No officer or employee of the City of Hoboken shall directly solicit any gift or accept or receive any gift having a value of $25 or more, whether in the form of money, services, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitability, thing or promise or any other form, under circumstances in which it could reasonably be inferred that such gift was intended to influence the officer or employee, or could reasonably be expected to influence the officer or employee in the performance of official duties or was intended as a regard for any official action on the officer's or employee's part.
Unsolicited gifts or benefits of nominal value, such as complimentary articles offered to the public in general, and gifts received as result of mass advertising mailings to the general business public may be retained by the employee or employee's department for general use if such use does not create an impression of a conflict of interest or a violation of the public trust.
Unsolicited gifts of a perishable nature, such as food, may be donated to a nonprofit entity holding 501(c) status by the United States Internal Revenue Service. All other unsolicited gifts shall be immediately returned to the sender.
This policy shall not be applicable to political contributions made pursuant to federal and state election law, provided said contributions are in full compliance with the City's Public Contractor Reform Ordinance, § 20A-11 et seq., of the Code of the City of Hoboken.