Ethics and Conduct for County Public Servant

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11 which other citizens of the County would or could enjoy, or that are so remote, tenuous, insignificant, or speculative that a reasonable person would conclude under the circumstances that the covered person's ability to protect the public interest and perform the covered person's official duties would not be compromised. (b) A covered person shall not mention or permit another person to mention the covered person's public position in non-County governmental advertising that advances the private interest of the covered person or others. The prohibition in this subsection shall not apply to political advertising, news stories, news articles, the inclusion of a covered person's position in a directory or biographical listing, or the charitable solicitation for a nonprofit business entity qualifying under 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3). (c) No covered person shall use or permit the use of County funds for any advertisement or public service announcement in a newspaper, on radio, television, magazines, or billboards, that contains that covered person's name, picture, or voice, except in case of County official action or other County official business and only if the announcement is reasonably necessary to the covered person's official function. Section 2. Gifts. (a) A covered person shall not knowingly, directly or indirectly, ask, accept, demand, exact, solicit, seek, assign, receive, or agree to receive anything of value for the covered person, or for another person, in return for being influenced in the discharge of the covered person's official responsibilities, other than that which is received by the covered person from the County for acting in the covered person's official capacity. (b) A covered person may not solicit for a charitable purpose any gift from any subordinate County employee. This subsection shall not apply to generic written solicitations to all members of a class of subordinates. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a covered person from serving as the honorary head of a charitable solicitation for a nonprofit business entity qualifying under 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3). (c) No covered person shall knowingly accept a gift, directly or indirectly, from a lobbyist or lobbyist principal as defined in Chapter 120C of the North Carolina General Statutes. (d) No public servant shall knowingly accept a gift, directly or indirectly, from a person whom the public servant knows or has reason to know any of the following: (1) Is doing or is seeking to do business of any kind with the County. (2) Is engaged in activities that are regulated or controlled by the County. (3) Has financial interests that may be substantially and materially affected, in a manner distinguishable from the public generally, by the performance or nonperformance of the public servant's official duties. (e) Subsections (c) and (d) of this Section shall not apply to any of the following: (1) Food and beverages for immediate consumption in connection with public events. (2) Informational materials relevant to the duties of the covered person. (3) Reasonable actual expenditures of the covered person for food, beverages, registration, travel, lodging, other incidental items of nominal value, and entertainment, in connection with (i) a covered