Develop guidelines for identifying and disclosing conflicts of interest

Would anyone be interested in a separate FAQ on/for government employee attendees? I’m sure each unit of government would have a slightly different take. Also, I’m clearly too close to this issue to judge/gauge general interest. I was just thinking that folks who work for a company that might want or have a government contract might need some help understanding why we government employee hacknighters can’t address their innocent (I’m not trying to be sarcastic here) question. I’m not trying to suggest that it’s your job to know the rules. That job belongs to government employees. But, as residents of our jurisdictions, I think it’s a healthy part of our democracy if you take an interest in the rules that govern government employee interactions with people who want to do business with the taxpayer’s representatives.

Yes. Or, you could do it as a presentation. This would be timely ahead of Transparency Camp.

While we are talking about you doing FAQs, are you allowed to give an overview of the procurement process, or no?

That's a different department with a different Public Information Officer, and most of the same rules apply to someone who wants to sell chicken nuggets for the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, but I talked the County CIO this morning, and she likes the idea of doing a presentation around this. We just have to figure out who would do it with us. It's on the radar, though.

I wanted to list some examples of possible conflicts of interest to help this discussion.
- Working on a volunteer Hack Night (VHN) project and a similar paid project (similar product or goals)
- Working on a (VHN) project and a paid project for a competing or opposing stakeholder
- Working as a volunteer for a competing or opposing stakeholder
- Working as a volunteer for a similar project

I'd like to revive this topic as a government employee, my own attendance and those of other friends in government has suffered because these guidelines are not made very clear. Definitely an internal issue as well, but it would be good to have a FAQ of some kind at the very least.

I second that. I always feel weird about it when someone is pitching me something or looking for work.

The catch is that all us gov folks seem to operate under very similar but slightly different rules, subject to the interpretation of different agencies. I can revive the idea with the Cook County folks, if anyone is interested, though.