Lincoln wants to prohibit city managers from competing for city contracts, but state law will have to be changed
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Lincoln wants to prohibit city managers from competing for city contracts, but state law will have to be changed.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/Pu0WWf ) Mayor Chris Beutler doesn't think the people who decide city contracts should have the chance to benefit from them.
Banning those contracts is part of an effort to hold government to the highest possible standard, said Rick Hoppe, Beutler's chief of staff.
"It sets up the opportunity for improper conflicts of interest," Hoppe said.
Frank Daley with the state Accountability and Disclosure Commission said most states already have such a ban. Nebraska allows government employees to seek government contracts partly because there might not be other options in rural areas.
Daley says in some counties the only hardware store might be owned by a county commissioner.
But Daley says government employees contracting with the agency they work for should make sure the relationship is very public.
Omaha, Nebraska's largest city, already bans contracts for its directors and employees as part of its city charter.
Lincoln is asking the state Legislature to let the city ban such contracts to make sure that an executive order Beutler issued in 2008 will hold up.
But cities that don't want to impose such a ban wouldn't be required to under the proposed law.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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