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§ 9-4. Conflicts of interest.
A. No town officer or employee shall:
(1) Act as attorney, agent, broker, employee, consultant or representative of or for any person in connection with any business dealing that person has with the Town.
(2) Directly or indirectly solicit any gift or accept or receive any gift or series of gifts having a value of $25 or more, whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing or promise, or in any other form, under circumstances in which it could reasonably be inferred that the gift was intended to influence him or her in the performance of his or her official duties or was intended as a reward for any official action on his or her part. The foregoing limitation shall not apply to campaign contributions not otherwise prohibited by law.
(3) Take or refrain from taking any action or agree to take or refrain from taking any action or induce or attempt to induce any other town officer or employee to take or refrain from taking any action on any matter before the Town in order to obtain a pecuniary or material benefit for:
(a) Himself or herself;
(b) A family member;
(c) Any partnership or unincorporated association of which the Town officer or employee is a member or employee or in which he or she has a proprietary interest;
(d) Any corporation of which the Town officer or employee is an officer or director or of which he or she legally or beneficially owns or controls more than 5% of the outstanding stock;
(e) Any person with whom the Town officer or employee or his or her family member has an employment, professional, business or financial relationship; or
(f) Any person from whom the Town officer or employee or his or her spouse has received, within any twelve-month period during the previous 24 months, a pecuniary or material benefit having an aggregate value greater than $1,000, unless said individuals make up less than 5% of a class of individuals benefited.
(4) Appear before the agency serviced by or which employs such town officer or employee except on behalf of the Town or on his or her own behalf.
(5) Appear before the Town except on behalf of the Town or on his or her own behalf. This subsection shall only apply to officers and employees who are elected or who are paid by the Town.
(6) Appear as attorney or counsel against any interest of the Town in any matter in which the Town is a party or a complainant.
(7) Solicit any nonelected officer or employee of the Town to participate in an election campaign. This subsection shall not prohibit an elected officer from soliciting such participation from officers and employees who are appointed by, and directly subordinate to, such elected officer and whose service in positions which are in the exempt classification or the unclassified service under the Civil Service Law.
(8) Directly or through a person, campaign committee or other organization authorized to act on his or her behalf solicit any nonelected town officer or employee of the Town to pay or promise to pay any assessment, subscription or contribution to a political party, political party organization or election campaign. This subsection shall not prohibit a general solicitation of a class of person.
(9) Directly or through a person or campaign committee or other organization authorized to act on his or her behalf solicit participation in an election campaign or payment or promise of payment of any assessment, subscription or contribution to a political party, political party organization or election campaign from any person who, to the knowledge of the Town officer or employee, has or within the previous 12 months has had any business dealing with the Town. This subsection shall not prohibit a general solicitation of a class of persons.
(10) Except where such disclosure is authorized by law, disclose any confidential information acquired in the course of his or her official duties or use any such information to advance the financial or other private interest of himself or herself or any other person.
(11) After termination of his or her term of office or employment with the Town, appear before the Town or receive compensation for any services rendered on behalf of any person other than the Town in relation to any particular matter upon which he or she took any discretionary act during his or her term of office of employment with the Town.
B. No partnership or unincorporated association of which a town official is a member or employee or in which he or she has a proprietary interest, nor any corporation of which he or she is an officer or director or legally or beneficially owns or controls more than 5% of the outstanding stock shall appear before the agency served by such town official on behalf of any person other than the Town or itself.
C. No partnership or unincorporated association of which a town official who is elected or paid by the Town is a member or employee or in which he or she is an officer or director or of which he or she legally or beneficially owns or controls more than 5% of the outstanding stock shall appear before the Town on behalf of any person other than the Town or itself.
D. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a town officer or employee or any other person from receiving a municipal service or benefit or using a municipal facility which is generally available to residents or a class of residents in the Town.
E. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any town officer or employee listed in § 11 of the Domestic Relations Law from accepting any gift or benefit having a value of $25 or less for the solemnization of a marriage by that town officer or employee at a place other than the Town officer's or employee's normal place of business or at a time other than the officer's or employee's normal hours of business and except as may be otherwise restricted by law.
F. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a town officer or employee from performing any ministerial act.
G. A person who knowingly violates any provision of this section may, in addition to any penalty contained in any other provisions of law, be dismissed, suspended or removed from office or employment in the manner provided by law.
§ 9-5. Transactional disclosure and recusal.
A. Whenever a town officer or employee is requested or required to take any action on a matter before the Town and, to his or her knowledge, either the performance or nonperformance of that action would provide a pecuniary or material benefit to himself or herself or to any related person different from that which would be derived from the action by reason of its general application to a broad class of persons deriving such benefit, the Town officer or employee shall not participate in that matter unless the Town officer's or employee's recusal prohibits town action; then said town officer or employee shall participate after full disclosure. Additionally, the Town officer or employee, prior to any final action being taken, shall file promptly with his or her immediate superior, if any, and with the Town Clerk a signed statement disclosing the nature and extent of that interest.
B. For purposes of this section, "related person" means:
(1) A family member.
(2) Any corporation of which the Town officer or employee is an officer or director or of which he or she legally or beneficially owns or controls more than 5% of the outstanding stock.
(3) Any person with whom the Town officer or employee or his or her family member has an employment, business or financial relationship.
(4) Any person from whom the Town officer or employee or his or her spouse has received, within any twelve-month period during the previous 24 months, a pecuniary or material benefit having an aggregate value greater than $1,000.
C. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a town officer or employee from performing any ministerial act.
§ 9-6. Annual disclosure.
A. All town officials who are elected and all members of the Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning Board, Library Board of Trustees, Youth Bureau, Drug Abuse Prevention Council, Assessment Review Board, Town of Lancaster Industrial Development Agency, Ethics Board, Senior Citizens Director, Town Building Inspector, Town Engineer, Director of Parks and Recreation and any government review or advisory board appointed by the Town Board shall file with the Town Clerk, who, for the purpose of this section, shall also be deemed the Secretary of the Board of Ethics as hereinafter set forth, a signed annual disclosure statement within 120 days of the effective date of this code; within 30 days of taking office; no later than April 30 of each year thereafter. Within 30 days of any change in the information contained in his or her most recently filed statement, the public official shall file a signed amendment to the statement indicating the change.
B. Matters to be disclosed by all elected, paid or appointed town officials shall be in the following form:
§ 9-7. Penalties for offenses.
A. A reporting individual who knowingly and willfully with intent to deceive makes a false statement or gives information which such individual knows or should have known to be false on such statement of financial disclosure filed pursuant to this section shall be assessed a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $10,000. Assessment of a civil penalty hereunder shall be made by the Town of Lancaster Board of Ethics.
B. For a violation of this subsection the Town of Lancaster Board of Ethics may, in lieu of a civil penalty, refer a violation to the District Attorney, and upon such conviction, but only after such referral, such violation shall be punishable as a Class A misdemeanor.
C. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no other penalty, civil or criminal, may be imposed for failure to file or for false filing of such statement, except that the appointing authority may impose disciplinary action as otherwise provided by law.
D. The Town of Lancaster Board of Ethics shall adopt rules governing the conduct of adjudicatory proceedings and appeals relating to the assessment of civil penalties herein authorized. Such rules shall provide for due process procedural mechanisms substantially similar to those set forth in Article III of the State Administrative Procedures Act, but such mechanisms may not be identical in terms or scope.
E. Assessment of a civil penalty shall be final unless modified, suspended or vacated within 30 days of imposition and upon becoming final shall be subject to review at the instance of the affected reporting individual in a proceeding commenced against the Town of Lancaster Board of Ethics, pursuant to Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules.