Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Power - New York Power ...

April 24, 2007
17. Review and Approval of Revised Guidelines and Procedures
for the Disposal of Personal Property and Revised Guidelines
and Procedures for the Disposal of Real Property
SUMMARY
The President and Chief Executive Officer submitted the following report:
“The Trustees are requested to review and approve revisions, necessitated by the newly enacted Public
Employee Ethics Reform Act of 2007, to the following two Guidelines: (1) Guidelines and Procedures for the
Disposal of Personal Property (hereinafter ‘Personal Property Guidelines’) for the disposition of surplus or obsolete
material, equipment and supplies, and (2) Guidelines and Procedures for the Disposal of Real Property (hereinafter
‘Real Property Guidelines’) for transfers of land or interests in land. Such Guidelines are set forth in Exhibits ‘17-
A’ and ‘17-B,’ respectively, as attached hereto.
BACKGROUND
“On January 13, 2006, Governor Pataki signed the PAAA into law. The subject law codified the Model
Governance Principles established for public authorities in 2004 by the Governor’s Advisory Committee on
Authority Governance, which was chaired by Ira Millstein. Among its provisions, the PAAA established new rules
for the disposal of public authority real property, as well as the disposal of personal property owned by public
authorities. The law also required each authority to draft guidelines consistent with the legislation dealing with
these issues, to review and approve such guidelines annually, and to prepare an annual report of the disposal of
personal and real property (including the full description, price received and name of the purchaser for all such
property disposed of by the Authority during such period).
“At their meeting of March 27, 2007, the Trustees reviewed and approved the amended Personal Property
Guidelines and the Real Property Guidelines in accordance with the above. As of the date of the March 2007
Trustee meeting, Governor Spitzer had issued Executive Orders providing for restrictions on politics and nepotism
in contracting and these Guidelines were modified in accordance with such Executive Orders. The enactment of the
Public Employee Ethics Reform Act of 2007, to become effective on April 25, 2007 and which includes modified
versions of the restrictions contained in the prior Executive Orders, has necessitated this item requesting approval of
revised Guidelines to reflect the provisions of the law.
DISCUSSION
“On March 26, 2007 Governor Spitzer signed into law the Public Employee Ethics Reform Act of 2007
(Chapter 14 of the Laws of 2007). Among its many provisions, there are two which directly impact current
Authority Guidelines. These specific provisions (A) prohibit any state officer or employee from participating in: (1)
any hiring, termination, disciplinary or promotional decision concerning a relative; or (2) any contracting decisions
involving relatives and entities in which their relatives have a significant financial interest; and (B) bar nonlegislative
employees from asking about the political affiliation, contributions or voting records of any prospective
employees or contractors, except as necessary to comply with existing laws or policies the purpose of which are to
ensure diverse political representation on multi-member bodies.
“In order to make both the Personal Property Guidelines and the Real Property Guidelines comply with
Chapter 14, staff recommends the following changes:
Personal Property Guidelines
(i)
(ii)
Modify Section II., ‘Definitions,’ to reference the definition of ‘Relative.’
Modify Sections X.E, and X.F, ‘Evaluation of Proposals; Award of Contract,’ to clarify
restrictions on inquiring about the politics of a contractor or prospective contractor in
accordance with the Public Employee Ethics Reform Act of 2007.
46