Travel Disclosure Report
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Parent Category: Financial Disclosure
The Travel Disclosure Report is used to report reasonable hosting expenses paid by a source other than the City of Atlanta for travel, meals, lodging, and conference registration. The report is due within 30 days of the travel, event, or reimbursement.
General Requirements
- Reimbursement is limited to hosting expenses, such as travel, meals, lodging, and registration
- Expenses must be reasonable
- Travel must be in an official capacity
- Reports are due within 30 days of the travel or reimbursement
Travel Expenses Paid by a Prohibited Source
Officials or employees may accept "reasonable hosting expenses" from prohibited sources for travel in four situations:
- Attending a conference
- Participating on a professional or civic panel
- A speaking engagement
- Teaching
Travel Expenses Paid by Other Sources
Officials or employees may accept travel expenses from other non-city sources for travel in an official capacity under the Code of Ethics. There is no restriction on the purpose of the trip, if the entity paying for the travel is not a prohibited source. If traveling on city time, the employee must receive departmental approval for the travel.
Gifts of Travel to the City
The City and its departments may accept gifts of travel from prohibited sources for training, travel to review a best-practices program, and other official city business as a gift to the City. The gift is to a city agency which chooses the persons to travel. The department is required to disclose the gift on a Gift to the City Report, and the individual must file a Travel Disclosure Report.
Who Files
The individual who accepts payments or expense reimbursements from any source other than the City of Atlanta files the travel report. Thus, a city employee or official who travels in an official capacity files an expense report as required by the Department of Finance when the city pays for the travel or files an online report in the Electronic Disclosure System when another entity pays.
Where to File
The Travel Disclosure Report is filed online in the Electronic Disclosure System within 30 days of the travel or the receipt of the reimbursement.
What to Disclose
The Travel Disclosure Report asks the following: Donor's name and address; date, location, and subject matter of the event; and the amount paid for travel, meals, lodging, and other expenses.
Conflict Disclosure Report
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Parent Category: Financial Disclosure
The online Conflict of Interest Disclosure Report must be filed when an official or employee is disqualified from voting or participating in a matter due to a financial or personal interest.
Who Files
All officials and employees are prohibited from participating in a decision in which they have a direct or indirect financial or personal interest, but only officials and employees filing the financial disclosure statement are required to file an online conflicts disclosure report. Section 2-813 (b) covers 23 categories of filers, including members of city boards and commissions. In addition, members of the City Council are required by their rules of procedure to state their reasons for abstaining due to a conflict of interest.
Where to File
The Conflict of Interest Disclosure Report is filed online in the Electronic Disclosure System as soon as the official or employee becomes aware of the conflict. It is recommended that the filing be made no later than seven days after the meeting or decision.
When to File
Knows or should know. The code requires disclosure when the official or employee "knows or with reasonable investigation should know" that the employee has a financial or personal interest in proposed legislation or a decision pending before the employee or the employee’s agency.
Example: An employee with a financial interest in a consulting firm has the firm run a conflicts check against the list of companies doing business with the city to determine when he is disqualified from participating in a matter.
Example: A board member serving on an authority board learns from the meeting agenda that a member of her law firm is representing a developer in a proposal before the board. She files a disclosure form as soon as she learns about her firm’s representation of the developer before the authority.
Financial or personal interest. A financial interest is any interest that yields a monetary or material benefit to the official or employee or any employer or immediate family member of the official or employee. Personal interest is defined "as any interest arising from relationships with immediate family or from business, partnership, or corporate associations, whether or not any financial interest is involved."
Example: A councilmember serves on the Board of Directors of a non-profit organization that receives funding from the City. The councilmember is disqualified from voting on a resolution to approve a grant to the non-profit group.
Example: A neighborhood planning unit chair is a real estate broker who has been retained as a sales agent by a property owner. The property owner appears at an NPU meeting to seek support for a rezoning. The NPU chair has a financial interest in the zoning matter based on her sales contract with the property owner.
Pending matter. There needs to be a matter pending before the City. An official or employee is not required to file a disclosure form under the Code of Ethics because he, an employer, or a family member’s employer has done business with the City in the past or is likely to seek city business in the future.
Example: A local law firm hires the sister of an attorney in the law department. The firm is not currently doing work for the city, but did work for the City in the past and may seek the city’s business in the future. The attorney is not required to file a conflict disclosure report based on a completed contract or the possibility of a future contract.
