2006-12-13 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

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Board of Ethics Minutes - Regular Session December 13, 2006 for three months. They are prohibited from post - employment on any matters that might have been in their purview for 12 months or longer than they were employed by the county. The state looked at that and made an exemption. I was so sure that language was in the county code. I looked and could not find anything, and I wanted to bring it to your attention. There is that difference in state law (HRS 84- 18(e)) which says on post - employment "This section shall not apply to any person who is employed by the state or any person employed for less than 181 days." So in other words, six months, it doesn't apply to you. The concern at the state level was that there might be people you want to hire for very short term. You have a vacancy, somebody is ill, you need emergency appointment, but they won't take the position. Let's say it is an engineer, they will not take the position if it is going to preclude them from employment for a 12 -month period. For three months then they can't work for 12 months in certain capacities. They will decline the position. I think that is most likely happening with people who have retired. We tap them to fill positions and still they want to go work later as a consultant for somebody else. Just a thought, you may want to look at that. Review whether you want to propose that amendment to them. Then on this ethic guide, it is really a work in progress. It is intended as a first draft. There are actually two parts to it. The first part is the guide and the last two pages is an ethics check list. I did not include the provisions that the state guide has on how to file or request for an opinion, or stuff like that. I just didn't get to it. What is different about the guide that I am presenting verses the state guide is that it has a more extensive description of what is a prohibited campaign activity, or prohibited personal or business activity. This could be deleted or left in. The specific reference to the county's e -mail policy gives you examples as to the kinds of things that are not a permitted use of county equipment. There are examples of what is occasional, incidental, or reasonable use. I have taken these examples from opinions either issued by the State Ethics Commission or by other ethic commissions across the country when they have had to interpret what the incidental personal use was. I looked at a variety of opinions from around the country. They said while at work obviously you have to use your phone to call the doctor, to call the school, or if it is an emergency contact number the school has, that is an incidental reasonable use. You shouldn't be using the phone to get bids for your business or very long conversations. I have been irked, not necessarily with government employees, but for example in the check -out line at the store and the cashier is on the phone discussing some personal stuff. It just means that at work you are supposed to be doing work, not other stuff. The e -mail policy is a result of the fact that we had an employee selling things on E -bay during work time. That never got to the Board of Ethics because that was handled internally and their access to the internet was cut off and they were reprimanded and disciplined. We have to remind employees that it is county e -mail and the county has the right to review your use of it. It is far more intrusive than phone calls, because of the risk to the county of viruses and other things that can come in and crash the system. Internet access to our system might allow people access to private confidential information, so it is an area we try to get employees to understand. 7