HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Ethics Commission - 08/20/2015 Minutes of the Ethics Commission Meeting on August 20,2015
ACM Conference Room-5t'Floor City Hall—1201 Leopard Street
The meeting was called to order by Chair Dr. Haysam Dawod at 5:30.
1. Rall Call. Present: Chair Dr. Haysam Dawod; Vice-Chair Karon Connelly, Ken Bung, Harry
Hallows, Drue Jones, Larry White, Rod Wolthoff. Arthie Lee Perez arrived at 5:50. Absent:
Alicia Benavidez. City Staff in attendance:Assistant City Attorney Lisa Aguilar.
2. Review and approval of July 16, 2015 Minutes. Drue Jones noted several incorrect spellings
In the minutes. "Commission" was misspelled in item 4 and item 7; "conjunction" was
misspelled in item 6; and "Corpus Christi" was not capitalized In item 7. The Commission
directed that these errors be corrected In the minutes. A motion was made by Drue Jones to
approve the minutes,second by Ken Bung. All in favor; none opposed.
3. Discussion and possible action regarding absences. The Commission discussed the current
practice that an absence is considered to be excused as long as the Commissioner contacts the
Chair or the City Legal department prior to the meeting. General discussion was to leave the
current practice In place;the Commission has good attendance.
4. Review Candidate/Officeholder filings from the City Secretary's office. The Commission
reviewed the Supplemental Financial Reports which are required to be filed pursuant to Sec. 2-
340: "On or before the last Friday of April of each year, reporting officials shall file with the city
secretary an annual report of financial information covering January 1 through December 31 of the
previous year. Council members and planning commission members shall also file with the city secretary
a supplemental report of financial Information by the lost Friday of July of each year covering the most
recentJonuary 1 through June 30."
5A. Review Ethics Commission procedures regarding the City Code of Ethics Amendments.
The Commission discussed City Council unanimous approval of the Ethics Commission
recommended changes to the City Code of Ethics.
S. Discussion and possible action regarding protocol for handling request for information from
Councilmembers. The Commission discussed process to respond to City Councilmember
requests for Information regarding the proposed Ethics Code amendments.
5B. Review Ethics Commission procedures regarding sample ethics complaints.The
Commission discussed the complaint forms and noted some inconsistencies between the
sample form and the"clean"form. Assistant City Attorney will provide updated documents at
next meeting.
6. Review "Improving the Ethics Code" powerpoint presentation with discussion and possible
action. Chair Dr. Dawod discussed reviewing one category of the report at a time. The Chair
discussed reviewing the Legal Department summary and coming up with a hybrid report. Chair
Dr. Dawod requested that this item be tabled to next meeting, no objection.
7. Discussion regarding hiring Independent legal counsel. The Commission discussed Section 2-
327 of the City Code of Ordinances regarding the Ethics Commission which states:
"2-327. Staffing. The Commission shall be assigned staff by the City Attorney to assist in
Its duties. The Commission shall also designate Independent legal counsel, and when
complaints are filed, such independent legal counsel may be utilized to advise the
commission and participate in hearings."
The Commission requested that a sample legal contract be e-mailed.
9. Public comment. There was no public comment.
10. Next meeting: The Commission set meeting date on September 17,2015.
11. Identification of items to be placed on the next meeting's agenda:
Mr. Wolthoff requested discussion on process to develop and approve contracts involving
Planning Commission members; discussion regarding independent legal counsel and Mureen
Report. Ms. Perez requested information about her term.
12. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:50.
The foregoing minutes of the me Ethics Commission were approved on September 17,2015 by the
Ethics Com�mfis�sion.
By: �C� !?!'7 AO/J.-"
Dr. Haysam Dawod,Chairperson