City Council Meeting

Brian Lubkermanstaffrequirements and whether that should be expanded in the pros and cons of that so the first part of this item has to do with the required disclosures conflict of interest and this is set forth the requirements under state law and the enabling authority under state law is the state and local government conflict of Interests Act which has quite a number of requirements but one of the provisions says that governing bodies can designate persons who occupy such positions of trust appointed by the governing bodies or employed by governing bodies as may be designated by ordinance to file conflict of interest forms and those are mandated by the state in the city code we have section 277 and 278 277 identifies

Billy Batesyeah I'm in agreement on that and actually that was going to be another point that yeah you know first off we don't you might have somebody who is not a deputy stepping into an interim director role but also So, by my account, it sounds like we don't have a deputy for every single department. So I think there is perhaps a bit of an inequity there in terms of who would be required to file and who would not. And it sounds like about, you know, if there are only four or five, then half of them are made up of the deputy police and fire chiefs which you know I think that they would be you know a lot further down in terms of concern over conflict of interest than say not to singling anybody out just in terms of the

Brian Lubkermanstaffall that way? It does not typically, someone steps in on an interim basis or an acting basis. That does not impose a requirement upon them simply by serving in that role. The other thing I just want to note, and if we keep in mind what these forms do and what they don't do, they're a snapshot as of December 31st of the previous year. It's not an ongoing requirement during the course of the year. It's done once per year. categories. Respectfully, I don't think they really identify conflicts. It's a list. They sit in folders. They very rarely get looked at. To me, the larger protection by the state and local government conflict of interest act has to do with prohibited conduct and personal interest in transactions. The ongoing requirements that actually apply to all officers and employees

Thomas PetersonSo on the conflict of interest summary, I guess, is what we have here. Just if you could clarify one thing, if I read it correctly, it says that somebody should disclose a personal interest prior to a vote. But what about after the vote? in situations for following a vote, then they actually engage in something that was enabled by the vote that took place. How is that handled?

Brian LubkermanstaffSo those would be case-by-case analyses because they're very fact-specific. You know, there's obviously, well, the state and local government conflict of interest act imposes upon the individual, not the jurisdiction, not the agency, the obligation to self-regulate. So if, and I'll just use you as an example, if you vote on something and then all of a sudden, maybe I shouldn't use an example, but you vote on something and then immediately after there's a financial windfall or there's a contract that gets awarded, ordinarily that wouldn't mandate a reporting requirement. I would assume that that conflict would be identified and disclosed before the vote. Because obviously if someone's getting a contract after a vote, that means that there was a

absolutely i will say the conflict of interest laws um they have evolved over the years much as foia has evolved over the years um but they again the system in virginia as in many states is it still relies ultimately on and self-analysis of the individuals that are in the positions. We do not do financial analyses of individuals within city government. It would be impossible to do. Great.

Melissa Shinaberryclerkand and also mr. Hardin to work on this and then because there was a lot of things like mr. Hardin brought up a lot of the boards you know they don't know they don't have like a great weather cancellation policy so we just you know we relay like what we do for council and then you know just adding information you know closures you know city closures and such and then also too with the acknowledgement sheet we were hoping maybe that might cover like the conflict of interest for the you know as the city attorney put the lower boards so that way we have that signed form that they acknowledge that they're going to follow the handbook and such and then we would have that sign when they are appointed and

Thomas Petersonthat a conflict of interest not

Brian Lubkermanstaffa conflict of interest it's not a good look