Does any city have rules prohibiting employees from having a personal relationship with their bosses? That question arises after the recent saga concerning City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. and his legislative chief, Latrice Bryant.

It seems most major cities have no such rules.

But New York City comes close.

"Our rules say clearly that you can't supervise anybody with whom you have a financial relationship, and that can include living together, renting a vacation house together, or buying a timeshare together," said Wayne G. Hawley, deputy executive director of the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board. Last year, a councilman was fined $1,000 for continuing to employ his chief of staff, whom he subsequently married.

But beyond that, Hawley said, it's difficult to enact any provision prohibiting an employee from dating a subordinate. "How do you regulate that? When does it begin? When you go out to dinner once? A first kiss?"

- Marcia Gelbart

Plant privatized

With the city facing a budget crisis, Philadelphia's municipal sludge plant was turned over to a private company Friday in a move that two mayoral administrations have insisted will save millions of dollars.

The 23-year contract to switch operations of the Biosolids Recycling Center to Synagro Technologies Inc. of Houston is supposed to save the city at least $100 million in total, according to the Water Department. Council approved the contract in June. But Mayor Nutter held off signing it while his chief integrity officer, Joan Markman, made sure there were no allegations of misconduct or bribery, as there were with a similar contract that Synagro signed with Detroit this year.

"As far as I can tell, what happened out there didn't happen here," Markman said.

The members of Local 394 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, who ran the plant for 20 years, worked their last shift Friday and will be transferred to other jobs within the Water Department. The union fought the move to the end. Early on, the union said it wanted to preserve quality jobs, but it has stressed that hidden costs of the deal – of natural gas, water and electricity - won't save the city anything.

"This might come back to haunt him," Jeff Gilliam, business agent for Local 394, said of Nutter. "Let's see how this thing plays out."

- Jeff Shields

Obama leans on Nutter

After Mayor Nutter endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama, his choice was examined - at length - in the local and national press. Reporters from The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News to the New York Times and MSNBC wondered why he would campaign against a candidate his city overwhelmingly supported, particularly when Obama's insurgent candidacy in many ways resembled Nutter's.

Though Nutter was plainly disappointed that Clinton lost, he never seemed the least bit concerned that he or the city would suffer because he'd picked the wrong horse. Obama and Clinton both, he said at the time, would need Philadelphia (and by extension, its mayor) to come through for the Democratic nominee in November.

This weekend proved him right. Nutter accompanied Obama on four stops across the city Saturday. He recorded a robocall ahead of the rallies, urging Philadelphians to attend. Obama's campaign even appeared to heed Nutter's advice on where to stage the events.

"Philly is a place where people not only need to see you on TV and know about your plans and your policies, they need to see you with their own eyes," Nutter told the Philadelphia Daily News last month. "They need to know that you actually walked down 52d Street in West Philly or that you were up on the Boulevard."

Obama hit up 52d Street in his Saturday barnstorming. And Nutter was at his side.

- Patrick Kerkstra