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Page 4 of 5 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />disclose confidential information without proper legal authorization nor use such information <br />to advance their financial or private interests. <br />•Representation of Private Interests: BCC members shall not appear on behalf of the private <br />interests of a third-party before their board, commission or committee or proceeding of the <br />City. BCC members who wish to advocate on behalf of the private interest of a third-party <br />before the City Council or any other board, commission or committee, or proceeding of the <br />city, is advised to identify themself as a member of a City BCC, and state that they are making <br />the statement as a member of the public, and not on behalf of the BCC on which they serve. <br />•Advocacy: It is the role of Commissioners to advise the Council on policies and positions within <br />the domain of their Commission. To the best of their ability, within the domain of their <br />Commission, BCC members shall represent the official policies and positions of the City Council. <br />When presenting their personal opinions or positions, members shall explicitly state that they <br />do not represent the Council, their boards, commissions, committees, or the City. <br />•Improper Influence: BCC members shall refrain from using their position to improperly <br />influence the deliberations or decisions of City staff, boards, commission, or committees. <br />•Policy Role of Members: BCC members shall respect and support the Council-Manager <br />structure of the City of Redwood City as provided in the City Charter. <br />•Positive Work Environment: BCC members shall support the maintenance of a positive and <br />constructive environment for residents, businesses, and City employees. <br />•Compliance and Enforcement: BCC members have the primary responsibility to ensure that <br />ethical standards are understood and met and that the public can continue to have full <br />confidence in the integrity of City government. This personal code of conduct shall be <br />considered to be a summary of ethical conduct by Redwood City coards, commissions and <br />committees. A BCC member can be removed from their BCC position by the City Council if their <br />conduct fails to meet any of these ethical standards. <br />•Adjudicative or Quasi-Judicial Hearings: Adjudicative or quasi-judicial decisions relate to <br />evaluations and judgments where the BCC member is charged with applying legal standards to <br />a factual situation, such as discretionary land use entitlements. Accordingly, the procedure <br />employed must be fair as well as accord interested parties with a meaningful opportunity to <br />prepare and be heard. Interested parties should keep in mind that ex parte contacts with BCC <br />members may give rise to the perception that the process was not fair if BCC members have <br />information that other interested parties do not have, or ex parte contacts may give rise to a <br />perception that the BCC member is biased in favor of or against a particular party. While BCC <br />members may meet with constituents to discuss pending adjudicative decisions, it is <br />recommended that the BCC member make a complete disclosure of such contact, as follows: <br />o Where information of a specific nature is gathered by a member of the BCC through <br />contacts outside the record and the information is not already on the record, the <br />member shall disclose the contact and its substance on the record prior to the <br />commencement of the hearing to which such contact relates. <br />o When a matter involves a mixture of adjudicatory and legislative decisions, ex parte <br />contacts and communications shall be disclosed. <br />In addition to the BCC Code of Conduct, several miscellaneous “cleanup” opportunities are appropriate <br />since the May 2021 revision to the Handbook: <br />9.B. - Page 7 of 53 <br />163