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Home My WebLink AboutLegislation SR 1-14-10File Number: 09-01232 City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com Final Action Date: AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE II, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "ADMINISTRATION/MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION," BY ADDING A NEW SECTION TO REQUIRE THAT ALL ELECTED CITY OF MIAMI COMMISSIONERS, THE MAYOR, APPOINTED OFFICIALS AND DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS COMPLETE AN ETHICS COURSE; AND AMENDING ARTICLE VI, SECTION 2-654, ENTITLED "LOBBYISTS", TO REQUIRE THAT LOBBYISTS COMPLETE AN ETHICS COURSE; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City of Miami ("City") continues to be historically known for its revolving door of scandals and repeated, blatant breach of ethics; and WHEREAS, each new breach tarnishes the public trust that could be developed in between each scandal; and WHEREAS, any momentum toward public confidence is lost each time a scandal is revealed; and WHEREAS, scandals have become so pervasive that the public appears to have become immune and disinterested; and WHEREAS, the cry for enforcement of ethical standards has been silenced because of the false promises by public officials; and WHEREAS, the population that was so discouraged and outraged by the irresponsibility of the public officials and City employees who are servants of the public is silent; and WHEREAS, a basic guidepost for ethical behavior is doing what is right, and behaving according to expected ethical standards, which should be part of one's central character before being elected to office; and WHEREAS, the City Commission of the City must set the expected standard and demand that the standard be the highest it can be rather than holding Miami's public officials and City employees to a mere minimum standard; and WHEREAS, the City Commission seeks to establish clear criteria and objective standards under which Miami elected officials, Department Directors, lobbyists, and employees are expected to operate; and WHEREAS, in enforcing and demonstrating such criteria, clear examples of unacceptable behavior with real-life scenarios must be taught; and City of Miami Page 1 of 4 Printed On: 114/2010 City of Miami Z� Legislation Ordinance File Number: 09-01232 City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com Final Action Date: AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE II, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "ADMINISTRATION/MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION," BY ADDING A NEW SECTION TO REQUIRE THAT ALL ELECTED CITY OF MIAMI COMMISSIONERS, THE MAYOR, APPOINTED OFFICIALS AND DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS COMPLETE AN ETHICS COURSE; AND AMENDING ARTICLE VI, SECTION 2-654, ENTITLED "LOBBYISTS", TO REQUIRE THAT LOBBYISTS COMPLETE AN ETHICS COURSE; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City of Miami ("City") continues to be historically known for its revolving door of scandals and repeated, blatant breach of ethics; and WHEREAS, each new breach tarnishes the public trust that could be developed in between each scandal; and WHEREAS, any momentum toward public confidence is lost each time a scandal is revealed; and WHEREAS, scandals have become so pervasive that the public appears to have become immune and disinterested; and WHEREAS, the cry for enforcement of ethical standards has been silenced because of the false promises by public officials; and WHEREAS, the population that was so discouraged and outraged by the irresponsibility of the public officials and City employees who are servants of the public is silent; and WHEREAS, a basic guidepost for ethical behavior is doing what is right, and behaving according to expected ethical standards, which should be part of one's central character before being elected to office; and WHEREAS, the City Commission of the City must set the expected standard and demand that the standard be the highest it can be rather than holding Miami's public officials and City employees to a mere minimum standard; and WHEREAS, the City Commission seeks to establish clear criteria and objective standards under which Miami elected officials, Department Directors, lobbyists, and employees are expected to operate; and WHEREAS, in enforcing and demonstrating such criteria, clear examples of unacceptable behavior with real-life scenarios must be taught; and City of Miami Page 1 of 4 Printed On: 114/2010 File Number. 09-01232 WHEREAS, the standard must underscore the avoidance of the appearance of impropriety; and WHEREAS, a mandatory course, including examples of unacceptable unethical behavior, especially as related to conflicts of interest, gifts and other ethics rules should be required before any elected or appointed officials, any Department Directors assume the duties of their positions; and WHEREAS, any person who seeks to register as a lobbyist in the City should abide by applicable ethics rules; and WHEREAS, no newly elected Mayor, City Commissioner, appointed officials or Department Directors should take office prior to taking an ethics course, with curriculum set by director of the Miami -Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA: Section 1. The recitals and findings contained in the Preamble to this Ordinance are adopted and incorporated as if fully set forth in this Section. Section 2. Chapter 2/Article II and Article III of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, is further amended in the following particulars: {1} "CHAPTER 2 ADMINISTRATION ARTICLE II. MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION Sec. 2-38. Ethics Requirement. The mayor, city commissioners, city manager, chief of operations, chief financial officer, chief information officer, chief of fire, chief of police, department directors or those with equivalent positions, executive directors of boards or committees and all appointed board members are required to have completed an ethics course within ninety days of taking office or within at least one (1) year prior to taking office or employment. The City Manager, City Attorney and City Clerk shall coordinate and present or cause to be presented an ethics course and make such course available at least quarterly. Any person in violation of this section shall be subiect to the penalties provided in Section 1-13. f2} City of Miami Page 2 of 4 Printed On: 1/4/2010 File Number. 09-01232 ARTICLE VI. LOBBYISTS Sec. 2-654. Registration; fee; disclosure requirements; log of registered lobbyists; exemptions from payment of fee. (a) A person may not lobby a city official, a city board member, the city manager or city staff, until such person has registered as a lobbyist with the city clerk and submitted a certificate of completion, of an ethics course provided by the Miami -Dade County Commission on Ethics Public Trust or the City of Miami completed no more than one (1) year prior to registering Such registration shall be due upon initially being retained as a lobbyist by a principal, prior to any type of lobbying activity, and shall be renewed on a yearly basis thereafter. The annual registration fee for each lobbyist shall be $500.00 as an initial registration fee, plus an additional fee of $100.00 for each principal represented for each issue lobbied on behalf of any one principal. The registration fees required by this section shall be deposited by the city clerk into a separate account and shall be expended for purposes of recording, transcription, administration and/or any other associated costs incurred in maintaining these records for availability to the public. The city commission may, in its discretion, waive the registration fee in demonstrated instances of financial hardship. Regardless of the date of the initial registration, all lobbyists' registrations shall expire December 31 of each calendar year, and shall be renewed on a calendar year basis. *11 Section 3. If any section, part of section, paragraph, clause, phrase or word of this ordinance is declared invalid, the remaining provisions of this ordinance shall not be affected. Section 4. This Ordinance shall become effective immediately upon its adoption and signature of the Mayor. {3} APPROVED AS TO FORM AND CORRECTNESS -ti JULIE O. BRU CITY ATTORNEY Footnotes: City of Mianti Page 3 of 4 Printed On: 1/4/2010 File Number: 09-09232 {1} Words/and or figures stricken through shall be deleted. Underscored words and/or figures shall be added. The remaining provisions are now in effect and remain unchanged. Asterisks indicate omitted and unchanged material. {2} Chapter 1/Section 1-13 entitled "General Provisions/General Penalty": Any person violating the provisions of any section of this Code or any other ordinance, where no other penalty is prescribed, shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $500.00, or be imprisoned at hard labor on the streets or other works of the city for not more than 60 days, or shall be both fined and imprisoned. Each day that such violation shall continue (or, in the case of shows and exhibitions illegally conducted, each performance) shall constitute a separate offense. {3} This Ordinance shall become effective as specified herein unless vetoed by the Mayor within ten days from the date it was passed and adopted. If the Mayor vetoes this Ordinance, it shall become effective immediately upon override of the veto by the City Commission or upon the effective date stated herein, whichever is later. City of Miami Page 4 of 4 Printed On: 1/4/2014