Sec. 2-42Prohibitions

No member of the governing authority shall:

(1) By conduct give reasonable basis for the impression that any person can improperly influence him/her or unduly enjoy his/her favor in the performance of official acts;

(2) Directly or indirectly request, exact, receive, or agree to receive a gift, loan, favor, promise, or thing of value for himself/herself or another person if it could reasonably be considered to influence the member in the discharge of official duties; provided, however, prohibition under this subparagraph (2) shall not apply in the case of:

a. An occasional non-pecuniary gift of insignificant value;

b. An award publicly presented in recognition of public service;

c. A commercially reasonable loan or other financial transaction made in the ordinary course of business by an institution or individual authorized by the laws of Georgia to engage in the making of such a loan or financial transaction;

d. Campaign contributions made and reported in accordance with Georgia law;

(3) Disclose or otherwise use confidential information acquired by virtue of his/her official position for his/her or another person's private gain;

(4) Use his/her official position to attempt to secure privileges that are not available to the general public;

(5) Engage in, accept employment with, or render services for any private business or professional activity when such employment or rendering of services is adverse to and incompatible with the proper discharge of official duties; provided, however, prohibition under this subparagraph (5) shall not apply to a member of the governing authority who is a licensed professional and appears on behalf of any applicant in such professional capacity so long as disclosures required by section 20-43 hereof are made to the board or commission chairperson 30 days prior to any action being taken and the member is associated with the project at the time the initial application is filed;

(6) Engage in any activity or transaction that is prohibited by law now existing or hereafter enacted which is applicable to him/her by virtue of being a member of the governing authority;

(7) Use his/her position to request or require an employee to:

a. Do clerical work on behalf of the member's family, business, social, church, or fraternal interest when such work is not furthering a city interest;

b. Perform any work outside the employee's normal course of municipal employment;

c. Purchase goods or services to be used for personal, business, or political purposes; and

d. Work for the member personally without paying the employee just compensation;

(8) Use government property of any kind for other than officially approved activities, nor shall he/she direct employees to use such property for any purposes other than those officially approved;

(9) Use his/her position in any way to coerce, or give the appearance of coercing, another person to provide any financial benefit to himself/herself or persons having an interest.

(10) Use a city-owned vehicle for a purpose other than official city business. Use of city-owned vehicles shall be limited within the corporate limits between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. unless the city manager provides prior written authorization.

State Law reference— Prohibited acts, O.C.G.A. § 45-10-3.

History: (Ord. No. 04-05, § 1, 5-6-2004; Ord. No. 18-11, 10-4-2018)