Ethics and Conduct for County Public Servant

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15 (c) A public servant shall take appropriate steps, under the particular circumstances and considering the type of proceeding involved, to remove himself or herself to the extent necessary, to protect the public interest and comply with this Policy, from any proceeding in which the public servant's impartiality might reasonably be questioned due to the public servant's familial, personal, or financial relationship with a participant in the proceeding. A participant includes (i) an owner, shareholder, partner, member or manager of a limited liability company, employee, agent, officer, or director of a business, organization, or group involved in the proceeding, or (ii) an organization or group that has some specific, unique, and substantial interest in the proceeding. Proceedings include quasi-judicial proceedings, other permitting and proceedings and legislative proceedings. A personal relationship includes one in a leadership or policy-making position in a business, organization, or group. (d) If a public servant is uncertain whether the relationship described in subsection (c) of this Section justifies removing the public servant from the proceeding under subsection (c) of this Section, the public servant shall disclose the relationship to the person presiding over the proceeding and seek appropriate guidance. The presiding officer, in consultation with legal counsel if necessary, shall then determine the extent to which the public servant will be permitted to participate. If the affected public servant is the person presiding, then the vice-chair or any other substitute presiding officer shall make the determination. A good-faith determination under this subsection of the allowable degree of participation by a public servant is presumptively valid. Section 7. Legislator participation in,legislative action__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ~eietea: orr~~a~ (a) Except as permitted under Section 8 of this Article, no legislator shall ~ - ~eietea: s knowingly participate in a legislative action or for which the legislator is excusable as provided in G.S. § 153A-44; or (2) if the legislator, a member of the legislator's extended family, the legislator's client, or a business with which the legislator is associated, has an economic interest in, or may reasonably and foreseeably benefit from the action, and if after considering whether the legislator's judgment would be substantially influenced by the interest and considering the need for the legislator's particular contribution, including special knowledge of the subject matter to the effective functioning of the County Board of Commissioners, or the County Board of Health, whichever is applicable, the legislator concludes that an actual economic interest does exist which would impair the legislator's independence of judgment. A potential benefit includes a detriment to a business competitor of (i) the legislator, (ii) a member of the legislator's extended family, or (iii) a business with which the legislator is associated. The legislator shall submit in writing to the County Board of Commissioners or the County Board of Health, whichever is applicable the reasons for the need to not participate in the legislative matter to enable the applicable Board to vote on excusing the legislator from voting. (b) If the legislator has a material doubt as to whether the legislator should act, the legislator must submit the question, in writing, to the County Board of Commissioners or to the County Board of Health, whichever is applicable for a determination by the applicable Board. Section 8. Permitted participation exception.