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Ethics board recommends forwarding four draft ordinances to Tallahassee City Commission
Summary
The Tallahassee Ethics Board reviewed four draft ordinances — including proposed local conflict-of-interest language and a clarified financial-disclosure threshold — and directed staff to meet with the city attorney before seeking an April City Commission hearing.
The Tallahassee Ethics Board recommended that the City Commission consider four draft ordinances aimed at tightening local ethics rules and clarifying who must file financial disclosures.
Presenter said the board ultimately decided not to advance two proposed gift-prohibition ordinances because they could conflict with state law and create a misleading local carve-out. The board did endorse two other drafts: one (ORD03) that clarifies the definition of a “covered individual” and separates the financial-disclosure trigger from a state filing obligation (for example the $35,000 purchasing-authority threshold was discussed as a delineator), and another (ORD04) that mirrors several state statutory subsections into the local code addressing doing business with one’s agency, conflicting employment and contractual relationships, and specified exemptions.
"We rewrote it to so it now includes all boards within the city of Tallahassee," the Presenter said, arguing the change would avoid leaving many board-appointed members outside the local ethics code. The Presenter described reaching the recommendation after reviewing prior advisory opinions and the board's 2019 rewrite.
Board members asked staff to consult the city attorney to ensure the local language does not conflict with state statute (including section 112.326, which limits more-stringent local ordinances from abrogating state law) before attempting to place the items on the City Commission agenda in April. The board agreed to forward the recommended drafts to the commission for consideration pending that legal review.
The meeting also included routine business: the board approved the minutes of a prior meeting by motion and voice vote, and members welcomed a newly seated member, recorded in the minutes as "Mary Alice David" (the transcript also refers later to "Mary Alice Davis").
Next steps: staff will meet with the city attorney to clarify ordinance language; the board hopes to schedule the items for the April City Commission meeting but no commission action date was finalized at the meeting.
