Excerpts from guidelines
October 21, 2003
Bridgewater
Raynham
Easton
East Bridgewater
West Bridgewater
Massachusetts
Legislation & Politics
USA
Legislation & Politics
World
Education
Bridgewater-Raynham Schools
Massachusetts
USA
Archives (past stories)
Opinion/Analysis
Joseph Gillis Jr.
You can do something!
Since the best place for information is the State, please refer to Mass General Laws 268A. For your convenience, you can click here to access Mass.gov 's site. Some interesting things to note are:
a) Definition of a Municipal Employee
(g) "Municipal employee", a person performing services for or holding an office, position, employment or membership in a municipal agency, whether by election, appointment, contract of hire or engagement, whether serving with or without compensation, on a full, regular, part-time, intermittent, or consultant basis, but excluding (l) elected members of a town meeting and (2) members of a charter commission established under Article LXXXIX of the Amendments to the Constitution
b) Having a one year "cooling-off" period after leaving position. See Ch 268A:18
(b) a former municipal employee who, within one year after his last employment has ceased, appears personally before any agency of the city or town as agent or attorney for anyone other than the city or town in connection with any particular matter in which the same city or town is a party or has a direct and substantial interest and which was under his official responsibility as a municipal employee at any time within a period of two years prior to the termination of his employment
A fact Sheet is also available from the Ethics Commission relating to "Appearances" Click here to access directly
Public officials and employees must avoid conduct that creates a reasonable impression that any person can improperly influence or unduly enjoy their official favor, or that they are likely to act (or fail to act) because of kinship, rank, position or undue influence by any party or person. A reasonable impression of favoritism or bias may arise when a public official acts on matters affecting a friend's, a business associate's or a relative's financial interest.
Specifically, the law now states that if a reasonable person having knowledge of the relevant circumstances would conclude that a public official or employee could be improperly influenced, the public employee can dispel this impression of favoritism by disclosing all the facts that would lead to such a conclusion. For example, it may be necessary for a public official to disclose a personal relationship with someone appearing before his or her board.
