Transit- Meeting Agenda (12/18/1997)

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•, 1L-1'JL-ly'~ ( 1~1 : 5qf ~'I t-KUI'I LI'SL Deceinber 2, 1997 Page 2 ~ U 1 JVJJJf~Y~I'JL~J'7 fJ . ~J p~esent~ Thete is no evideuce to suggest that thE Legislature considered "salar}~' to exclude merit pay, a bonus, differentials or premiwms w~.ic~ axe paid ovei ax~d above base salary to m,a.n,y tx'ansit aztd other public sector employees by their public employers. The tegislative history tends to su~~ort this interpretation However, I have o~aly comsul.ted and compared I969 Oregon Laws Chapter 643, thc original casbling authorization for xnass tramsit districts, and a subsequent amendmenL found at 1971 Oregon Laws Chapter 23. '~~Yhen originally adopted, ORS Cha~ter 267 a~plied onty to Tn-Met upon its transirion from Rose C~~y Tra.zass~t. Seetion 13 0~ the o~iginal Organic Act provided: "(1) No officer or empioyee of a district shali become financially iuterested, except by testate or i.ntestate sutctssion, either ditectly or ind'u'ectly, i~a. any contra,d, sale, purchase, lease or transfer of real or personal property to which the distrtct is a party. However, no officer or eznployee is considered to be financially interested by vutue of bis ownership of less than 3% of the outstanding capital stock of a cozporation. (2) No officer or employee of the district shall offer, soticit or accept money or arry other t~ing of value as a consideration, in addition to the salary paid him by the di~s~rict, ~or sezvices pe~r£ozx~aed wi~tban tJxe scope of his official duties." In I971, the legislature ameaded ORS 267.~30 by de~etiqg tk~e furst pa~ragraph. WJai1e the legis~ati~ve iutez~t could be mare ~learly discoverod by looldng at the records of the Leg'1slative Assembly, tin~e does not permut this additional research and a prompt reply to your inquiry. We believe t~at the legislature may have sought to proh~itbit cousulti~, self dealing and other special relationsb~i~ps between Rose City em~loyees who became Tri-Met employees and former Rose City vendors or affiliates, and that the ~rst pazag~taph becanae izxelevant aftcr Tn-Met's formatio~. I hope the £oregoing addr~sses your concerns. In summary, w~e do not believe tb~at statute was vialated by this paymemt. ~y~ , . c. ~ sli~ pox'rt,alvD:2osas wi 50