Okaloosa County BOCC — January 18, 2013 — Leroy Collins Institute Ethics report — reading text

TOUGH CHOICES TOUGH CHOICES: FLORIDA COUNTIES BRIDGE THE ETHICS POLICY GAP > EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Florida has long been ethically challenged. Supporting data confirm that the state has had a large number of federal public corruption convictions and recently received a failing grade on a report card from the State Integrity Investigation for ethics enforcement of state-level laws — laws that have not been revisited since Reubin O’D. Askew was governor in the 1970s. While the bad news is that Florida’s state-level ethics laws and enforcement are essentially frozen in time, outdated and ineffective, the good news is that local governments in the state are not waiting for the legislature to address the state’s public corruption problems. Counties across the state are acting as ethics reform laboratories, addressing their unique experience with public corruption through innovative ethics reform solutions. This report from the LeRoy Collins Institute at Florida State University and Integrity Florida outlines what counties have done in areas dealing with ethics policy, ethics enforcement, lobbying, campaign financing and procurement. It also contains brief case studies of the exemplary policies in place in several Florida counties, including: Broward, Duval, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach and Sarasota. The data in this report are based on a survey of counties conducted in the fall of 2012; 45 of Florida's 67 counties are included in the analysis. LEROY COLLINS so NT qo ‘Te instrure. © ~- November 2012 a “county officials, have adopted local ordinances. regulating procurement pract 5 a principals: to register. Only a handful of counties have adopted local ordinanc _. for elected officials, have their own ethics commission, have local ordinances r --.. ;county campaigns, or require lobbyists to report their compensation. : Son short, ‘the e results show that a majority of. the counties slinveyed provide éthics taining for elected and have put in- eS restrictions on gifts from lobbyists. to county officials. Further, close to halt of the 5 counties have oh designated ¢ a 2 point person for ethics i issues. , ae — = : Other: areas 5 of ethics are not as widely adopted. Only 12 counties . have adopted an-eth stringent than the state code (Chapter 112, Florida’ Statutes) and only 10 ‘As might be expected, some of the counties that are leaders in nines -level ot ethics programs that promote integrity and address potential publ roadmap to local ethics reform success. AE : BACKGROUND LS 4 . increase i in exemptions to Florida’ S open.t re records laws, and tl nwii nae aihics fe reform, have caused the state to fal behind the nation in the / / the Florida Supreme eC This report provides « a snapshot of ethics laws i in 45 of the state’s 67 counties. The information is based. - on responses to a survey. sent electronically to all county administrators and county attorneys in the fall of 2012. ‘The 45 responses reflect both small and large counties, urban and rural counties and those from : the various regions of the state. (See Methodology section for a map showing the location of the.countiés: ... responding to the sive) ; pie provisions follow. An ‘appendix: including links to the codes of responding counties, is available . slectronically'< on the 2 LeRoy Collins Institute and Integrity Florida websites. _ Ethics Policy a and | Enforcement. : ements make up the category of ethics policy and enforcement: having an ethics code, limiting voting conflicts, _ establishing an ethics commission, offering ethics training, and having an inspector general or other point Person responsible for implementing ethics: provisions. eeording to Figure 1, 12 couilities report having an ethics code that contains local regulations in addition to state requirements. Local governments are not allowed to utilize ethics policies that are weaker than Part lil of Chapter 112, Florida Statutes, but they can adopt provisions that are tougher than the state law. ‘The additional requirements generally deal with more stringent practices for voting conflicts, gifts and financial disclosure. ; : Figure 1: Has your county adopted an ethics code that is different from the state ethics code contained i in Chapter 1 1 12 of state law? mYes @ No Yes Counties: Broward, Clay, Duval, Escambia, Indian River, @ Other Lake, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, Sarasota, # No Response Seminole and St. Johns 0 10 20 30 40 Figure 1 While Chapter 112 contains state laws regarding voting conflicts for local and state officials, five counties have adopted even stronger local ordinances regarding voting conflicts (See Figure 2). 2 | Tough Choices Facing Florida's Governments "Figure 2: Has your county adopted an ordinance regarding voting conflicts for elected officials? w@ Yes No Os : a Other - Yes Counties: Hillsborough, Liberty, Miami-Dade, Orange and Seminole @ No Response “employees." According to the Ordinance, ‘individuale | in. these categories shall: not enter into 2 any contract - me a or transact any business, with limited exons. in Which he or she. or a amen! o of his or rher oe eae Commission on Ethics and Public Trust i is on the individual with prior to submitting a bid, response or application. of any type ) wmYes @No # Other m@ No Response 1 Choices: Florida Counties: Five counties have put in place independent inspector generals as internal government watchdogs to : investigate wasteful spending and public corruption (See Figure 4). 7 ‘Figure 4: Does your county have its own independent inspector general? “Yes ( Counties: ‘Broward, Miamni-- Dade, Palm Beach, Pinellas and St. @ Yes mNo # Other 4 No Response 20 30 40 Figure 4 7 In Hillsborough County, the charter puts in place an internal performance auditor to serve in a similar capacity as an inspector general. Manatee County’s Clerk of the Circuit Court's Internal Audit Department acts, in part, as an independent inspector general. The audit director regularly investigates, on an independent basis, allegations of corruption or other ethical or illegal conduct by county staff or officials. _.- Sarasota County’s. ethics.and compliance officer and Duval County’s ethics officer both serve in dual roles with functions similar to an inspector general. In Sarasota, the Clerk of Court is responsible for internal audits. In addition, several counties have whistleblower ordinance or hotlines. County attorneys are the most frequently utilized point person for ethical issues (See Figure 5). Full-time ethics officers are on staff in Duval, Sarasota and Miami-Dade Counties. Figure 5: Does your county have a designated point person for ethics issues? m Yes HNo # Other her EN ARUN SS RRR PES REE AN ne HO HE So No Response : 4| Tough Choices Facirig. Florida's Governments . Figure 5. Yes Counties: Broward, Charlotte, DeSoto, Duval, Escambia, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough, Leon, Manatee, Marion, Miami-Dade, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Pinellas, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie and Sumter Je county government ethics program component cited by survey takers, though no counties stat . Ethics training; a ; criti comnpenent of: creating : an. ‘ethical culture i in | government, was the most comm 4 - oe was mandatory. Sixty percent of une: counties: surveyed. offered ethics training for elected ‘county. offici ase (See Figure 8). _ ey =: oe i: ein _ Does your county offer ethics training for elected county officials? oe Yes Counties: Bay, Bradford, Broward, Charlotte, Duval, Escambia, Hendry, Lake, Leon, Levy, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange; Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, . Seminole, St; Johns, St. Lucie and : a Sumter | @ Yes gNo m Other # No Response 0 10 20 30 “Figure: - Ethics training programs, offered through the Florida Association of Counties anid administered by county attorneys, were the most common types of ethics trainit ig Cited. The focus of the training curriculum i is woe primarily on Chapter 112, Florida Statutes, Code of Ethics provisions. Training on. Florida’s: Sunshine L. Ws a for public meetings and public records are often combined. with ethics training at. the county level. The : Florida Commission on Ethics and the Florida Institute of Government at Florida State. University also : provide ethics programs for county, governments... ae = Pas # Lobbying Disclosure and Campaign | Finance M@ Yes BNo @ Other m@ No Response coe ‘Some 10 counties out of the 45 surveyed require lobbyist registration (See Figure 8). Figure 8: Does your county require lobbyists and their principals to register? | Yes Counties: Broward, Duval, . Hillsborough, Lake, Leon, Miami- | BYes Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, Pinellas and St. Lucie | # No | @ Other @ No Response 0 10 20 30 40 Figure 8 - Only Leon County requires lobbyists to report compensation (See Figure 9). & Figure 9: Does your coun ty require lobbyists to report their compensation? g@ Yes No = Other Yes Counties: Leon @ No Response ho 20 40 60 Figure 9 ~ Local campaign finance regulations (See Figure 10) are in place in three counties: Broward, Miami- ~~ Dade and Sarasota. Leon County responded “other” to the survey question, but indicated that a charter i ‘amendment was adopted i in 2010 reducing the amount that can be contributed to county commissioner a campaigns per. election to $250. oa Sarasota County has the most extensive county-level limits 0 on campaign finance i in the state. In 1990, Sarasota County voters approved:a measure that prohibits county candidates from accepting more than 7 $200 from individual contributors and limits total campaign contributions to $40,000. 6| Tough Choices Facing Florida's Governments . Dade, Okaloosa, Orange, Palm Beach, Yes No @ Other @ No Response | Procurement The final frequently cited policy component at. the county government level according to the survey, was ss local ordinances regulating procurement-practices. (See Figure 1 Wy : : Figure 11: Has your county adopted any ordinane e. "cone of silence" during blading? : Yes Yes Counties: Bay, Bradford, Broward Charlotte, Clay, DeSoto, Dixie,” oe - Escambia, Hillsborough, Indian River, os Leon, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami- a@No @ Other E No Response . Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, St Johns, Sumter and Walton mee . ‘competitive bidding o on all vendor contracts above $25, 000 and mandates disclosure of any vendor 7 relationships with county commissioners or staff. Some counties added that they have local preference = ordinances designed to support local vendors. : In 2009, at the state level, former Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink launched the Sunshine Spending 2 9 allow: citizens to track which companies. were receiving state tax dollars. The website was _ d to enable Floridians to hold officials accountable for spending. Florida's current Chief Financial fficer, Jeff Atwater, has expanded online procurement tracking initiatives with Transparency Florida and the Florida Accountability Contract Tracking System. While not specifically covered in this study, : some —_ local governments Ir in Florida are also beginning to deploy similar websites for procurement tracking. 4 CASE STUDIES While 2 tabulations of county actions are an-important part of understanding the local ethics law landscape, | pful to look deeper into the instances of exemplary county efforts. This section examines ethics. reform efforts of Broward, Duval/Jacksonville, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach and Sarasota Counties. In each of these counties, the reform efforts were initiated by ethical charges or Q violations, but in-each case the counties stepped up to deal with the problems. The public’s role in these reforms is also key. The case studies cover a 15-year time frame, ranging from Miami-Dade’s efforts in 4 996 through, Leon County's 2010 reforms. = Figure 42 provides a