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71 ORDINANCE NO. ______ _ 2 3 An Ordinance amending Section 8A-I, Subsection I of the 4 City of South Miami's Code of Ordinances to facilitate 5 retention of design professionals and to avoid conflicts on 6 volunteer review boards. 7 8 WHEREAS, The City desires to keep design professionals on its volunteer review 9 boards; and 10 11 WHEREAS, Design professionals frequently obtain compensated work within the 12 city limits that creates potential conflicts with their board-assigned voting duties; and 13 14 WHEREAS, Florida Statute 112.3143 and the County Code of Ordinances Sec. 2- 15 11.1 both prohibit board members from voting on conflicted matters, but do not require 16 their removal from the board itself; and 17 18 WHEREAS, The City of Coral Gables, Florida Code of Ordinances includes 19 language that has withstood the test of time and which specifically addresses conflicts 20 involving design professionals and other board members in ways that would improve the 21 function of board and commission meetings in the City of South Miami. 22 23 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY 24 COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA: 25 26 Section 1. Section 8A-l, subsection I of the City of South Miami's Code of 27 Ordinances shall be amended to read as follows: 28 29 (I) Certain appearances and payment prohibited. 30 31 (1) No person included in the terms defined in paragraphs (b)(1), (5) and (6) shall appear 32 before any city board or agency and make a presentation on behalf of a third person with 33 respect to any matter, license, contract, certificate, ruling, decision, opinion, rate schedule, 34 franchise, or other benefit sought by the third person. Nor shall the person receive any 35 compensation or gift, directly or indirectly, for services rendered to a third person, who 36 has applied for or is seeking some benefit from the city or a city agency, in connection 37 with the particular benefit sought by the third person. Nor shall the person appear in any 38 court or before any administrative tribunal as counselor legal advisor to a party who seeks 39 legal relief from the city or a city agency through the suit in question. 40 41 (2) No person included in the terms defined in paragraphs (b)(2), (3) and (4) shall appear 42 before the city commission or agency on which the person serves, either directly or 43 through an associate, and make a presentation on behalf of a third person with respect to 44 any matter, license, contract, certificate, ruling, decision, opinion, rate schedule, franchise, 45 or other benefit sought by the third person. Nor shall such person receive any 46 compensation or gift, directly or indirectly, for services rendered to a third party who has 47 applied for or is seeking some benefit from the city commission or agency on which the 48 person serves in connection with the particular benefit sought by the third party. Nor shall 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27. 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 the person appear in any court or before any administrative tribunal as counselor legal advisor to a third party who seeks legal relief from the city commission or agency on which such person serves through the suit in question. This section shall not prohibit architects or other design professionals who are serving without compensation on the Planning Board, Environmental Review and Preservation Board, or Historic Board from submitting plans on behalf of a client so long as such members make known their representation of the applicant and disqualify themselves from speaking or voting or otherwise participating on such application. However, once an application has been submitted to the city for board consideration, no person serving on the board, either directly or through an associate or their firm, may be retained by any person, including the applicant, to represent, appear, or make a presentation on behalf of the applicant or any other party on the specific matter being considered by the board. (3) No member of an advisory board or committee, autonomous board, or quasijudicial board, after deliberating, considering, ruling, or recommending on an application filed with the board or committee upon which they serve, shall appear before a higher board or the city commission to testify as an affected party. However, this section shall not prohibit the chairperson of a city board or committee, or an appointed proxy, from appearing before the city commission to provide the considered recommendation of that board or committee. Section 2: Codification. The provisions of this ordinance shall become and be made part of the Code of Ordinances of the City of South Miami as amended; that the sections of this ordinance may be renumbered or re-lettered to accomplish such intention; and that the word "ordinance" may be changed to "section" or other appropriate word. Section 3. Severability. If any section, clause, sentence, or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, this holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. Section 4. Ordinances in Conflict. All ordinances or parts of ordinances and all sections and parts of sections of ordinances in direct conflict herewith are hereby repealed. However, it is not the intent of this section to repeal entire ordinances, or parts of ordinances, that give the appearance of being in conflict when the two ordinances can be harmonized or when only a portion of the ordinance in conflict needs to be repealed to harmonize the ordinances. If the ordinance in conflict can be harmonized by amending its terms, it is hereby amended to harmonize the two ordinances. Therefore, only that portion that needs to be repealed to harmonize the two ordinances shall be repealed. Section 5. Effective Date. This ordinance shall become effective upon enactment. Passed and adopted this __ I_h day of ___ , 2013. ATTEST: APPROVED: Page 2 of3 1 2 COMMISSION VOTE: 3 Mayor Stoddard: 4 Vice Mayor Liebman: 5 Commissioner Newman: 6 Commissioner Harris: 7 Commissioner Welsh: 8 READ AND APPROVED AS TO FORM, 9 LANGUAGE, LEGALITY AND 10 EXECUTION THEREOF: 11 12 l3 14 CITY ATTORNEY 15 Page 3 of3 The 2013 Florida Statutes Chapter 112 PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES: GENERAL PROVISIONS 112.3143 Voting conflicts.- (1) As used in this section: (a) "Principal by whom retained" means an individual or entity, other than an agency as defined in s. 112.312(2), that for compensation, salary, pay, consideration, or similar thing of value, has permitted or directed another to act for the individual or entity, and includes, but is not limited to, one's client, employer, or the parent, subsidiary, or sibling organization of one's client or employer. (b) "Public officer" includes any person elected or appointed to hold office in any agency, including any person serving on an advisory body. (c) "Relative" means any father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, or daughter-in-law. (d) "Special private gain or loss" means an economic benefit or harm that would inure to the officer, his or her relative, business associate, or principal, unless the measure affects a class that includes the officer, his or her relative, business associate, or principal, in which case, at least the following factors must be considered when determining whether a special private gain or loss exists: 1. The size of the class affected by the vote. 2. The nature of the interests involved. 3. The degree to which the interests of all members of the class are affected by the vote. 4. The degree to which the officer, his or her relative, business associate, or principal receives a greater benefit or harm when compared to other members of the class. The degree to which there is uncertainty at the time of the vote as to whether there would be any economic benefit or harm to the public officer, his or her relative, business associate, or principal and, if so, the nature or degree of the economic benefit or harm must also be considered. (2)(a) A state public officer may not vote on any matter that the officer knows would inure to his or her special private gain or loss. Any state public officer who abstains from voting in an official capacity upon any measure that the officer knows would inure to the officer's special private gain or loss, or who votes in an official capacity on a measure that he or she knows would inure to the special private gain or loss of any principal by whom the officer is retained or to the parent organization or subsidiary of a corporate prinCipal by which the officer is retained other than an agency as defined in s. 112.312(2); or which the officer knows would inure to the special private gain or loss of a relative or business associate of the public officer, shall make every reasonable effort to disclose the nature of his or her interest as a public record in a memorandum filed with the person responsible for recording the minutes of the meeting, who shall incorporate the memorandum in the minutes. If it is not possible for the state public officer to file a memorandum before the vote, the memorandum must be filed with the person responsible for recording the minutes of the meeting no later than 15 days after the vote. (b) A member of the Legislature may satisfy the disclosure requirements of this section by filing a disclosure form created pursuant to the rules of the member's respective house if the member discloses the information required by this subsection. (3)(a) No county, municipal, or other local public officer shall vote in an official capacity upon any measure which would inure to his or her special private gain or loss; which he or she knows would inure to the special private gain or loss of any principal by whom he or she is retained or to the parent organization or subsidiary of a corporate principal by which he or she is retained, other than an agency as defined in s. 112.312(2); or which he or she knows would inure to the special private gain or loss of a relative or business associate of the public officer. Such public officer shall, prior to the vote being taken, publicly state to the assembly the nature of the officer's interest in the matter from which he or she is abstaining from voting and, within 15 days after the vote occurs, disclose the nature of his or her interest as a public record in a memorandum filed with the person responsible for recording the minutes of the meeting, who shall incorporate the memorandum in the minutes. (b) However, a commissioner of a community redevelopment agency created or designated pursuant to s. 163.356 or s. 163.357, or an officer of an independent special tax district elected on a one-acre, one-vote basis, is not prohibited from voting, when voting in said capacity. (4) No appointed public officer shall participate in any matter which would inure to the officer's special private gain or loss; which the officer knows would inure to the special private gain or loss of any principal by whom he or she is retained or to the parent organization or subsidiary of a corporate principal by which he or she is retained; or which he or she knows would inure to the special private gain or loss of a relative or business associate of the public officer, without first disclosing the nature of his or her interest in the matter. (a) Such disclosure, indicating the nature of the conflict, shall be made in a written memorandum filed with the person responsible for recording the minutes of the meeting, prior to the meeting in which consideration of the matter will take place, and shall be incorporated into the minutes. Any such memorandum shall become a public record upon filing, shall immediately be provided to the other members of the agency, and shall be read publicly at the next meeting held subsequent to the filing of this written memorandum. (b) In the event that disclosure has not been made prior to the meeting or that any conflict is unknown prior to the meeting, the disclosure shall be made orally at the meeting when it becomes known that a conflict exists. A written memorandum disclosing the nature of the conflict shall then be filed within 15 days after the oral disclosure with the person responsible for recording the minutes of the meeting and shall be incorporated into the minutes of the meeting at which the oral disclosure was made. Any such memorandum shall become a public record upon filing, shall immediately be provided to the other members of the agency, and shall be read publicly at the next meeting held subsequent to the filing of this written memorandum. (c) For purposes of this subsection, the term "participate" means any attempt to influence the decision by oral or written communication, whether made by the officer or at the officer's direction. (5) If disclosure of specific information would violate confidentiality or privilege pursuant to law or rules governing attorneys, a public officer, who is also an attorney, may comply with the disclosure requirements of this section by disclosing the nature of the interest in such a way as to provide the public with notice of the conflict. (6) Whenever a public officer or former public officer is being considered for appointment or reappointment to public office, the appointing body shall consider the number and nature of the memoranda of conflict previously filed under this section by said officer. History.-s. 6, ch. 75-208; s. 2, ch. 84-318; s. 1, ch. 84-357; s. 2, ch. 86-148; s. 5, ch. 91-85; s. 3, ch. 94-277;s. 1408, ch. 95-147; s.43,ch. 99-2; s.6,ch.2013-36. Miami Dade County Code of Ordinances Sec. 2-11.1. Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance. (d) Further prohibition on transacting business with the County. No person included in the terms defined in sUbsections (b )(1) through (6) and in subsection (b )(9) shall enter into any contract or transact any business through a firm, corporation, partnership or business entity in which he or any member of his immediate family has a controlling financial interest, direct or indirect, with Miami-Dade County or any person or agency acting for Miami-Dade County, and any such contract, agreement or business engagement entered in violation of this subsection shall render the transaction voidable. The remaining provisions of subsection (c) will also be applicable to this subsection as though incorporated herein by recitation. Additionally, no person included in the term defined in subsection (b )(1) shall vote on or participate in any way in any matter presented to the Board of County Commissioners if said person has any of the following relationships with any of the persons or entities which would be or might be directly or indirectly affected by any action of the Board of County Commissioners: (i) officer, director, partner, of counsel, consultant, employee, fiduciary or beneficiary; or (ii) stockholder, bondholder, debtor, or creditor, if in any instance the transaction or matter would affect the person defined in subsection (b )(1) in a manner distinct from the manner in which it would affect the public generally. Any person included in the term defined in subsection (b )(1) who has any of the above relationships or who would or might, directly or indirectly, profit or be enhanced by the action of the Board of County Commissioners shall absent himself or herself from the Commission meeting during the discussion of the subject item and shall not vote on or participate in any way in said matter. (Ord. No. 72-82, § 1, 11-21-72; Ord. No. 73-45, § 2,5-1-73; Ord. No. 86-11, § 1, 2-18-86; Ord. No. 86-24, § 1,4-1-86)