Behavior police, we can't control what somebody posts on Facebook.

We can't control whether people are nice to each other.

Um, what we control is when people use their position to make money on the side.

So a public employee would have to do with procurement or uh contracting, planning, zoning, um, inspecting, licensing.

Um, if anybody has little kids, it's all those action verbs that we deal with.

Okay.

So the reason that comes into play is just because you work for a government entity does not make you a public employee.

So, for example, with a school district, your superintendent, your business manager, they're going to be public employees.

Your teachers are not our biggest violation comes under the conflict of interest rule.

And it's a very, very large term.

And what it really comes down to are these bullet points you see on the screen.

So it's using your office.

So it has to be something that you do by virtue of having the public office or the public employment that you have to make money, and to make money for either yourself, a member of your immediate family, or a business that you or a member of your immediate family is associated with.

For this part of the act, immediate family is spouse, parent, child, or sibling.

And when we talk about private uh pecuniary benefit, it doesn't necessarily have to be profit.

So there was a case that we had where a council person or supervisor also owned a used car dealership.

And the township was looking to buy a car, and instead of using municipund or any of the other um, you know, doing a bid, advertising, any of that, the township supervisor said, Well, I got one on my lot, and he sold it to the township, and it came before us, and they said you're not supposed to do that.

One, you can't contract with your governmental body, and two, you used your position to guide this sale to go to your dealership.

And what happened there was his uh defense, he had a hearing, and his defense was I lost money on this.

That car was sitting on my lot for 14 months.

And when you count what I put into it and what I received, I gave the township a break.

I lost money.

And the commission ruled that you mitigated your loss, and that was a financial gain.

Um, that person appealed that, and it went to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania where they sided with the commission and said, Yes, mitigation of loss under the ethics act is a financial gain.

So there are some exceptions to that rule and uh to this conflict of interest rule.

Um is actions having a de minimis economic impact, and that one is actually the hardest to explain because people really don't like it.

Um, what it is is if you if you get pulled over and you use your authority of the office and you get out of a $50 speeding ticket, that's not something we would investigate under the law, that would be a de minimis financial gain.

Courts have actually ruled that up to $500 of a financial gain is de minimis.

Um, the other one is we call it class subclass.

And an example was that uh in Adams County, there was a uh county commissioner, there was a zoning ordinance that said you can't um use your private land and engage with a solar panel company for those solar panel farms that you see.

Because what they would do is these solar panel companies would engage in leases with private owners, and these leases were like, I don't know, hundred thousand dollars, hundred and twenty thousand dollars, way, way, way past de minimis.

And what this person did was vote to change the zoning ordinance so he could engage in a contract with the zone with the uh solar panel company, and this was brought before the commission, and he was found not to have violated the ethics act because of this exception.

They said everybody else who's similarly situated could also then engage into a contract with the solar panel company.

That what he did didn't just benefit him, it benefited everybody else in that same class for lack of a better word, and that's who is similarly situated, and um the subclass is really just kind of uh more specific than that, and really what that exception entails or what it covers is that people serve where they live, so whatever vote you may decide to to vote to do, it may benefit you financially as long as it does that to the same degree that it benefits everybody else who's who's similarly situated, then that's not a violation of the ethics act, so nepotism, because we heard that you can't use your position to benefit your immediate family member.

So when could my child work at the state ethics commission when I have nothing to do with it, I can't supervise, I can't hire, I can't promote you can have nothing to do with um getting your child that or your immediate family member that job.

Um there was a case that kind of bounced around in the courts, and it went up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and part of the argument was well, is this just an anti-nepotism statute?

And the commission in its argument said, Yeah, kind of you can't use your position to benefit your child.

Um the other thing that it talked about, and we're gonna get to a video here shortly.

The other thing that that case talked about was what is use of office, so it's not just a vote because our elected officials do much more than that, right?

They have the ability to sway votes.

So in that case, the one that went up to the Supreme Court, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the person worked behind the scenes to change the township handbook to get rid of the anti-nepotism policy, and then when it came time to vote on that change, he said, Well, I abstain because I can't, it's a conflict of interest, and the court said no, you had access, you worked behind the scenes, you went to your fellow supervisors in a way that a citizen could not and lobbied to get this change happen.

So you can't just say I abstain at the finish line if you worked behind the scenes to make something happen.

So I'm gonna show a video.

These videos were created by um another state agency.

They kind of have the same characters floating around, but you just have to pretend you've never seen them before.

Um, because it's all animated.

So that'll kind of explain what I'm talking about.

Also, all of these videos are loosely based on real cases.

Action.

Oh, maybe it won't.

I even checked before we got started.

Let me see.

Uh there we go.

Okay.

Sorry, we checked before we got started on this.

Now we need to turn it.

Oh, because your volume's down on the okay.

Let me see if I can.

Oh, I have to go to the go-to and sure.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

Oh that I could have figured that out.

All right.

Hey, G.

Good just for Himberheads Waterwater.

How about you?

I'm doing good too.

It's been an interesting first year.

Mayor learning.

I didn't realize it even the chief of police room.

Hey chief, how've things been going?

Good, just trying to keep our heads above water.

How about you?

I'm doing good too.

It's been an interesting first year as borough mayor learning the ropes.

I didn't realize that even the chief of police reports to me.

Convenient for getting out of those speedy tickets.

Hey, do you remember my son Bill, all-star quarterback?

He took the high school team to states twice.

He's a bit of a legend around these parts.

Basically put this little town on the map.

Yeah, I've heard of him.

Isn't he an officer in the city?

Well, he was an officer in the city.

Gotten a little hot water after some evidence and cash were apparently missing from a few of his cases.

And the brass didn't take kindly to it.

Anyway, he's moving back here with his wife and kids, which brings me to why I stopped by.

Think you could offer him a job?

We do have a couple of vacant spots, but applications were due last week.

And we got a lot of good candidates.

Come on, Chief.

Surely you can make an exception for an old friend and the town hero.

Sir, you know how we do things by the book here.

And Chief, you know your own contract is up for renewal.

And I have the final say on whether you continue as chief.

I hope we understand each other.

I understand you perfectly.

Okay.

Use of government assets.

So another way to use your office is use of government assets.

So an example of that is uh we had a case with somebody from Penn Dot who was a surveyor and he had his own surveying business and he filled out the right forms, told the right people.

There was no problem with that.

The problem was that he would uh on the weekends in the evenings take Pendot equipment home and use it in his uh surveying business.

He also used the pen dot subscrip GPS subscription.

So that was an example of a use of office, even though it's no voting or no um official action.

He the use of the government assets created an extremely big financial gain.

Um he entered into an agreement with us and is in the process or having just paid off uh sixty-two thousand dollars to the state for this.

So it's kind of um these things can add up, and we'll get into the penalties and restitution and all of that shortly.

Um boy, here's another video, I think.

That's right, I think I got it.

I want to mute up what volume up.

I'm sorry.

I think you need to do the switch.

Hey Chuck.

I was just stopping by to see how things are going with the township paving project.

The other township supervisors and I were just talking about how great the roads look.

Thanks, boss.

About another week or so, and it should be done.

That's great.

Ahead of schedule and under budget.

Just how we like it.

So I was wondering, is there any chance there's any leftover paving materials?

You know what you would just throw away.

Uh I think we overestimated a bit when we ordered it.

Uh listen, Chuck, you did such a great job with the road in front of my house.

It's making my driveway look terrible.

Any chance the crew could come by quick and fix up my driveway too, you know, with the leftover material.

Um we could do it after hours some evening.

No, I don't want to get into paying overtime and all that.

Just call it an early day some afternoon and swing by on your way back to the township garage.

No need to make a special trip.

Chuck, I really appreciate you taking care of my driveway.

The wifey loves it, and you really earned me some points.

Oh, you're welcome, boss.

I have a huge favor to ask you, Chuck.

You know, I have all those trees in my backyard.

Well, a few fell during the storm last week, and I need to clear them out.

The problem is I hurt my back a few years ago, and you know I'm not as young as I once was.

A backhoe would sure make things easier on me.

Well, I think the hardware store has backhoes for rent.

That would cost me a fortune, Chuck.

And we have one here that's just sitting in the garage.

Any chance I could just borrow it for this quick job?

Boss, it's not easy to use.

You know it's for township use only.

No problem, Chuck.

I worked construction in high school.

I know what I'm doing.

I'll use it this weekend and bring it back before Monday morning.

No one will even know it's gone.

Just leave me the garage key.

Hey Chuck, uh, sorry to call you on a Sunday.

Uh, but I had a bit of an accident with the backhoe.

I was heading back to take care of those trees and forgot to lower the arm.

I knocked down a power line.

Yeah, that's probably why the power's out in town.

There's a good amount of damage here, and I need to call the power company.

But Chuck, just so we have our story straight.

I was doing work for the township when this happened, right?

That way the township's insurance should cover it.

I can't afford to pay for this mess out of pocket.

And Chuck, no one needs to know what really happened.

Do that.

How are we?

I think we're good.

All right.

Getting the hang of it.

Um, so that was a true story.

That one.

Uh well.

Yes.

Let me see if I can click those little in buttons.

Yeah.

Okay.

Just trying to get to the next level.

There we go.

All right.

So, what do you do if you have a conflict?

Abstain.

And publicly announce why you're abstaining.

Um, people who are elected officials can't just decide not to vote.

They have to give a reason.

Um, there should also be a written memo that goes with the meeting minutes to explain why the person is abstaining.

Um gifts, travel, lodging, and hospitality.

Just check something here.

Okay, next one's a video, so let me talk for a few minutes.

So, when can a state or local official not counting any other local ordinance or anything, or can a state a local official accept gifts?

Anyone think yes?

Yeah, they can true no strings attached gifts are permissible.

Again, absence any local ordinance.

Um, where the problem comes into play is when there's official action as a result of that.

The other problem comes into play is when it's not declared on your statement of financial interest.

Um, so I am gonna start jumping a little bit with these videos out of the interest of time, but the next one is actually one of the better ones and explains it really well.

So I would like to do the next one.

Oh, wait for hey, look what just arrived.

Ooh, how nice.

Who's it from?

Uh, a vendor from the food service contract at school.

The note says, Dear Mr.

O'Donnell, we hope you enjoy the sample of our delicious and nutritious food that our company hopes to provide the students of suburban school district.

Best wishes, Bobby Hamilton, CEO Hamilton Food Service.

Well, that is so very nice of him.

You know, I'm gonna give him a call to thank him.

I just got off the phone with Bobby.

What a great guy.

He's so down to earth, seems like the kind of guy you could grab a beer with.

Did you know he's a huge Eagles fan?

Wow, you must have a lot in common then.

I know.

He invited me down for a tour of this plant to get a better sense of what they can offer and get this.

How would you like to see the Eagles play this Sunday?

He has two extra tickets.

That's awesome.

I've been hoping to see them play all year, and I would love to go.

It seems like that Bobby might be a good friend to have.

Thank you so much for inviting us to the game.

When Tom said Eagles tickets, I had no idea we'd be watching the game in style from these box seats, and all the food and drinks were wonderful.

The only thing that could have made this better is an Eagles win.

It was definitely a disappointing loss, but I'm so glad you could come.

It was great to meet you, and I hope we can make these games a regular thing.

Hey, Tom, before you go, I understand the vote on the food service contract is Tuesday.

Any idea where things stand?

Well, you know, there's a lot of competition, but I'd say things are looking pretty good for you.

That's great.

I knew I could count on your support.

Also, we want to give you a little something for your favorite charity.

Well, isn't that nice of you?

Thank you.

I'll take that.

I know exactly which charity this is going to our children's college time.

I want a walk-time job widening videos.

All right.

So there's a lot in that one.

One of which is um whether there's actually an ethics violation there.

So far, we didn't have any official vote on the food service contract.

So far, our school director who gets the free tickets and the fruit basket and all of that has not violated the ethics act.

He could go in there and vote totally differently.

Um, second of all, fruit basket.

That's probably gonna be de minimis.

Um now, once we get to the box seats, the food, the drinks, the envelope of cash.

Um, assuming that he votes, and assuming that guy gets the contract, now we have an ethics violation.

Um, we are a statewide agency, so we have an office in Pittsburgh.

So I didn't create these videos, but I kind of imagine that they were like, what should we do?

Eagles, Steelers, let's do the Eagles, but we'll have them lose, and that way we'll keep the Pittsburgh people happy.

So what happened in that case?

Um, that leads us to the improper influence.

There's one part of the ethics act that applies to everybody, regardless of whether they're an elected official, regardless of whether they're a public employee, and that's um soliciting, like basically offering a bribe.

So that guy, Bobby Hamilton, we could look into him for that.

Um, once you receive it, that's something we only have on the elected official.

Um now we're getting into some other restricted activities.

One is honorarium.

So you'll see the definition up there, and it's uh kind of I've been told it doesn't really make a lot of sense.

And basically what it means is this.

After I'm done here, you can't pay me.

I'm being paid by the state to do this.

This is my job.

Um, if I were to come here in the evenings, if I were to come here in the mornings, as long as I'm talking about the ethics act as part of my job, you can't, I can't accept any money.

Now it doesn't mean public officials and public employees can't do any speaking engagements.

I happen to be be a big hockey fan.

So if you wanted to invite me back to talk for a couple hours about the playoffs, and you wanted to pay me to do that, we could do that.

Um, and also feel free to contact me if you guys want to do that.

Revolving door.

So this goes into effect when you leave public office and public employment.

You can't come back within a year and represent a person.

By person they mean company or business, and you can't get paid for it.

And here's what that's meant to prevent really we get this from some of the bigger state agencies, like uh Pendot again, for example.

They work with a lot of engineers, so in engineering firms.

And what'll happen is they'll say, hey, great working with you, we'd like to offer you a job.

Public employee says, fabulous, let's go.

And then a month or two later, they submit a proposal and their names all over it.

That's still basically using your office, even though you've left office.

So for one year, you can't do it.

Now you could work on the proposal, you can't have your name all over it.

The idea is that you don't get a leg up from your public employment.

I am going to skip some of these videos in the interest of time.

Advices and opinions.

So this is one of the best services we offer.

If you are subject to the act, or you represent somebody subject to the act, and you want to make a vote in a couple months, you want to make um enter into an agreement.

You want to sell something to your entity.

Before you do it, if you write out what you want to do and you include who you are and your current position, send it into the commission.

You'll get an advice of counsel in writing saying, yes, you can do this or no, you can't, and here's why.

And that'll protect you from any future investigation or anything like that.

These are also opinions of the commission.

So, for example, if you get this advice of counsel and they say you can't do that, and you're like, I'm pretty sure I can.

Um, you can ask the commission to issue an opinion.

Our advice is issued by our chief counsel.

Um the commission will also issue an opinion if they get some from like the higher-ups, like um, you know, a state senator or something, or they get the same questions over and over again.

It just carries a little more weight when it comes from our commissioners.

Um, now it has to be for future conduct, because if you write in like a two-page letter about stuff you did last week, that could be viewed as a confession.

And it could be given to us in the investigative division.

So it's for future conduct.

Investigations.

So all of our investigations begin with a complaint.

Um, we do have the ability to do what we call an own motion.

So we could read about something in the paper, somebody could call us, another state agency could refer something to us, and we can open up an own motion, but mostly it's a complaint that has to be signed and sworn before a notary.

And uh the complainant remains confidential throughout.

The commission uh and commission staff are prohibited by law from saying who the complainant is.

All of our um, I'm sorry, so once we get that, if it if it meets our criteria, if it shows on its face a violation of the ethics act, we can open a preliminary inquiry, and our investigator would have 60 days to determine whether there's reason to believe the act has been violated.

At that point, if they say yes, the target or what we call the respondent, because we're administrative, we're not criminal, the respondent then gets notified.

And we have 180 days to come up with a final product, which we call our investigative complaint.

We can issue subpoenas, we can get bank records, phone records, we can interview people, we can uh put them under oath.

All of that, all of that paperwork that we generate is confidential.

We're not subject to right to know.

Um, and the only public thing at the only thing the public sees is the final order.

And that is an order that basically lists the facts and says this is how the person violated the ethics act, if they did, and here's why.

Um that order is appealable to commonwealth court.

As an administrative agency, nobody goes to jail from us.

The act itself does carry criminal penalties.

That has to be brought by either the attorney general's office or a local district attorney's office.

What we do is issue a public order, and that'll say so and so violated the State Ethics Act conflict of interest provision and list the who, what, where, when, why, and how the restitution goes to the local entity.

So, for example, if you used your um public position and you made $5,000, we can enter into a settlement agreement instead of going to a hearing where we may say, okay, pay back $3,000.

And you can say, okay, and that $3,000 goes back to the local municipality.

It doesn't go to the state, it doesn't go to we to us.

Um, the idea is that the local municipality is being reimbursed for what was taken.

If it's particularly agregious, the commission can order treble penalties.

So that $5,000 can become $15,000.

The commission can also refer it to a criminal uh to for criminal prosecution, and that's just where the commission says we recommend that you look into this.

Um and then we have the statements of financial interests.

Um, so we do have a video about that, and again, that one is what we see a lot of the time.

So I am gonna play that one.

After the video, I'm like in position.

Yes, that's right.

They're called statements of financial interests, and all public officials and public employees must file them by May 1st each year, and the year after leaving public service.

Yes, they are publicly available.

Sure, I could get you copies of them.

You need the past five years for all three commissioners.

Sure.

Could you give me until tomorrow to pull everything together?

I'll scan them in and send them to you via email.

Okay, thank you.

Goodbye.

Hi, Janice.

It's Kristen.

Listen, we just had a call from a reporter asking for all the statements of financial interest for the commissioners for the past five years.

You never filed yours for 2021, which was due by May 1st.

No, you didn't file it.

Remember, I had a remind you several times, and you still never got it done.

Okay, I'll see you this afternoon.

Here's the form, Janice.

Thanks, Kristen.

As usual, you're saving my neck.

Again.

Here you go, Kristen.

Janice, this is signed May 1st, 2022.

I don't think these forms can be backdated.

See, it says it right on the form.

Well, technically that may be true, but I've been filling out these forms for years.

What's the big deal?

It's not like I'm hiding anything.

And so what?

I filled it out a little late this year.

Trust me, it'll never happen again.

Right, Janice.

Kristen, is there any way we can pretend this has been here all along?

No one will be the wiser.

Okay.

So in that video, um somebody wants to see a reporter, wants to see the statements of financial interests.

Um, those are need to be produced on demand, you know, pretty much within a business day or two or three.

Um, we get calls about that all the time.

So anyway, in the video, uh Janice, the council person has not submitted it, and the secretary calls her and she brings it back and it's dated um as if she had submitted it on time.

And the end of the video says, nobody will be the wiser.

And the answer is yes, we will, because every year when we put out these forms, they have a revision date in the corner.

So if somebody signs it before the form came out, right?

Yes, we're gonna know that it was backdated.

Um, our commission takes back dating very seriously.

It's basically lying, which um you know is a problem for a public official.

So the next few slides are the forms itself, because I know this is something that touches everybody.

I believe that um the last few years, it's approximately 160,000 people file these forms.

Anyone here file them electronically?

Good.

Good, because we're gonna be moving to that.

Um, not like you have to, but we're gonna be strongly recommending it because the way to get in trouble with these forms is either to not file or to file a deficient form.

Filing online prevents you from filing a deficient form in a lot of ways.

So I have the form on here, and I wanted to point out a couple of things.

First of all, our contact information.

We are staffed every workday from 8 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

A live person answers the phone.

I don't know if anybody else gets really annoyed when they call and they're like, press number one, press number two, and you're like, five people work there.

How can how can nobody answer the phone?

So we um we do, and our administrative division deals with these forms all the time.

They will walk you through, they have heard every question that you're gonna present, and they will literally sit with you and walk you through.

So I like that everybody has our contact information.

The instructions.

So we have tried our best to make those instructions not look like the holy mess like they look like up there, but that's about the best we can do.

So call us.

We are happy to walk through these forms.

Some of the questions are a little confusing.

Um, we get a lot of questions about income, you know, retirement income or um basically if you get like something for your taxes, like a form then for your taxes, and it's over 1300 that you made that year, you should list it on your form.

Where a lot of people mess up is a lot of these things don't apply to a lot of people.

For example, the real estate one is if you engaged in real estate with the commonwealth, if you sold a piece of property to the commonwealth or bought property from the commonwealth.

Most people that is gonna be none, didn't do it.

But you have to check the none box, and that's where filing online won't let you mess that up.

Um, and then finally, where to file.

If you file online, make sure you have one also on file with your local entity, because they have to have it available for the public.

Um, and it'll say these all say, and if you don't know, call us and we'll get your position or your employment and tell you where you have to file.

Um, what happens when you don't file?

We have a whole procedure and we like to use it, use this again, real case as an example.

So this is a real form that we received.

Um, and here's what happened.

So this person was told after she left her public employment that she had to file.

We send a warning letter that says, Look, you haven't filed, please do so in 20 days.

No harm, no foul, no penalty.

She didn't respond.

We send a second warning letter.

Look, you really have to file.

You have 20 days, or we're going to, you know, file a notice for civil penalties.

This person did nothing.

When we send that second one, it's sent certified, and we get that little green card back with the signature.

If they uh don't file, we file a civil penalty.

And that's just a long legal petition that some people that people get, also sent certified.

This person got it and did nothing.

And we went to the commission and we show them all of this, and they imposed a 250 penalty.

Now right now, we have no enforcement abilities as a state agency.

So right now, if that were to happen, we'd give that to uh the Office of Attorney General.

They have a financial enforcement section, and people would get a letter, do get letters from the office of the Attorney General.

Please, you have to pay this penalty.

Back then we went to Commonwealth Court.

And Commonwealth Court, we say, look, this is a commission order.

We know they got the order because we have proof of service.

And they didn't comply.

Commonwealth court said, okay, they have to pay the civil penalty, and they have to pay court costs now.

By the way, court costs routinely were more than the civil penalties were.

This person did nothing.

Now, if you if you violate an order from the state ethics commission, that's one thing.

Like our feelings are hurt, right?

But if you violate a Commonwealth Court judge's order, they get a little annoyed and they find you in contempt.

And in this case, that's what they did.

And they issued a warrant for this person's arrest.

Finally, she decided to file.

She wrote all kinds of colorful language on the forum.

If you look closely, it's actually not sufficient.

She didn't date it, she left a couple of things blank, but I think back then they were a little sick of dealing with her, and they just said, All right.

Um we use it as a teaching tool, and we think that's pretty.

So if you have any questions, I know I kind of breezed through a little quickly at the end.

I tried to hit what is most pertinent.

Um, and if anybody has online any questions they want to send in, please let me know.

Thank you so much.

Um, I will now recognize members of council for comments or questions.

No questions or comments from us.

Thank you for winging your contact information.

I know I for one will be using it.

Um, I will now recognize the mayor, the administration, or any other elected official in the room for any comments or questions.

Okay.

I will now accept public comment with a five minute time limit.

Is there anyone from the public who would like to make comments?

Okay.

Um, so once again, I want to thank you, uh, attorney layman for being here.

I want to thank all of the members of the administration who were able to attend, whether in person or online, it is not mandatory, and I very much appreciate the time that you take to come down here and hang out with us for this.

Um, I'd also think like to thank Council Vice President Laird for acting as audiovisual today.

Very much appreciate your help.

All right, this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sure.