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An ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to amend and supplement Article 1013 of Division 1 of the Code of Allegheny County entitled “Administrative Code,” Section 1013.09.N., entitled “Misuse of county resources” in order to clarify the rules relating to the use of County owned vehicles to travel to or from partisan political events.
WHEREAS, the Accountability, Conduct and Ethics Code of Allegheny County, contained within Article 1013 of the Administrative Code, sets forth guidelines for the accountability, conduct and ethics of Allegheny County; and
WHEREAS, §5-1013.03 of the Ethics Code defines “covered person” as any elected or appointed County officer, all County employees, and all members of County agencies; and
WHEREAS, the Ethics Code, inter alia, also provides that “[n]o covered person shall use, request, or permit the use of County resources, including, but not limited to, motor vehicles, equipment, and materials, except for County purposes” at §5-1013.09.N(1) of the Administrative Code; and
WHEREAS, it is the judgment of Council that, while the existing language of §5-1013.09.N(1) does prohibit the use of County-owned motor vehicles, equipment, and materials or employee time for the purpose of travelling to or from partisan political events, it is the desire of Council to clarify this section in order to provide an explicit rule governing reimbursement for miles traveled by covered persons to and from such events; and
WHEREAS, it is further the judgment of Council that the taxpayers of the County should not, under any circumstances, be placed in the position of paying for covered persons’ transportation to partisan political events and/or the use of equipment, materials, or employee time for partisan political events.
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby enacts as follows:
SECTION 1.
Article 1013 of Division 1 of the Code of Allegheny County is hereby amended as follows:
CHAPTER 1013 - CODE OF ACCOUNTABILITY, CONDUCT AND ETHICS
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Section 1013.09 Standards of conduct.
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N. Misuse of County Resources
(1) No covered person shall use, request, or permit the use of County resources, including, but not limited to, motor vehicles, equipment, materials, and/or employee time except for County purposes.
(a) Under no circumstance shall any covered person receive any reimbursement for mileage accrued during any vehicle usage for any purpose not authorized by this Section.
(b) To the extent required by applicable Federal or Commonwealth law or regulation, any covered person issued a County owned or leased motor vehicle shall receive an annual delineation of the value of the fringe benefit conferred by the use of the vehicle for income tax purposes.
(c) For the purposes of mileage reimbursement under the terms of this Section, travel to, from, and/or participation in any partisan political function, including but not limited to, any campaign appearance by any candidate for any political office, events sponsored or undertaken by any political committee, any event held in whole or in part to raise funds for use in support of any candidate’s campaign for any political office, or polling places during voting in any primary or general election, shall be deemed not to relate to any County purpose, and, accordingly, shall not be subject to reimbursement for mileage by Allegheny County.
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SECTION 2. If any provision of this Ordinance shall be determined to be unlawful, invalid, void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from the remaining provisions of this Ordinance which shall be in full force and effect.
SECTION 3. Any Resolution or Ordinance or part thereof conflicting with the provisions of this Ordinance is hereby repealed so far as the same affects this Ordinance.
PRIMARY SPONSOR: COUNCIL MEMBER HEIDELBAUGH