(a) The governing body shall consist of five commissioners as provided by law for commission-manager cities of the second class. No distinction shall be made in title or duties among the commissioners, except as the governing body shall organize itself for business.
(b) The governing body shall choose its own chairperson annually and determine its own order of business. The chairperson shall have the title of mayor during his or her office, to the end that the city shall have an official head on formal occasions.
(K.S.A. 12-1006:1007; Code 1972, 2-44; C.O. No. 12, Sec. 2; C.O. No. 16)
(a) The five city commission positions shall be staggered and such office held until his or her successor is elected and qualified. In 2017, an election shall be held for two positions with the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes serving a three year term. In 2018, an election shall be held for two positions with the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes serving a three year term. In 2019, an election shall be held for one position with the candidate receiving the highest number of votes serving a three year term. Succeeding elections shall follow the staggered terms.
(b) Those positions that would have expired in April 2017, shall expire on the second Monday in January of 2018, when the city officials elected in the November 2017 general election take office.
(c) Those positions that would have expired in April 2018, shall expire on the second Monday in January of 2019, when the city officials elected in the November 2018 general election take office.
(d) Those positions that would have expired in April 2019, shall expire on the second Monday in January of 2020, when the city officials elected in the November 2019 general election take office.
(d) All elections for the City of Sterling, Kansas shall be nonpartisan.
(e) The next general election shall take place on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November 2017, and succeeding elections will be held every year for all such Governing Body positions whose terms have expired. Primary elections shall be held pursuant to Kansas law.
(C.O. No. 12, Sec. 2; C.O. No. 16)
(a) The mayor and each of the commissioners shall be a citizen of the United States and a qualified elector of the City of Sterling, Kansas.
(b) In accordance with K.S.A. 25-205 and K.S.A. 25-2110, and amendments thereto, any person may become a candidate for city office elected at large by having had filed, on their behalf, a nomination petition or a declaration of candidacy accompanied by any fee required by law. The nomination petition must be signed by qualified electors residing within the City of Sterling equal in number to not less than 1% of the current total of qualified electors of the City, and in no case to be signed by not less than 25 qualified electors of the City.
(K.S.A. 14-1301; Code 1984; C.O. No. 16)
No member of the board of commissioners shall hold any office of profit under the laws of any state or the United States, or hold any county or other city office.
(K.S.A. 14-1302; Code 1984)
The laws establishing and relating to the commission form of government in cities of the second class shall govern the filling of vacancies in the governing body of the City of Sterling, Kansas.
(Code 1972, 2-46; Code 1984; C.O. No. 16)
All powers exercised by cities of the second class, or which shall hereafter be conferred upon them, shall be exercised by the board of commissioners insofar as they do not conflict with the provisions of statute relating to the city-manager plan of government.
(K.S.A. 12-1002; Code 1972; 2-51; Code 1984)
(a) The governing body shall pass ordinances needful for the welfare of the city, shall create and provide for such administrative departments, boards, offices, officers and employees as shall be necessary to carry out the provisions of the statutes relating to the manager-commission plan of government, or as the public business may require, shall fix and determine salaries for the same, and shall perform such other duties as are or may be imposed upon the commission by law or ordinance and no commissioner shall interfere with the conduct of any administrative department except at the express direction of the commission.
(b) The board of commissioners shall appoint a city manager as hereinafter provided, and shall be responsible for his or her efficient administration of the city’s business.
(K.S.A. 12-1010; Code 1972; 2-52:54; Code 1984)
(a) Each member of the board of commissioners shall receive as compensation for services required to be performed for and in behalf of the city a salary to be fixed by the governing body, and shall give a surety bond for the faithful performance of his or her duties in the amount provided for by the Kansas statutes.
(b) Members of the governing body shall be reimbursed for all expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties. However, no expense shall be reimbursed until an itemized accounting shall have been presented and approved by the governing body in a regular meeting of the commission.
(Ord. 2016; Sec. 2-8; K.S.A. 14-1304; Code 1984)
There is hereby incorporated by reference for the purpose of establishing a code of’ procedure for the conduct of city council meetings of the City of Sterling, Kansas, that certain code known as the “Code of Procedure for Kansas Cities,” 2nd Edition prepared and published in book form by the League of Kansas Municipalities, Topeka, Kansas, save and except such articles, sections, parts or portions as are hereafter omitted, deleted, modified or changed. No fewer than three copies of said Code of Procedure for Kansas Cities shall be marked or stamped “Official Copy as Incorporated by the Code of the City of Sterling, Kansas,” with all sections or portions thereof intended to be omitted or changed clearly marked to show any such omission or change and to which shall be attached a copy of this section, and filed with the city clerk to be open to inspection and available to the public at all reasonable hours.
(Code 2014)
(a) Declaration of Policy - The proper operation of our government requires that public officials and employees be independent, impartial and responsible to the people; that governmental decisions and policy be made in the proper channels and that the public have confidence in the integrity of its government. In recognition of those goals, there is hereby established a Code of Ethics for all officials and employees, whether elected or appointed, paid or unpaid. The purpose of this code is to establish ethical standards by setting forth those acts or actions that are incompatible with the best interests of the city.
(b) Responsibilities of Public Office - Public officials and employees are agents of public purpose and hold office for the benefit of the public. They are bound to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this State and to carry out impartially the laws of the nation, state, and city and thus to foster respect for all government. They are bound to observe in their official acts the highest standards of morality and to discharge faithfully the duties of their office regardless of personal considerations, recognizing that the long term public interest must be their primary concern. Their conduct in both their official and private affairs should be above reproach.
(c) Dedicated Service - All officials and employees of the city should be responsive to the political objectives expressed by the electorate and the programs developed to attain those objectives. Appointive officials and employees should adhere to the rule of work and performance established as the standard for their positions by the appropriate authority. Officials and employees should not exceed their authority or breach the law or ask others to do so, and they should work in full cooperation with other public officials and employees unless prohibited from so doing by law or by officially recognized confidentiality of their work.
(d) Fair and Equal Treatment -
(1) Interest in Appointments. Canvassing of members of the city council, directly or indirectly, in order to obtain preferential consideration in connection with any appointment to the municipal service shall disqualify the candidate for appointment except with reference to positions filled by appointment by the city council.
(2) Use of Public Property - No official or employee shall request or permit the use of city-owned vehicles, equipment, materials or property for personal convenience or profit, except when such services are available to the public generally or are provided as city policy for the use of such official or employee in the conduct of official business.
(3) Obligations to Citizens - No official or employee shall grant any special consideration, treatment, or advantage to any citizen beyond that which is available to every other citizen. ,
(e) Conflict of Interest - No elected or appointive city official or employee, whether paid or unpaid, shall engage in any business or transaction or shall have a financial or other personal interest, direct or indirect, which is incompatible with the proper discharge of his or her duties in the public interest or would tend to impair, this or her independence of judgment or action in the performance of his or her official duties. Personal as distinguished from financial interest includes an interest arising from blood or marriage relationships or close business or political association. Specific conflicts of interest are enumerated below for the guidance of officials and employees:
(1) Incompatible Employment - No elected or appointive city official or employee shall engage in or accept private employment or render services for private interests when such employment or service is incompatible with the proper discharge of his or her official duties or would tend to impair his or her independence of judgment or action in the performance of his or her official duties.
(2) Disclosure of Confidential Information - No elected or appointive city official or employee, shall, without proper legal authorization, disclose confidential information concerning the property, government or affairs of the city. Nor shall he or she use such information to advance the financial or other private interest of himself, herself or others.
(3) Gifts and Favors. Nonelected or appointive city official or employee shall accept any valuable gift, whether in the form of service, loan, thing or promise, from any person, firm, or corporation which to his or her knowledge is interested directly or indirectly in any manner whatsoever in business dealings with the city; nor shall any such official or employee (a) accept any gift, favor or thing of value that may tend to influence him or her in the discharge of his or her duties or (b) grant in the discharge of his or her duties any improper favor, service, or thing of value. The prohibition against gifts or favors shall not apply to: (a) an occasional nonpecuniary gift, of only nominal value or (b) an award publicly presented in recognition of public service or (c) any gift which would have been offered or given to him or her if not an official or employee.
(4) Representing Private Interest Before City Agencies or Courts - No elected or appointive city official or employee whose salary is paid in whole or in ‘part by the city shall appear in behalf of private interest before any agency of this city. He or she shall not represent private interests in any action or proceeding against the interest of the city in any litigation to which the city is a party.
(Code 2014)