Modesto Municipal Code Ch. 10 Conflict Disclosure

It is the intention of the City Council to require disclosure of every individual financial interest in every agreement of any kind that requires City Council approval and in any development project that comes before the City Council by application for land use approval, so that conflicts of interest that such agreements or applications create for Councilmembers can be more readily determined.

(Added by Ord. 3269-C.S., § 1, amended by Ord. 3276-C.S., § 1 effective 1-9-03)

In furtherance of the purposes of the California Fair Political Practices Act, and the City's "Tin Cup" ordinance, it is the intent of the City Council that the identities of all individuals with a financial interest in every agreement of any kind that requires City Council approval and in land development applications before the City Council be known to the Council and to the public. The following definitions are intended to further this purpose:

(a) Development: Any proposed use of real property, whether existing or to be constructed, which use may require City Council approval either directly, or on appeal from the Planning Commission.

(b) Agreement:

(1) Public works contracts and agreements for goods and services that require Council approval as required by Chapter 3 of Title 8 of the Modesto Municipal Code;

(2) Any other agreements submitted by the City Manager to the City Council for approval and any other application, request for entitlement or approval whatsoever;

(3) Grants of money or non-monetary city assistance to any organization, including but not limited to, non-profit corporations, or not for profit associations who seek such assistance from the City Council for any reason; and

(4) Franchises granted by the City Council as provided for in Article 14 of the City Charter and/or any applicable provision of the Modesto Municipal Code.

(c) Application: Any submission of information required to be made to the City by state law, ordinance, contract or resolution for the purpose of development approval or agreement approval.

(d) Applicant: An applicant is any person who submits an application or on whose behalf an application is submitted.

(e) City Council: The Modesto City Council and the Modesto Redevelopment Agency.

(f) Person: Shall mean any individual, firm, company, partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability corporation, joint venture, association, proprietorship, club or fraternal organization, joint stock company, domestic or foreign corporation, estate, trust, business trust, receiver, trustee, trustee in bankruptcy, administrator, executor, assignee, syndicate, or any other group or combination acting as a unit whether mutual, cooperative, fraternal, non-profit or otherwise.

(g) Financial Interest: Financial interest means ownership or control over any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible available for use by an applicant including, but not limited to, real property, cash, securities, merchandise, raw materials, finished goods, operating supplies, ordinary maintenance material and parts, accounts receivable and notes and loans receivable, prepaid expenses, collateral used as security for a loan made to the person making an application, long-lived legal rights and competitive advantages developed or acquired by an applicant including, but not limited to, redevelopment agreements as well as other intangible assets and rights. A financial interest may also be an expectation of receipt of gross revenue (before adjustments or deductions for any costs of doing business whatsoever) from a person making an application.

(h) Gross Revenue: The term gross revenue shall include transactions in which a person making an application agrees to pay or to reduce the obligation of another.

(Added by Ord. 3269-C.S., § 1, amended by Ord. 3276-C.S., § 1 effective 1-9-03)

(a) No application for any land use approval from the City of any type including, but not limited to, subdivision map approvals, zoning changes, general plan amendments, precise plan approvals, conditional use permits, development agreements, and any other request for approval requiring the submission of information to the City, shall be deemed complete for the purposes of any California law, or ordinance including, but not limited to, the California Permit Streamlining Act, until all persons having any financial interest in the applicant(s) have been identified by name, in particular, individual persons owning or controlling "persons" or entities with financial interests in a person submitting an application, subject to the reasonable discretion of the City's Community Development Director. No application deemed incomplete in this regard by the Community Development Director shall proceed, or be acted upon in any manner by either the Planning Commission or the City Council. To cause such an application to be acted upon by deception or otherwise shall be a violation of this Code and a misdemeanor.

(b) No agreement shall be submitted to the City Council for approval until all persons having any financial interest in the applicant(s) have been identified by name, in particular individual persons owning or controlling "persons" or entities with financial interests in an applicant, subject to the reasonable discretion of the City department director proposing such approval to the City Council. No application deemed incomplete in this regard by the City department director proposing such approval shall be processed or be acted upon in any manner by the City Council. To cause such an application to be acted upon by deception or otherwise shall be a violation of this Code and a misdemeanor.

(c) In order to implement this section every City department director proposing approval of any application by the City Council shall provide every applicant with an application form for the purpose of disclosing the financial interests required to be disclosed by this section. Each applicant must verify in writing, under penalty of perjury, that the financial interest information provided in such application form is true, correct and complete.

(d) Each applicant shall have a continuing obligation to maintain the truth, accuracy and completeness of the financial interest information provided on the application in accordance with this section until after the final consideration by the City Council of any matter arising out of or relating to the application.

(e) In the event that the City Council finds that an applicant did not exert due diligence and good faith in its maintenance of true, accurate and complete financial interest information in accordance with the requirements of this section, then, and in that event, the application shall be deemed to have been, and treated for all purposes as if it had been, incomplete from the first day it was filed through the date of the finding.

(f) Nothing in this section is intended to imply any obligation on the part of City employees, consultants, volunteers or elected officials to investigate, research or otherwise verify the content of any application.

(g) This chapter shall not apply to persons having an aggregate economic interest in an applicant less than two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) at all times prior to final Council determination of the application.

(h) This chapter shall not apply to (1) business entities listed, or meeting the financial criteria for listing on the New York or the Pacific Stock exchanges unless it is reasonably foreseeable that a City Council decision will increase or decrease that entity's gross revenues or expenses by one million dollars ($1,000,000) or more, and (2) business entities granted a waiver by a vote of two-thirds (⅔) of the City Council, sitting in public session.

(i) Each Councilmember and the Mayor shall, at least once annually, in conjunction with their State Fair Political Practices Act disclosure requirements, file with the City Clerk a report setting forth the names and addresses of persons (associates) having a financial interest, as defined herein, in any property, contract, application, expectation of receipt of gross revenue or for profit enterprise or venture, no matter how organized, in which the reporting member has a financial interest. It shall be the further obligation of each member to file with the City Clerk amendments to their annual reports on a quarterly basis to ensure, in so far as possible, that the public is aware of matters coming before the Council in which a Councilmember associate has a financial interest.

(Added by Ord. 3269-C.S., § 1, amended by Ord. 3276-C.S., § 1 effective 1-9-03)