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ARTICLE 19
By Petition of Marc Sneider
and others To see if the Town will vote to adopt the
following ordinance:
The purpose of this ordinance is to insure that town
officials and town employees are dedicated solely to the service of the
residents of the town and are not motivated or appear to be motivated in his or
her decision to undertake public service for personal benefit or personal
advantage. Moreover, this ordinance is to promote transparency in town
administration and to prohibit town officials and town employees from deriving
or appearing to derive unfair advantage by improperly using friendships and
associations formed or confidential information obtained while serving the Town
of Windham.
Prohibition Against
Conflict of Interest.
Town shall be defined as the Town of Windham.
Covered Person shall be defined to include an elected
Town official, a non-elected Town official, a Town employee, and any person or
business (including the principals, partners, employees and owners of the
business) that have performed or are performing services pursuant to a contract
or arrangement with or on behalf of the Town whether or not the services were
or are performed for compensation.
Covered Period shall be defined as the time period
during which the Covered Person serves or served as an elected town official,
non-elected town official, town employee and/or person or business that
performed services under contract or arrangement with or on behalf of the Town
and shall extend for a period of two years following the termination of any of
the foregoing activities.
A Covered Person shall not during the Covered Period:
1. appear before any Town
board as a principal, agent, attorney, representative or otherwise, on behalf
of any person, business or entity; or,
2. act as a principal, agent,
attorney, representative or otherwise, on behalf of any person, business or
entity for purposes of obtaining any permits, permissions, licenses, variances,
grants, or approvals from the Town.
The provisions set forth above shall not prohibit a
Covered Person from applying for or appearing before a Town board for purposes
of obtaining a permit, permission, license, variance, grant, or approval from
the Town with respect to the Covered Person’s personal residence. But,
unless otherwise set forth below, it shall prohibit such conduct with respect
to any business or entity in which the Covered Person has a legal and/or
pecuniary interest.
The provisions set forth above shall not prohibit a
Covered Person from applying for real estate tax abatements with respect to a
Covered Person’s real estate interests.
A Covered Person shall not, with respect to a business
or entity in which the Covered Person has an interest, be prohibited from
applying for electrical permits, plumbing permits and such other permits or
licenses issued as part of and pursuant to the Town’s administrative
function, but such Covered Person shall be prohibited from bringing any matter
regarding such business or entity before the Zoning Board of Adjustment,
Planning Board, Board of Selectmen, or any Town Commission.
It shall be the affirmative responsibility and duty of
any and all Town officials and/or Town employees to report, in writing, a
violation of the above by a Covered Person directly to the Board of Selectmen.
A violation of this ordinance by a Covered Person
shall be deemed a violation of the Town’s Code of Ethics (with respect to
Town employees) and shall be grounds for removal from office or employment with
the Town.
Any permit, permission, license, variance, grant,
approval or action obtained from the Town through the direct or indirect
actions of a Covered Person during the Covered Period shall be void.
The provisions contained in this ordinance shall be in
addition to and shall supplement any and all other laws, ordinances, codes,
rules or regulations now or hereinafter in force and effect.
The provisions contained herein cannot be waived,
suspended or overridden.
Covered Persons who are now in office, employed by, or
who are under contract or arrangement with or on behalf of the Town at the time
of adoption of this ordinance shall be exempt from the provisions hereof for a
period of 180 days following the date of adoption of this ordinance.
If any provision of this ordinance is held to be invalid the
enforcement of the invalid provision shall not affect the other provisions or
applications which can be given effect without the invalid provision.
·
Code
of Ethics and Standards of Conduct
·
Conflict
of Interest Defined and Regulated
·
2/13/12
Attorney Campbell’s Comments for both Articles 18 and 19
Meeting video clips shown have been shortened for
content. The full meeting video may
be obtained at wctv.pegcentral.com.
·
2/11/12
Town Deliberative Session (Entire meeting video can be found here)
o
WCTV Video Clip (00:15:36)
·
Letter in
support of both Articles 18 and 19 (J. Mckenzie)
·
Letter in opposition
of both Articles 18 and 19 (Wendi Haegle-Devlin)