[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Ledgeview 11-1-2004
by Ord. No. 2004-011. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this Code of Ethics is to enable public officials and
employees, both appointive and elective, to conduct themselves in a manner
that shall preserve public confidence in and respect for the government of
the Town and to treat all citizens with courtesy, impartiality, fairness and
equality under the law.
The terms of this code are defined as follows:
Any money or property, favor, service, payment, advance, forbearance,
loan, or promise of future employment, but does not include compensation and
expenses paid by the state, fees and expenses which are permitted and reported
under Wis. Stats. § 19.56, political contributions which are reported
under Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 11, or hospitality extended for a purpose
unrelated to state business by a person other than an organization.
[Amended 1-18-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-02]
Any person elected or appointed to, or employed or retained by, any
public office or public body of the Town, whether paid or unpaid and whether
part-time or full-time.
Any interest arising from an individual's spouse or an individual's
relative by marriage, lineal descent or adoption who receives, directly or
indirectly, more than one-half of his or her support from the individual or
from whom the individual receives, directly or indirectly, more than one-half
of his or her support or from close business or political association, whether
or not any financial interest is involved.
Any agency, board, body, commission, committee, department or office
of the Town.
A.Â
Impartiality. No official or employee shall request,
use or permit the use of any consideration, treatment, advantage or favor
beyond that which it is the general practice to grant or make available to
the public at large.
B.Â
Use of public property. No official or employee shall
request, use or permit the use of any publicly owned or publicly supported
property, vehicle, equipment, material, labor or service for the personal
convenience or the private advantage of himself or any other person. This
rule shall not be deemed to prohibit an official or employee from requesting,
using or permitting the use of such publicly owned or publicly supplied 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 stated policy for the use of officials and employees in the conduct of
official business or which is provided for elsewhere in a resolution or ordinance
of the Town Board.
A.Â
Financial or personal interest. No official or employee,
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 in the Town unless he or she shall first make full public disclosure
of the nature and extent of such interest.
B.Â
Disclosure and disqualification. Whenever the performance
of his or her official duties requires any official or employee to deliberate
and vote on any matter involving or appearing to involve his or her financial
or personal interest, he or she shall publicly disclose the nature and extent
of such interest and disqualify himself or herself from voting.
C.Â
Incompatible employment. No official or employee shall
engage in private employment with, or render service for, any private person
who has business transactions with any public body of the Town unless he or
she shall first make full public disclosure of the nature and extent of such
employment or services.
D.Â
Representation of private persons. No official or employee
shall use or attempt to use his or her official position to secure special
privileges or exemptions for himself or herself or others except as may be
otherwise provided by law.
E.Â
Gifts. No official or employee or immediate member of
such person's family shall accept from anyone any gift, whether in the
form of money, thing, favor, loan or promise, hospitality or entertainment,
that would not be offered or given to him or her if he or she were not an
official or employee.
F.Â
No official or employee shall use or permit the use of
any privileged or nonpublic information obtained in the course of his or her
official duties to advance the financial or personal interest of himself or
herself or any other person.
[Amended 4-19-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-010[1]]
A.Â
Requests for advisory opinion. An advisory opinion may
be requested by the individual or, in the case of an individual under consideration
for appointment as a Town official or employee, by the appointing officer
or authority with the consent of the prospective appointee. Town officials
and employees shall be afforded an opportunity to present facts at issue in
the interpretation and administration of the Code of Ethics established by
provisions in this chapter before an advisory opinion is issued. Requests
for advisory opinions shall be made in writing.
B.Â
Confidentiality of advisory opinions and proceedings. The Town
Attorney shall issue written advisory opinions within 30 days of receiving
any facts relevant to the issue. The written opinion shall be kept confidential
unless all parties, including the requester, the subject and the Town Attorney,
consent in writing to the opinion being made public.
[Amended 4-19-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-010]
Records of the Town Attorney's opinions, opinion requests and investigations
of violations of this chapter may be closed in whole or in part to public
inspection.
No appointing authority, agent of an appointing authority or supervisor
may initiate or administer, or threaten to initiate or administer, any retaliatory
action against a Town employee following an employee's disclosure of
information related to the violation of any federal or state law, Town ordinance,
rule or regulation, the mismanagement or abuse of authority, a substantial
waste of public funds or a danger to public health and safety. Nothing in
this section restricts the right of the Town as an employer to take appropriate
disciplinary action against an employee who knowingly makes an untrue statement
or discloses information the disclosure of which is specifically prohibited
by federal or state law, rule or regulation.
