
surveyed. The intent of the policies is not financial
. disclosure, but defining ethical behaviors and activities
making them very similar to our proposed policy.
-Enforcement
Staff recommends that a section dealing with enforcement not
be written into the policy. The procedures needed to
adequately enforce the policy are complex because
consideration needs to be given for each level of employee
both unionized and non-union, and for each level of City
official. Such an addition to the policy would be lengthy,
complicated, and confusing. The need for the provision is
also diminished as the city of Hopkins already has a policy
established to address the need for enforcement of any City
policy. (section 8 of the personnel , policy - Discipline)
This decision is also reflected 'in the survey. of the ~o
cities, two do not address enforcement in their policy,
while the remaining eight address it in a manner similar to
ours, disciplining ,employees is left up to the discretion of
the City Manager and Supervisors, while discipline for city
Officials and staff heads is decided by council discretion
with the advice of the City Attorney.
.
J .' '''\..
.
. - .Exemption of Collective Barqaininq Units
Collective Bargaining Units are exempted only from Section
5, subsection ~:
In the matter of elections held by the City of Hopkins, no employee or
volunteer may use any official authority or influence for the purpose of
interfering with or affecting the result of the election, nor may funds
be solicited or contributions be received from other employees for
political purposes, except by collective bargaining units.
Collective bargaining units are exempted because they stand
as a separate entity that acts under a separate agreement
with the city. Whereas the Conduct and Gifts policy does
.;, . apply, to these employees , section 5, subsection ~ does not
because they do have the right to collect union dues and
'other contributions and use them for whatever purposes they
feel ,is necessary.
Alternatives
- Alternative 1: Adopt the Conduct and Gifts Policy as is.
Council could adopt the ethics document in policy form. As a
policy, it will be subject to the disciplinary procedures
. addressed in the personnel policy that is already
established.
- Alternative 2: Adopt the Conduct and Gifts Ordinance.
council could decide to have the document put into an
ordinance form. In this event, the document would be sent
back to staff for the conversion to ordinance form. A
Conduct and Gifts ordinance would make a violation a
misdemeanor offense.
- Alternative 3: Table for further discussion.
council may decide not to act at this time.
.