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*From Billings, MT, City Code CITY OF BILLINGS CODE OF ETHICS POLICY We recognize that our City, its elected officials, and its employees are frequently judged by what they appear to do, as well as by what they do. At the City of Billings, we are committed to having our entire professional and business dealings adhere to the highest ethical standards. Our conduct as a City will always reflect our commitment to quality, fairness, honestly, and service, and we will seek to avoid any actions that violate, or that may appear to violate, those standards and values. The people have a right to expect that every public official and employee will conduct himself or herself in a manner that will tend to preserve public confidence in and respect for the government he or she represents. Such confidence and respect can best be promoted if every elected official and employee will uniformly: 1. Treat all citizens with courtesy, impartiality, fairness and equality under the law; and 2. Avoid both actual and potential conflicts between his or her private self-interest and the public interest. FAIR AND EQUAL TREATMENT No official shall grant or make available to any person any consideration, treatment, advantage or favor beyond that which is the general practice to grant or make available to the public at large. No official shall request, use or permit the use of any publicly owned or publicly supported property, vehicle, equipment, labor or service for the personal convenience or the private advantage of himself or herself or any other person. This rule shall not be deemed to prohibit an official from requesting, using or permitting the use of such publicly owned or publicly supported property, vehicle, equipment, material, labor or service which it is the general practice to make available to the public at large or which is provided as a matter of state public policy for the use of officials in the conduct of official business. CONFLICT OF INTEREST Financial or personal interest. No official, either on his or her own behalf or on behalf of any other person shall have any financial or personal interest in any business or transaction with any public body unless the official shall first make full public disclosure of the nature and extent of such interest. Disclosure and disqualification. Whenever the performance of his or her official duties shall require any official to deliberate and vote on any matter involving the official's financial or personal interest, the official shall publicly disclose the nature and extent of such interest and disqualify himself or herself from participating in the deliberation as well as in the voting. Incompatible employment. No elected official shall engage in private employment with, or render services for, any private person who has business transactions with any public body unless the official shall first make full public disclosure of the nature and extent of such employment or services. ---PAGE BREAK--- Private interest. Private interest is a direct or indirect interest of a natural person, partnership, corporation or any other entity including a political entity other than the city or an organization in which the city is affiliated. REPRESENTING PRIVATE INTERESTS No elected official, whether paid or unpaid, shall appear on behalf of private interests before any public body of the city. An elected official shall not represent private interests in any proceeding to which the city is a party. These prohibitions shall not be construed to prevent an elected official from making inquiries and investigations as provided for in the Charter, nor shall it prevent an official from appearing before any public body of the city to express the official's personal views as a private citizen. GIFTS AND FAVORS No elected official or employee of the City shall accept any gift, whether in the form of money, thing, favor, loan or promise. RELATIONSHIPS WITH SUPPLIERS You are expected to work productively with suppliers, to bargain aggressively for the City’s best interest, and to obtain for the City all of the benefits to which it is legally entitled. An employee should not take advantage of their position to obtain personal benefits from any supplier. NEPOTISM No elected official shall appoint or vote for appointment of any person related to the elected official by blood or marriage to any clerkship, office, position, employment or duty, when the salary, wages, pay or compensation is to be paid out of public funds. SANCTIONS Resignation. Violation of any provision of this article should raise conscientious questions for the elected official or employee as to whether voluntary resignation or other action is indicated to promote the best interests of the city. Civil penalty. Violation of any of the provisions of this article, including but not limited to any failure to file disclosures, in addition to any criminal penalty, shall subject the violator to a civil penalty equal to any pecuniary benefits received because of the violation committed. The civil penalty in this subsection shall be recoverable by, and accrue to, the city in a civil action brought by the city. Criminal penalty. Any elected official or employee who shall violate any provision of this article shall be subject, upon conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction, to the penalty prescribed in section 1-110 of the City Code. FORFEITURE OF PUBLIC OFFICE (Elected Official) Recovery of pecuniary benefits under section 2-708(b) of the City Code or criminal conviction under section ---PAGE BREAK--- 2-708(c) of the City Code shall conclusively determine that the city official lacks qualifications for office and is subject to forfeiture of office as prescribed in section 3.09(b) of the Charter. TERMS Financial interest means any interest which shall yield, directly or indirectly, a monetary or other material benefit (other than the duly authorized salary or compensation for his or her services to the city) to the official or to any person employing or retaining the services of the official. Official means any person elected to a city office or appointed to any public office or public body of the city whether paid or unpaid and whether part-time or full-time. Employee means any person employed by the city, whether paid or unpaid and whether part-time or full- time. Personal interest means any interest arising from blood or marriage relationships or from close business or political association whether or not any financial interest is involved. Public body means any agency, board, body, commission, committee, department or office of the city.