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Advisory opinions


Formal Advisory Opinions
The Board of Ethics issues formal, written opinions to any official or employee who is personally involved in a matter requiring interpretation of the ethics code.  Persons who fully disclose all relevant facts may rely on the board's formal opinions for guidance, and compliance with the opinion serves as mitigation in any proceeding brought against the individual for violating the ethics code.   

Opinion Number

Issue

Summary of Opinion

Code  Section 

2008-6 Financial transactions between employees Supervisors should not solicit donations, purchase goods and services, or engage in other financial transactions with subordinates     2-818
2008-5 Use of city property in campaign endorsements City employees may not endorse candidates, participate in political advertisements, or engage in political activity while on duty, wearing an official uniform, or using a city vehicle 2-811
2008-4 Use of city property in city pension board elections City employees may not use city property to advocate the candidacy of any individual to serve on the city's pension boards 2-811
2008-3 Gifts of travel to City The City may accept gifts of travel from prohibited sources when the gift is donated to the City or an agency, the travel is done in an official capacity on official city business, the travel is approved in advance and the expenses are reasonable, and the gift and travel are disclosed on online forms 2-801
2008-2 Disclosure of financial and personal interests Officials or employees have a conflict of interest when they, their employer, or their immediate family have a financial or personal interest in a contract, proposed legislation, or a decision that is pending before them or their agency. 2-813
2008-1 Prohibited sources A prohibited source is a person or company that is doing business with the City, seeking the city’s business, actively promoting or opposing city legislation, has a matter pending before a city agency, or is registered as a lobbyist with the State Ethics Commission.

2-801
2-817

2007-3 Outside employment City employees may engage in outside employment with a national airline that is a prohibited source when their job is unrelated to their official duties and they are paid the same salary and benefits as airline employees in comparable positions

2-801
2-820 (b)
2-820 (c)

2007-2 Disclosure of travel expenses paid by non-city sources City officials and employees must disclose their reasonable hosting expenses for travel in an official capacity for city-related business when funded by a non-city source 2-801
2-815
2007-1 Board members appearing before City Council & oversight department City board members may represent private interests before the City Council, but may not appear on behalf of a business, client, or other private interest before the board on which they serve or its oversight department 2-808
2006-4 Board members appearing before related agency  City board members may not appear on behalf of a business, client, or other private interests before the city agency that is regulated by or related to the public board on which they serve 2-808
2006-3 Board members doing business with the City A city board member is prohibited from doing business with the board on which the member serves, except through a sealed competitive bid process 2-820(c)
2006-2 Expense reimbursements from prohibited sources City employees may accept reasonable hosting expenses from prohibited sources in four circumstances:  speaking, teaching, participating on a professional or civic panel, and attending a conference 2-801
2-815
2006-1 Use of city records
Confidential information
A city employee may not use confidential city information acquired in an official capacity to advance the employee’s or another person’s financial or personal interests 2-819

2005-7

Use of city property by candidates for city office

City elected officials and city employees may not use city property to promote any candidate for political office, except when the property is made available to all candidates or the general public or the use is trivial

2-811 

2005-6 Solicitations for city programs City officials and employees may solicit gifts for city programs when the fund-raising is for an official city purpose, is part of a broad public appeal, and does not target prohibited sources 2-818
2005-5 Post-employment and former deputy city attorney A former deputy city attorney may not appear before a city agency for one year or represent a client with a claim against the city during that year unless the claim involves a new matter about which the deputy gained no knowledge while employed with the City 2-810
2005-4 Board member appearing before own board

City board and commission members may not appear before their own board on behalf of other entities or in the public's interest

2-808
2005-3 Doing business with the City A city employee may provide goods and services to the City only when the business is conducted through sealed competitive bidding process  2-820(c)

2005-2
Solicitations for employee prizes A city employee may solicit donations for employee awards on behalf of a city agency from anyone who is not a prohibited source or targeted solely because it does business with the city 2-801
2-818
2005-1 Participation in auctions Police Department employees, their representatives, and their family members may not participate in auctions that dispose of property seized by police 2-812
2-819
2004-8 Holiday gifts City officials or employees may accept a gift on behalf of their department if the gift is a perishable item, has a nominal market value, and is shared with public visitors and office employees 2-801
2-817

2004-7

Tickets City officials and employees may not accept free tickets to any entertainment or athletic event which are offered due to their position with the city, unless they are performing an official duty at the event 2-816
2004-6 Solicitations for charities A city employee may not personally solicit funds from a prohibited source for a charitable or professional organization 2-818
2004-5 Expense reimbursements for travel City officials and employees may not accept expense reimbursements from a prohibited source to travel to another city to review a best-practices program 2-801
2-815
2004-4 Conflicts of interest & NPU officers An NPU officer who works as a city code enforcement officer has a potential conflict of interest concerning code enforcement matters that come before her NPU, and an NPU officer has an actual conflict of interest in a zoning variance since he is the real estate agent for a property owner who opposes the application 2-813
2004-3 Post-employment A former policy analyst to the public safety committee and former vehicles for hire hearing officer are precluded from providing training to taxi drivers for a year after they leave their city positions 2-810
2004-2 Outside employment A city employee may not own a company that trains taxi drivers while working as policy analyst to the City Council public safety committee; a vehicle for hire panel member may not work as a trainer for the employee's company  2-820(a)
2-820(b)
2004-1 Official city business City officials and employees are conducting official city business when they act in an official capacity and perform official duties on behalf of the city 2-811

2003-3

Personal honorarium

Any personal honorarium from a prohibited source must be returned or delivered to the city’s general fund and publicly disclosed on an online city gift report form

2-817
2-820(e)

2003-2 Incompatible investments Atlanta Development Authority President has no inherent conflict of interest based on his personal and financial interest in a company that may seek to do business with the City of Atlanta 2-812
2-820(a)
2003-1 Use of city property for private advantage A city official is not entitled to a reduction or waiver of any rental fee for the personal use of parks property or for the use of any other private person or entity on terms that are not available to the general public 2-811



Related Information

Advice
Index of Opinions by Code Section
Index of Opinions by Subject
Pending Questions