§ 2-813. Disclosure of interests.

(a)

Every official or employee listed in paragraph (b) of this section who knows or with reasonable investigation should know that the official or employee has a financial interest or personal interest, direct or indirect, in any proposed legislation or in any decision pending before that official or employee or the agency of which the official or employee is a member or employee shall not vote for or against, discuss, decide, in any way participate in considering the matter or seek to influence the votes or decisions of others on such matter.

(1)

Prior to any determination of the matter, the official or employee shall verbally disclose at the meeting, if any, the nature of such interest, and shall have such disclosure placed on the official records of the agency.

(2)

Should an official or employee be absent from that meeting or a portion of that meeting, the official or employee is required to verbally disclose the nature of the conflict at the next attended meeting and said disclosure shall be placed on the official records of the agency.

(3)

Further, the official or employee must complete an online Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest form at https://apps.atlantaga.gov/efile as maintained by the City of Atlanta Ethics Officer, immediately upon his or her recognition of said conflict.

(b)

The officials and employees covered by this section shall be as follows:

(1)

Mayor;

(2)

President of council;

(3)

Members of council;

(4)

Municipal and traffic court judges;

(5)

Chief operating officer and deputy chief operating officers;

(6)

Chief of staff and deputy chiefs of staff;

(7)

All employees of the office of the mayor who report directly to the mayor;

(8)

Commissioners, deputy commissioners, department heads and their equivalents;

(9)

Bureau directors, assistant bureau directors and managers;

(10)

Division heads;

(11)

Executive directors of city boards, commissions, authorities or other similar bodies;

(12)

Zoning administrator and any assistant zoning administrators;

(13)

Inspectors of all departments and bureaus;

(14)

City attorney and deputy, assistant, and associate city attorneys;

(15)

Director of the office of contract compliance and employees of the office of contract compliance with discretionary or supervisory authority over certification, compliance, monitoring, or auditing;

(16)

Assistant directors, contracting officers, and buyers in the purchasing bureau;

(17)

Within the department of finance, assistant directors and all employees who have discretionary or supervisory authority over the investment of city funds or the auditing of city finances or city contracts;

(18)

City internal auditor and employees of the office of internal auditor with investigative and supervisory authority over audits, the audit process, and audit reports;

(19)

City ethics officer and independent compliance officer;

(20)

Hearing officers;

(21)

Members, whether paid or unpaid, of all city boards, committees, councils, commissions, authorities and other similar bodies created by state law, Charter ordinance or resolution;

(22)

Members appointed by the mayor and/or council or council president to other public boards, committees, councils, commissions and authorities of the city, county, or state; and

(23)

Officers of neighborhood planning units.

(c)

Every contractor bidding on or currently conducting business with the City of Atlanta who knows or with reasonable investigation should know that the contractor has a financial or personal interest with any official or employee or the agency of which the official or employee is a part of, shall disclose such conflict of interest during the procurement bidding process. If a conflict of interest arises during the performance of the contractor's work on behalf of the City of Atlanta, the contractor shall within seven (7) days file a supplemental disclosure with the City of Atlanta outlining the conflict of interest.

(d)

Every contractor bidding to conduct business with the City of Atlanta shall sign an ethics pledge acknowledging that the contractor understands and shall comply with the applicable provisions of this division.

(Ord. No. 2002-27, § 1, 4-10-02; Ord. No. 2006-44, § 1, 6-22-06; Ord. No. 2018-35(18-O-1472), § 2, 8-29-18 ; Ord. No. 2019-22(19-O-1038), § 4, 3-12-19 )

State law reference

Voting upon questions by interested councilmembers, O.C.G.A. § 36-30-6.