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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20150727 Ethics Commission Minutes.docEthics Commission Minutes Meeting July 27, 2015 Members Present: Dennis Alexander, Katherine Garlington, Ben Goggins, Danny Hill, and Frances Kay Strickland Members Absent: Kathy Jackson and Michael Pappas Ex-Officos Present: Invited Guests: Call to Order: Danny Hill called the meeting to order. Roll Call: Roll was taken. Kathy Jackson and Michael Pappas were not present, but had excused absences. Danny Hill stated that the commission had five (5) members present which constituted a quorum. Minutes for Ethics Commission meeting on July 8, 2015 There were corrections to the minutes. Dennis Alexander made a motion to approve the minutes with correction. Ben Goggins seconded. Minutes were approved unanimously. Old Business: Call for Disclosure from Ethics Commission Members Danny Hill asked if there were any additional disclosures. He did disclose that he had conversations with the two members not present. Both Kathy Jackson and Michael Pappas stated that they have never been nor or they presently members of Forever Tybee or the CRC Committee. New Business: Introduction of Attorney for Ethics Commission Danny Hill introduced the attorney that has been retained by the city to represent the Ethics Commission - Mr. Jeff Arnold who is the State Court Judge in Long County. Frances Kay Strickland made a motion to accept Jeff Arnold as the Ethics Commission’s counsel. Katherine Garlington seconded the motion. Motion was passed by all members present to accept Jeff Arnold as counsel. Possible adjourn to executive session Ben Goggins made a motion to adjourn to executive session. Dennis Alexander seconded the motion. Motion was passed by all members present to go into executive session. Open Session Ben Goggins moved to end the executive session and return to the open session. Frances Kay Strickland seconded the motion. Vote was passed by all present to return to the open session. Danny Hill stated the Ethics Commission will proceed with the public hearing. The date will be before August 19th which is 30 business days from the July 8th meeting. The Ethics Commission will be having another meeting to confer with their attorney prior to the public hearing. All the procedures for the public hearing will be made public. They will be given to Michael Bodine to post on the city’s website and city calendar. Mr. Hill asked Mr. Arnold to address why four (4) members of the Ethics Commission are not going to recuse themselves due to their membership with a political action committee, Forever Tybee. Mr. Arnold stated that with regard to recusal that it is always up to an individual’s conscious of the various members of the Ethics Commission. It is his understanding that the political entity or corporation of which the members may be a participant or a member of has in no way been involved in any of the political activity of the underline issue that really doesn’t have anything to do with the ethics complaint. None the less in the abundance of caution that Forever Tybee has not participated in the issue that gave rise to the complaint therefore his legal advice is that there is not a basis for a challenge for cause as a matter of law. There is no basis that he would recommend that the individual members be require to recuse themselves. The individuals feel that they can irrespective of their membership in that organization. He stated that many could be members of other organizations. It’s just that if organizations are not involved in the matter before you then you individually irrespective of your individual membership and organization feel that you can independently decide this case based only upon the matters that come to you in terms of the evidence and decide it based upon the charter as to the ethics that are applied to the City of Tybee then we march forward. The Ethics Commission meeting was set for Monday, August 10th, from 4:00 – 5:00 pm. The agenda for that meeting will be to approve today’s minutes and to go into executive session to discuss litigation with the attorney. Public Hearing for the complaint was set for Monday, August 17th, from 3:00 – 5:30 pm. Adjournment Benn Goggins made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Frances Kay Strickland. Vote was unanimous to adjourn.