2.36.050 Challenge for bias – Proponent disqualification.
A. No councilman or planning commission member shall participate in discussion of the proposal or vote on the proposal when:
1. Any of the following has a direct or substantial financial interest in the proposal: The councilman or planning commission member or his spouse, brother, sister, child parent, father-in-law, mother-in-law, any business in which he is then serving or has served within the previous two years, or any business with which he is negotiating for or has an arrangement or understanding concerning prospective partnership or employment;
2. He owns property within the area entitled to receive notice of the public hearing;
3. He has a direct personal interest in the proposal;
4. For any other reason, he has determined that he cannot participate in the hearing and decision in an impartial manner;
5. The councilman or planning commission member shall reveal said conflicts at the time of the public hearing.
B. No other officer or employee of the city who has a financial or other private interest shall participate in discussion with or give an official opinion to the council or planning commission on the proposal without first declaring for the record the nature and extent of such interest.
C. No decision or action of a planning commission or city governing body shall be invalid due to ex parte contact or bias resulting from ex parte contact with a member of the decision-making body, if the member of the decision-making body receiving the contact:
1. Places on the record the substance of any written or oral ex parte communications concerning the decision or action; and
2. Has a public announcement of the content of the communication and of the parties’ right to rebut the substance of the communication made at the first hearing following the communication where action will be considered or taken on the subject to which the communication related.
A communication between city staff and the planning commission or governing body shall not be considered as ex parte contact for purposes of the above subsection.
D. Notwithstanding any provision of this or any other rule:
1. An abstaining or disqualified councilman or planning commission member may be counted for purposes of forming a quorum, but shall not be considered as voting for or against the matter in question; and
2. A councilman or planning commission member may represent himself, a client or any other member of the public at a hearing, provided he:
a. Abstains from the vote on the proposal,
b. Removes himself from the council area and joins the audience, and
c. Makes full disclosure of his status and position at the time of addressing the council. (Ord. 4268 §1, 2 (part), 1983; Ord. 3682 §3, 1973).