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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20140115_Ethics.pdfEthics Commission Minutes January 15, 2014 Meeting Approved on March 10, 2014 Members Present: Dennis Alexander, Katherine Garlington, Ben Goggins, Danny Hill, Kathy Jackson, Michael Pappas, and Frances Kay Strickland. Members Absent: Ex-Officos Present: Janice Elliott, Recording Clerk; Jason Buelterman, Mayor; Bubba Hughes, City Attorney Invited Guests: New Officers: Mayor swore in the new members – Dennis Alexander, Katherine Garlington, Ben Goggins, Danny Hill, Kathy Jackson, and Michael Pappas. Danny Hill assumed the role of chair due to a provision in the current ordinance – Article II, Section 23-38. This meeting is taking place in lieu of the annual meeting which should happen in February according to the ordinance, but since a complaint has been filed and there was no acting commission in place, the Mayor and the City Attorney felt that the Ethics Commission should have a meeting as soon as possible. Roll: Danny Hill called the meeting to order. Roll was taken. Minutes: Frances Kay Strickland motioned for the minutes of the April 23, 2012 meeting be approved. Kathy Jackson seconded. Minutes were approved. City Attorney, Bubba Hughes, introduced himself. He is the advisor for the group unless there is a complaint filed against a council member or planning commission member. He stated if the commission needed legal advice that the commission should go to Council for approval. Election of Officers: Called for nominations for Chairman – Frances Kay Strickland nominated Danny Hill. Katherine Garlington seconded. Motion carried. Called for nomination for Vice-Chairman – Danny Hill nominated Dennis Alexander. Kathy Jackson seconded. Motion carried. Member Introductions: Each member gave a brief background summary. Bubba at this time introduced himself again and made the members aware of several things: 1) All are subject to open meetings law and open records law – critical to everyone because it is a criminal offense if violated at least knowingly violated, but it is easy enough to inadvertently violate by gatherings of the quorum that have not been properly advertised. There are procedures that need to be done before the meeting, during the meeting and after the meeting. 2) Any vote must be done in public 3) Deliberation on a decision can be done in executive session, but the law now requires minutes to be retained but do not become public. 4) Contact Bubba with any questions. He can give procedural instructions. Procedural Questions: Members can communicate with each other about questions, but note emails are subject to open records even on your personal computer. A quorum – 4 for this body – cannot meet on a conference call, telephone, anything without it being a meeting and considered a violation. There is a question about everyone emailing at the same time whether that amounts to a meeting. The safest course of action is not to communicate with 4 or more other than in a meeting. Best rule is not to put anything in an email that you do not want everybody to see. It was suggested that the members may want to consider a separate email account for the Ethics Commission. Executive Session is necessary when talking about someone’s health or attorney/client privileges, but most can be handled in an open meeting is so desired. This is not the open forum meeting where the complaint is read. This meeting today is to establish if the complaint meets all qualifications for submission and whether the complaint is to be forwarded to the respondent. Terms of Officer: Frances Kaye Strickland has a term ending 2015 and Kathy Jackson’s term expired in 2014 so she has been re-appointed to a 2 year term and her term will end in 2016. All other members that were appointed drew their term expiration - 4 member’s terms to be in 2015 (odd year) and 3 member’s terms to be in 2016 (even year). 2015 Term - Danny Hill Katherine Garlington Michael Pappas Frances Kay Strickland 2016 Term - Dennis Alexander Ben Goggins Kathy Jackson Those with terms that expire in 2015 who want to continue on the Ethics Commission need to contact the Clerk of Council in December so that the Mayor and Council can re-appoint in a timely matter. Review of Ethics Complaint: Danny asked the members to familiarize themselves on the Ethics Complaint Process – Complainant Letter, Ethics Commission Complaint Policy, Ethics Complaint Procedure, and the flow chart in their binders that were given to them. To date: The Clerk of Council received a complaint and she did find a deficiency. She sent the complaint back so that the complainant could be corrected and re-submitted. The complaint now is to be reviewed by the commission to determine if the complaint is sufficient. If it has been deemed sufficient then the complaint is forwarded to the respondent via registered mail. The respondent has 30 business days to respond. If the accused agrees that at violation has occurred, no further investigation will take place. A letter of explanation sent to complainant and the case will be reported to the City Council for disposition. If the accused disagrees and a response is submitted then an investigation is began. The meeting was suspended to make copies of the complaint for the Ethic Commission members. Once the meeting was called back to order, the members were given a copy of the complaint for review. It was agreed that no names would be discussed. There was discussion and it was decided that the complaint met all the qualifications. A motion was made by Frances Kay Strickland to proceed with the process and forward the complaint to the respondent. Michael Pappas seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. A letter from the Chair on the procedure and a copy of the complaint will be sent to the respondent via registered mail. Due to the circumstances beyond the control of the Ethics Commission, it was decided to send a letter to the complainant apologizing for the delay of the decision and to let the complainant know that the complaint had been forwarded to the respondent for a response. Meeting will be scheduled 30 business days after the respondent receives the complaint or sooner if the respondent submits response before the 30 business days. The meeting and agenda must be advertised 24 hours before the meeting takes place. Adjournment: Frances Kay Strickland motioned to adjourned. Kathy Jackson seconded. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned. 01/24/2014