2007-01-10 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

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Board of Ethics Minutes of Regular Session January 10, 2007 AL: You can kind of scan through it to find the part that you are looking for. BLT: I am looking at that. AL: I don't think the examples need to be in a different typeface, but I think examples of practice. If you get too many, because we have bold and all these paragraphs and two columns and if you add another face it makes it kind of chop suey. So by having, it is so definite, examples of prohibited exceptions. BLT: This is the area where it is different from the State Ethics Guide. The State Ethics Guide does not have a section where it shows examples. AL: I think it is important to have examples. BLT: The examples are taken from ethics opinions where there have been incidents over selling tickets on government property or using government computer, that kind of thing. Feel free to question things. On the last page, where it talks about the last section, financial disclosures, I started looking at it and this is a little bit different from what the State Ethics Guide and that is because we have these different sets of disclosures. I am still toying with the employees. If that should be stretched out with bullets to make it easier for someone to note if they are a Liquor Commissioner or a Building Inspector, that they are supposed to file. I did not get to the last section on when you are supposed to file the disclosure; where do you get the forms, what is an informal advisory opinion, what is a formal advisory opinion, and what are enforcement penalties. I am still working on that section. It made sense to include that in the guide. Then, the last two pages I have not really changed, except I changed it to two columns, and that is the check list. I don't know if the two columns work on the check list, or leave it the way it was. RW: This is better that flipping page after page. I like it the way you have it. BLT: Okay, so anyway, it is work in progress. AL: It is coming along. BLT: I think being able to initially give it to new employees, but not just employees. Once finalized everyone on the list that is supposed to file, supervisors, planners, etc., they should all get a copy of it because they are the people that are most impacted by the ethics code. They are the ones that are positions in which they can get into trouble. If you go to the Mauna Lani to inspect a building and they say "Lets play a round of golf' or "Hey, would you like to spend the night ?" I am just throwing that out. Those are the types of positions that actually go out and deal with members of the public away from the office where the greatest potential for influence can occur. It is things like tickets to golf tournaments. I can remember one gift when I was on the County Council that someone had sent me. Two nights at a hotel, $100.00 gift certificate for food, and one more thing that came with it. I remember looking at it and thinking 12