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ON MOTION by Commissioner Adams, SECONDED by Commissioner Tippin, the Board unanimously approved the water tank maintenance contracts for Gifford, Rings Highway, and Roseland, as set out in staff's recommendation. CONTRACTS ARE ON FILE IN THE OFFICE OF THE CLERK TO THE BOARD ETHICS ORDINANCE The Board reviewed the following memo dated 1/9/97: January 9, 1997 TO: Board of County Commissioners FROM: Terrence P. O'Brien - Assistant County Attorney IFO RE: ETHICS ORDINANCE At its regular meeting of December 18, 1996 the Board of County Commissioners discussed the County's ethics ordinance and the matter was referred to Commissioner Macht for his consideration after consultation with our office. One of the areas of concern that was discussed with the Commissioner was how to treat invitations to open house type receptions given by persons or firms who do business with the County. Receptions of this nature typically occur during the holiday season or on the anniversary of a firm or grand opening. Under the current ethics code, attendance is not prohibited but the cost of the food or drink consumed is regulated to $6.00 for luncheons and $12.00 for dinners. This causes several concerns 1) how do you ascertain the cost of food and drink, 2) which figure do you apply to an early evening reception is it lunch or dinner and 3) in a City of this size many relationships are built on years of friendship and the invitation may be based on that friendship rather than the person's official position. A solution to this problem could be to allow attendance at group functions of this nature without regard to the frost of food and drink consumed by the attendee. The only requirement would be that the attendee file a statement with the Clerk within 5 days after attending a reception as follows: On December 15, 1996 1 attended a reception given by XYZ firm commemorating their 10th Anniversary. Signature Date This disclosure statement would make public the person's attendance and should remove any question of appearance that may be generated by attendance. The County Code of Ethics embodied in Section 104.06 Indian River County Code has for its purpose estatilishing a level of conduct over and above that required by the Florida Legislature in Chapter 112, Florida Statutes. It, like most laws, cannot explicitly cover every situation that may arise which could give rise to an ethics question. Therefore, an appeal procedure could be established whereby the opinion of the County Attorney may be reviewed to determine if a County employee's or County Commissioner's participation in a particular activity is allowed by of the code. 56 JANUARY 28, 1997 BOOP( r