HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Ethics Commission - 05/14/2009 MINUTES OF THE ETHICS COMMISSION RECEIVED
City of Corpus Christi, Texas
5:30 p.m., May 14, 2009 JUN 0 3 2009
Legal Conference Room — 5th Floor
City Hall — 1201 Leopard CITYSECRETARY'S OFFICE
At 5:30 p.m., a quorum was present and the meeting was called to Order by
Chairperson Cramer.
Roll call was taken and the members present were: James R. Cramer, Robert N.
Corrigan, Linda Figueroa, Joseph Guzman, Laura Hebert and Rick Marcantonio.
Excused absences were requested by Rebecca Esparza and Harlan Heitkamp.
City Attorney Mary Kay Fischer was present.
The Commissioners reviewed the minutes from the April 9, 2009 meeting and the
minutes were approved unanimously.
The Public Hearing was open and the_Commissioners discussed the changes to the
Ethics Ordinance that City Council adopted on May 12, 2009. Numerous scenarios
were described and many questions were asked by the Commissioners. Much concern
was shared about the far-reaching negative impacts of the new ordinance. After lengthy
discussion, the Ethics Commission passed a motion authorizing the Chair of the Ethics
Commission to send a letter to Mayor-Elect Joe Adame, asking City Council to take
immediate action to amend the Ethics Ordinance by suspending the effective date of the
Ethics Ordinance until the Ethics Commission can present its recommendation to the
City Council. In this letter, the Commission made a commitment to complete its
recommendation by June 29, 2009, so the Commissioners decided to meet every other
Thursday, on May 28, June 11 and June 25 to complete their work. A letter was
prepared to send to Mayor-Elect Adame and all Commissioners approved its contents.
It was requested that the Chair sign the letter that evening and the City Attorney deliver
it to the appropriate person.
The members agreed that agenda item 4 would be incorporated into the
recommendations to the City Council, to require all proposed changes to the Ethics
Ordinance be presented to the Ethics Commission for review and recommendation prior
to being considered by the City Council.
Public comment was shared by John Kelly, who believed that Council Members and
direct family members should be prohibited from contracting with the City if they had a
certain interest in the entity. He did not think that entities funded by the City should be
restricted from contracting with whoever they chose.
The Ethics Commission members reviewed 75 Reports of Financial Information filed by
the last Friday in April. '
SCANNED
The Commission members then reviewed the biographies and application from those
persons interested in serving on the Ethics Commission. It was decided that the Ethics
Commission would recommend that the City Council appoint Melvin Bohannan to fill the
vacancy on the Ethics Commission. It was further recommended that Dr. Haysam
Dawod be the alternate choice in the event that Mr. Bohannan was not chosen or if he
chose not to accept the appointment.
No publications related to Ethics Commission were discussed by the Commission.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
VEL C/\
/James R. Cramer
Chairperson