The Board of Ethics shall:
A. Render advisory opinions to Town officers and employees with respect
to Article 18 of the General Municipal Law and this Ethics chapter
at the request of the Town officer or employee who is considering
or engaging in the behavior of the matter to be advised upon. Such
advisory opinions must be rendered pursuant to the written request
of any such officer or employee under such rules and regulations as
the Board of Ethics may prescribe. Such advisory opinions shall be
confidential to the extent permitted by law, but the Board of Ethics
may publish such opinions, provided that, without his or her express
written consent, the name of the requesting person and other identifying
details shall not be included in such publication.
B. Render advisory opinions to the Town Board on any matter the Town
Board deems appropriate for review by the Board of Ethics given the
particular experience, duties and expertise of the same, upon formal
request by the Town Board to the Board of Ethics.
C. Act as the sole and exclusive repository, in a secure location provided by the Town Clerk on Town Hall premises, for all requests, complaints, advisory opinions, related documents, and completed annual financial disclosure statements filed pursuant to Article
III of this chapter. All such documents shall be retained in accordance with the Town document retention policy.
D. The Board of Ethics shall review all completed financial disclosure statements filed pursuant to Article
III of this chapter for possible conflicts of interest and improprieties and advise filers of the same.
E. Review allegations raised by any persons alleging violations of Article
I of this chapter by a Town officer or employee, and render advisory opinions to the Town Board concerning the same, subject to the following procedures, and such additional rules and regulations not inconsistent herewith as the Board of Ethics may adopt.
(1) Allegations to be reviewed by the Board of Ethics shall be made,
in writing, to the Board of Ethics and:
(a)
Shall cite to the specific provision of Article
I of this chapter which the complainant alleges to be violated; and
(b)
Shall concern a specific identifiable employee(s) or officer(s)
of the Town.
(2) Upon receipt of a written allegation, the Chair of the Board of Ethics
shall call a meeting of the Board to consider whether to proceed with
review. The Board shall review the allegation and consider the following
when determining whether to proceed with substantive further review
of the allegation:
(a)
Whether the allegation cites to and actually concerns a specific provision of Article
I of this chapter;
(b)
Whether the allegation concerns a specific identifiable employee(s)
or officer(s) of the Town; and
(c)
Whether the allegation contains at least a minimum amount of
information reasonably sufficient to proceed with further review.
(3) After initial review, the Board of Ethics may determine:
(a)
To decline to consider the allegation for failure to satisfy
the standards set forth above and to halt any further action on the
same; or
(b)
To continue with substantive review of the allegation.
(4) During review of an allegation, at the discretion of the Board of
Ethics, nonmembers may be asked to voluntarily participate in the
Board's review for purposes of collecting information, etc. Such persons
may be required to sign confidentiality agreements in order to participate.
(5) Upon completing its review, the Board of Ethics, upon a vote of a
majority of its members, may take any of the following actions:
(a)
Issue a nonbinding and advisory written report to the Town Board
advising of its findings and conclusions and, where appropriate, any
recommended actions to be taken by the Town Board, which recommended
actions may include:
[1]
Town Board issuance of a statement;
[2]
Town Board issuance of a censure;
[3]
Further review and additional action by the Town;
[4]
Town Board referral to law enforcement;
[5]
Town Board referral to the State of New York, including the
State Attorney General; or
[6]
No further action required.
(b)
Refer the matter to law enforcement;
(c)
Refer the matter to the State of New York, including the State
Attorney General;
(d)
Refer the matter to Human Resources;
(e)
Decline to further review the allegation for reasons including,
but not limited to, lack of information, lack of resources, or lack
of jurisdiction.
(6) Upon request, copies of any written advisory opinion issued hereunder
may be provided to the Town officer or employee against whom the allegation
was made, the complainant, and/or the public, with redactions where
appropriate (which may include but are not limited to withholdings
or redactions that would be permitted under the Freedom of Information
Law), or a summary of the current status of the matter may
be provided in lieu of the same (i.e., "The Board of Ethics rendered
an advisory opinion to the Town Board for further action."), all at
the discretion of the Board of Ethics, upon advice of legal counsel.