Section 11-43-12.1

Section 11-43-12.1Purchase of services or personal property by Class 7 or 8 municipalities from elected officials, employees, or members of municipal boards.

(a) Notwithstanding any statute or law to the contrary, any municipality in Class 7 or 8 may legally purchase from any of the elected officials of such municipality or employees of such municipality or board members of municipal boards organized under statutory authority by or for such municipality, any personal service or personal property, provided the elected official, employee, or board member is the only domiciled vendor of the personal service or personal property within the municipality, and such elected official, employee, or board member may legally sell such personal service or personal property to the municipality. The cost or value of such personal service or personal property authorized to be obtained or purchased under this section shall in no event exceed the sum of $3,000.00. The elected official, employee, or board member, if he proposes to sell to the municipality, shall not participate in the decision-making process determining the purchase of such personal service or personal property but shall make any disclosure required by the provisions of the code of ethics for public officials, found in Chapter 25 of Title 36. The governing body of such municipality shall determine and find that the elected official, employee, or board member, from whom the purchase is to be made, is the sole vendor domiciled in the municipality and that the selling price of such service or property is lower than could be obtained from a vendor domiciled outside the municipality, and, in making such determination, consideration may be given to the quality of service or property proposed to be supplied, conformity with specifications, purposes for which required, terms of delivery, transportation charges, and the date of delivery.



(b) Notwithstanding any statute or law to the contrary, any municipality in Class 7 or 8 may legally purchase from any of the elected officials, employee, or board member of such municipality any personal service or personal property under the Competitive Bid Law procedures established by Article 3, Chapter 16, Title 41, and such elected officials, employee, or board member may legally sell such personal service or personal property to such municipality under the procedures of said statutes. The elected official, employee, or board member, if he proposes to bid, shall not participate in the decision-making process determining the need for or the purchase of such personal service or personal property, or in the determination of the successful bidder, and the governing body shall affirmatively find that the elected official, employee, or board member, from whom the purchase is to be made, is the lowest responsible bidder as required by said statutes. It shall be the duty and responsibility of the municipality to file a copy of any contract awarded to any of its elected officials, employees, or board members with the State Ethics Commission and all awards shall be a result of original bid takings.



It is the intention of the Legislature by the adoption of this section to specifically remove any statutory or legal prohibitions against municipalities, in Classes 7 and 8, dealing with their elected officials, employees, or board members in the purchase of personal services or personal property.



(c) In the event an elected official, employee, or board member offers to sell or submit a bid to the municipality for the sale of personal property or a contract for furnishing personal services, the said official, employee, or board member shall make full disclosure of his ownership or extent of ownership in the business organization with which he is associated. In the event the business organization is a partnership, the names and addresses and percentage of ownership of the partners shall be disclosed and, in the event the business organization is a corporation, the names and addresses and percentage of ownership of all stockholders shall be disclosed. The disclosure required hereunder shall be made, under oath of the elected official, employee, or board member, in the original submission to the municipality and in like manner in any contract or agreement entered into with the municipality.

(Acts 1981, No. 81-345, p. 501; Acts 1987, No. 87-779, p. 1530, §1.)