Several Denver city officials and employees turned to the Board of Ethics for advice last year, including a fire protection engineer who received a bottle of rare scotch whiskey from a nonprofit group that he helped during the Democratic National Convention.

According to the board's report for the second half of 2008, which was released Thursday, the board told the engineer that the gift would not violate the city's ethics code.

The unidentified engineer "reviewed plans and was helpful in obtaining approval for a temporary facility used during" the DNC, the report said.

After the convention, a nonprofit group that hosted the venue gave him the whiskey.

The board concluded, "The apparent motivation for giving the gift was gratitude and not an intent to influence any decision or action of the city employee."

Michael Henry, the board's staff director, said he didn't remember the brand or know how much it was worth.

The board also considered a request for an advisory opinion from Public Works Manager Bill Vidal, whose brother-in- law is a managing partner at a company that bid for a contract at the Public Works Department.

The board determined that the ethics code didn't prohibit Vidal "from taking direct official action regarding a contract with his brother-in-law's firm," according to the report, but "strongly recommended" that Vidal take precautions to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest.

The code prohibits officials and employees from taking "direct official action" on a matter involving an immediate family member, which does not include a brother-in-law.