You Ask, We Answer

Q & A Starr Warson Legal Counsel, Lindsay Local Hospital District I work with a special district for health care. The county is asking that we send copies of the Form700s to their office. They say it’s required. The district is not an entity or a subdivision of the county. I was told that special districts if not a subdivision or supported by the county, the district keeps the 700s at the district office and they go no further. Is that correct? Thank you all. Karen Macedonio President, East Kern Health Care District Our district directors, and our counsel, submitted all our Form 700s to the county. Cheryl Doran-Girard Administrator/ Consultant, Camp Meeker Recreation and Park District Sonoma County requires elected officials to electronically file Form 700 annually via a county electronic access and follows up quite diligently to make sure each individual Board does so. Additionally, the district maintains files for the individuals in the positions listed in the district’s conflict of interest code. Additionally, the County of Sonoma “reminds” Districts of the required biennial Conflict of Interest Code review process. This generally occurs in the early fall, forwarded to the Board of Supervisors and their review is completed by year-end. Glenn Lazof Director of Finance Services, Regional Government Services I checked with one of Regional Government Services’ clerk of the board experts. She writes “It depends on each entity’s specific conflict of interest code. This code is supposed to be updated every other year by the special district’s clerk and taken to their governing body (board). Whoever is designated by the COI code as the ‘code reviewing body’ should be sent the originals. If the county is the code reviewing body, then yes, they need to have the originals. It’s possible that the conflict-of-interest code for this particular special district says that the district itself is the custodian. This is usually (but not always) the case for employee Form 700s (as opposed to director’s Form 700s).” CSDA Disclaimer: This section is not intended to be legal advice. Members should always seek legal counsel. The information contained here is for general reference purposes only. Engage with your peers and ask questions on CSDA’s Open Forum community! https://www.csda.net/communities-home You Ask, We Answer: Form 700