Countywide : County Officially Gets Nepotism Regulations

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday officially adopted rules governing employment of relatives in the same county department or agency.

The rules are a refinement of an interim nepotism policy the board adopted in February after disclosures that an operations manager of a county landfill had hired three of his children.

The rules, which allow exceptions in certain approved cases, prohibit anyone from being appointed, promoted, demoted, transferred or reassigned to a position that would put that person in “the direct line of supervision” of a close relative. That would include cousins, nieces, nephews and members of a step family.

The rules also require that new hires and employees moving from one agency to another disclose the names of relatives already on the county payroll. Records are to be kept of such disclosures.

Ken Mays, chief of personnel operations for the county, said the final rules vary from previous practice only in that they now spell them out in writing and detail the exceptions.

According to Mays, if an exception is granted for the close relative of a department head, the Board of Supervisors must be informed to allow supervisors and the individuals involved to discuss the case, Mays said.