d.   Any trust not owned, in whole or in part, by the individual or a member or members of the individual’s immediate family or whose assets or principal are not owned by the individual, in whole in part, or a member or members of the individual’s immediate family, or any trust. An individual is the owner of a trust and the trust’s assets and obligations if he or she is the creator of the trust and has the power to revoke the trust without obtaining the consent of all of the beneficiaries of the trust. An individual who is eligible to receive income or other beneficial use of the principal of a trust is the owner of a proportional share of the principal in the proportion that the individual’s beneficial interest in the trust bears to the total beneficial interests vested in all beneficiaries of the trust. A vested beneficial interest in a trust includes a vested reverter interest.
2.   The identity of every organization or body politic in which the individual who is required to file, or members of individual’s immediate family, severally or in the aggregate, owns, directly or indirectly, securities having a value of $5,000 or more, the identity of those securities, and their approximate value, except that no identification need be made of a security or issuer of a security when it is issued by any organization not doing business in Wisconsin or by any governmental body, instrumentality or agency of a governmental body, or authority or public corporation created and regulated by an act of a governmental body other than the State of Wisconsin, its instrumentalities, agencies, political subdivisions, or authorities or public corporations created and regulated by an act of the Wisconsin legislature. For purposes of reporting under this paragraph 2, it is sufficient to report whether the amount is not more than $50,000, or more than $50,000.
3.   The name of any creditor to whom the individual who is required to file, or members of the individual’s immediate family, severally or in the aggregate, owes $5,000 or more and the approximate amount owed. For purposes of reporting under this paragraph 3, it is sufficient to report whether the amount is not more than $50,000, or more than $50,000.
4.   The real property located in the town in which the individual who is required to file, or members of the individual’s immediate family jointly and severally, holds an interest having an equity value of $5,000 or greater, other than the principal residence of the individual or members of his or her immediate family, and the nature of the interest held.
5.   The identity of each payer from which the individual who is required to file, or a member of his or her immediate family, received $1,000 or more of his or her income for the preceding taxable year, except that if the individual who is required to file identifies the general nature of the business in which he or she, or his or her immediate family members, is engaged, then no identification need be made of a decedent’s estate or an individual not acting as a representative of an organization. In addition, no identification need be made of payers from which anything of pecuniary value was received as political contributions and reported under ch. 11, Wis. stats.
6.   The identity of each giver from which the individual who is required to file received, directly or indirectly, any gift or gifts having an aggregate value of more than $50 within the taxable year preceding the time of filing, except that the source of a gift need not be identified if the donor is the donee’s parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, parent-in-law, grandparent-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, spouse, fiancée or fiancé.
SECTION X – ETHICS BOARD
A. Organization, Composition, and Operation of the Ethics Board. 1. There is created an ethics board consisting of 5 members who are residents of the town and who shall serve without compensation unless the town board otherwise provides. Members of the ethics board shall not be elected officials or persons appointed to elective office, full-time appointed town officials, or town employees, nor shall they be currently serving on any other town board, committee, or commission, or any other town body. Ethics board members shall be selected by the town chairperson and submitted to the town board for confirmation by the town board. Terms of office shall be 3 years. The members of the ethics board shall select their own chairperson. A vacancy shall be filled within one month.
2.   The town attorney shall furnish the ethics board with whatever legal assistance is necessary to carry out its functions, and the town clerk shall furnish the ethics board with whatever assistance it requires.
3.   (Optional) All members of the ethics board shall file a Statement of Economic Interest with the town board and town clerk.
4.   Any action by the ethics board, except an action relating to procedure of the ethics board, requires the affirmative vote of its members.
5.   No later than February 15 of each year, the ethics board shall submit a report to the town board concerning its actions in the preceding year. The report shall contain a summary of its determinations and advisory opinions. The ethics board shall make sufficient alterations in the summaries to prevent disclosing the identities of individuals or organizations involved in the decision or opinions. The ethics board shall make any additional reports on matters within its jurisdiction and recommendations for further legislation, as it deems desirable.
B. Powers and Duties of the Board. 1. The ethics board shall do all of the following:
a.   Accept and file, and the chairperson of the ethics board shall act as legal custodian of, any reports, information, or materials required by this ordinance and of any information or materials related to the purposes of this ordinance that is voluntarily supplied by any person.
b.   (Optional) Preserve Statements of Economic Interest filed with the ethics board pursuant to applicable statutory and town ordinance provisions.
c.   (Optional) Make Statements of Economic Interest filed with the ethics board available for public inspection and copying during office hours and make copying facilities available at a charge not to exceed actual cost.
d.   (Optional) Compile and maintain an index to all Statements of Economic Interest currently on file with the ethics board to facilitate public access.
2.   The ethics board may do all of the following:
a.   Prepare and publish special reports and technical studies to further the purposes of this ordinance.
b.   Adopt written rules, which shall be submitted to the town board for approval, as may be necessary to carry out this ordinance. A copy of the rules shall be filed with the town clerk. The ethics board shall give prompt notice of the contents of its rules to officials who will be affected thereby.
c.   Prescribe and make available forms for use under this ordinance.
d.   Retain outside counsel and other experts as needed after solicitation of recommendations from the town attorney upon a contract for services approved for form and content by the town attorney.
C. Advisory Ethics Opinion. 1. a. Any individual, specifically including former town officials and town employees, either personally or on behalf of an organization or governmental body, may request of the ethics board an advisory opinion regarding the propriety of any matter or matters to which the person is or may become a party.
b.   Any appointing officer, with the consent of a prospective appointee, may request of the ethics board an advisory opinion regarding the propriety of any matter to which the prospective appointee is or may become a party.
2.   The ethics board shall review a request for an advisory opinion and may advise the person making the request in writing. It is prima facie evidence of intent to comply with this ordinance when a person refers a matter to the ethics board and abides by the advisory opinion if the material facts are as stated in the opinion request.
3.   Requests for confidential advisory opinions, records obtained or filed in connection with requests for confidential advisory opinions, and confidential advisory opinions rendered shall be closed in whole to public inspection. This paragraph shall not be interpreted to preclude the ethics board from doing any of the following:
a.   Compiling or publishing summaries of advisory opinions rendered if no identification of the requester or any organization identified in the opinion is made.
b.   Making an advisory opinion public with the consent of the individual requesting the advisory opinion or the organization or governmental body on whose behalf it is requested. A person who makes or purports to make public the substance of or any portion of an advisory opinion requested by or on behalf of the person is deemed to have waived the confidentiality of the request for an advisory opinion and of any records obtained or prepared by the ethics board in connection with the request for an advisory opinion.
D. Complaints. 1. The ethics board shall accept from any individual, either personally or on behalf of an organization or governmental body, a complaint in writing that states the name of any person alleged to have committed a violation of this ordinance and that specifically describes the alleged violation. The ethics board shall forward to the accused within 10 days a copy of the complaint and a general statement of the applicable provisions with respect to the complaint. If the ethics board determines that the complaint does not allege facts sufficient to constitute a violation of this ordinance, it shall dismiss the complaint and notify the complainant and the accused. If the ethics board determines that the complaint alleges facts sufficient to constitute a violation of this ordinance, it may make an investigation with respect to any alleged violation. If the ethics board determines that the complaint was brought for harassment purposes, the ethics board shall so state.