(a) No public official or employee of a municipality or county or of a board or commission thereof and no commissioner or employee of a housing authority or urban redevelopment agency which has been vested by a municipality or county with urban redevelopment project powers under Code Section 36-61-17 shall voluntarily acquire any interest, direct or indirect, in any urban redevelopment project of such municipality or county or in any property included or planned to be included in any such urban redevelopment project or in any contract or proposed contract in connection with such urban redevelopment project. Where such acquisition is not voluntary, the interest acquired shall be immediately disclosed in writing to the local governing body and such disclosure shall be entered upon the minutes of the governing body. If any such official, commissioner, or employee presently owns or controls, or owned or controlled within the preceding two years, any interest, direct or indirect, in any property which he knows is included or planned to be included in an urban redevelopment project, he shall immediately disclose this in writing to the local governing body, and such disclosure shall be entered upon the minutes of the governing body; any such official, commissioner, or employee shall not participate in any action by the municipality or county or a board or commission thereof, the housing authority, or the urban redevelopment agency affecting such property. Any disclosure required to be made by this Code section to the local governing body shall concurrently be made to a housing authority or urban redevelopment agency which has been vested with urban redevelopment project powers by the municipality or county pursuant to Code Section 36-61-17.

(b) Directors of a downtown development authority designated as an urban redevelopment agency pursuant to this chapter and other public officers of the municipality or county may serve as commissioners of the urban redevelopment agency, provided that such persons comply with the provisions of subsection (a) of this Code section.

(c) Any violation of this Code section shall constitute misconduct in office.