HomeMy Public PortalAbout20160818 Ethics Commission Approved Minutes.docEthics Commission Minutes
August 18, 2016 Meeting
Approved 12/12/2016
Members Present: Dennis Alexander, Katherine Garlington, Ben Goggins, Danny Hill, Michael Pappas and Frances Kay Strickland
Members Absent: Kathy Jackson
Ex-Officos Present: Janice Elliott, Recording Clerk
Invited Guests: Charlie Barrow
Roll:
Danny Hill called the meeting to order. Roll was taken.
Minutes:
Dennis Alexander made a motion for the June 22, 2016 meeting minutes to be approved. Frances Kay Strickland seconded. Minutes were approved.
Frances Kay Strickland made a motion for the July 6, 2016 meeting minutes to be approved. Dennis Alexander seconded. Minutes were approved.
Old Business:
Discuss reimbursement of legal expenses by City of Tybee for Complainant or Respondent
This will be addressed in the new business.
New Business:
Discussed information to be provided by Mr. Barrow as it pertains to previous meetings
Based on the discussion and recommendations of the last meeting, Mr. Barrow took the Ethics Complaint Procedure and Complainant Letter and revised. He also made a proposal for the issue
concerning legal fees. (See attached letter dated August 11, 2016)
Dennis asked to discuss the changes on the Ethics Complaint Procedure. As he understood from the last meeting, the Commission would continue to hear complaints regarding those who served
on boards or commissions. Number 3 should have included language for board or commission members. Mr. Barrow will check the ordinance for the correct language to be included. Also,
the definition in the ordinance needs to be corrected - “position of the city” should be removed.
Michael Pappas asked the question, “What happens if a complaint was filed against an ethics commission member?” It was discussed that since the Ethics Commission was only a recommending
body that the Commission would recommend that particular situation to the Mayor and Council.
Number 4 is repetitive and should be deleted and so Number 5 becomes Number 4.
Roman numeral IV Dennis felt that 45 days was too long. There was discussion on this. The Commission felt that is should be expedited and 45 days was changed to 15 business days.
Danny Hill asked who did the flow chart. Sue Off created the original flow chart. Janice will speak with Michael Bodine, IT Specialist to create a new chart once the procedures have
been established.
Dennis asked if number A under Roman numeral IV be changed to read, “Written notice by certified mail to each party.”
Dennis asked Mr. Barrow if the informal meeting was an open or closed meeting. Mr. Barrow stated that it was an open meeting as far as the open meetings act is concerned. The concept
is to limit the discussion between the Commission and the actual parties and maybe their attorney and not open it up for public discussion. Only if you have to go to the next step
(a more formal hearing) would you allow another person to speak as evidence or accept another document as evidence.
Michael Pappas asked how you establish the guidelines for the public not to speak. Mr. Barrow stated that the Chair should set that rules orally at the beginning of the meeting. Such
as, “This is an informal conference between the parties for us to listen it is not a formal matter for the public to participate. If this should go to a more formal hearing, then the
public may speak at that time.” This should be done in the least adversarial tone as possible.
Danny stated that the Commission set the procedures. Mr. Barrow stated the ordinance gave the Commission discretion in their procedures. He also stated that the definition of city
official will need to be changed in the ordinance to go with the changes in the new procedures. Danny stated that a text amendment will need to go before City Council to be approved
to change some of the wording in the ordinance. Mr. Barrow stated that other changes such as the legal issue or others could be presented to council at one time. Danny asked if the
informal hearing meeting needed to be a part of the ordinance or if this was something that the Commission could do. Mr. Barrow stated that he would check on this, but felt that it
would be something that the Commission could do as part of the procedure. Mr. Barrow stated that the Council should be made aware of the changes to the procedure. Danny read Article
II, Sec. 23-32 – Duties and powers. (a) 1 which stated that the ethics commission has the duty an authority to establish bylaws, policies and procedures consistent with this Code that
govern internal organization and conduct of commission affairs. Mr. Barrow said that this statement in the ordinance gives the commission the power to change the procedure. The idea
is to make the whole process less formal in hopes of resolving things before going to trial.
Once the new procedures have been finalized and adopted, the new procedures will be placed on the website and replace the old procedures.
Mr. Barrow discussed the letter that he had sent to the board and the recommended changes in the complainant form letter. The changes that he wrote came out of the discussion from the
last meeting. He also included language for the ordinance about the legal fees. The major change in the letter is adding the informal meeting into the letter and also adding the fact
that once a complaint is filed that it becomes public record and that they may seek legal counsel at their expense. There was discussion on sending a form letter to the respondent.
A letter is sent to the respondent if a determination has been made by the Commission to proceed. Mr. Barrow asked the secretary to send him what has gone out in the past. The Commission
asked that a form letter to the respondent be created by Mr. Barrow.
The discussion then proceeded to legal expenses to be added to the ethics ordinance. Mr. Barrow included language for this in his letter. Danny read the language to the members. Michael
asked if the city employee and members were protected by the city in anyway. Danny stated that if it is a legal matter then they are covered, but not if it’s an ethics matter. Mr.
Barrow stated that general liability policy covers all employees, elected officials and volunteers. According to the city attorney, Dennis stated that every person that has been involved
in an ethics complaint and has hired an attorney, their legal fees have been paid for by the city. It is the recommendation of the Ethics Commission to change the ordinance to not
cover the legal fees. It is up to the council to proceed with changing the ordinance to do this.
Danny stated that at some point we need to let the council know on other decisions that have been made by the Ethics Commission. Mr. Barrow suggested that once the commission had concluded
their discussion, a memo with all the recommendation and changes be sent to council. One of the things that need to be included in the memo is whether or not to suspend the filing
of complaints during election season. In the discussion on this topic it was agreed that the recommendation of the Commission would not do this. The Commission would allow it to be
filed at any time. Whether it is 5 or 10 changes, the memo would cover them all. This was covered in his first letter. Mr. Barrow will summarize all the things that have been discussed.
Michael asked if the Council approve or disapprove. Mr. Barrow stated that in regards to the ordinance changes they would. In regard to taking complaints during election, it could
be argued that it is a procedural matter and the commission has discretion to govern their own procedures, but as a volunteer group you probably want to abide to what the Council wanted
to do. Danny stated that we also need to include in the memo conflict of commission members for impartiality which is also included in the first letter that Mr. Barrow sent to the
commission. There was discussion on this topic. It was felt that since this is a small community, it would be hard to get a full commission if this provision was allowed because everyone
is involved in some type of organization. As it has already been discussed, if a complaint does come up with an organization that a commission member is connected with, it may you to
recuse yourself but it should not prevent you from being a member.
Mr. Barrow asked if there were other matters that haven’t been discussed yet that need to address. Dennis stated that until we run into some language that may impact a situation we
don’t know. Mr. Barrow stated that is the problem with any legislation you cannot figure out every scenario in advance. Ben Goggins stated that this seems to be a good general frame
work. We will wait to see what happens in terms of complaints to see if it needs to be adjusted. We cannot forecast every possible situation. There is no city election this year
so there will be no complaints made which is a good time to get this changed and completed.
Mr. Barrow will make the changes that have been discussed and sent the commission and update version. He will also review the ordinance and see if anything else needs to be changed.
He asked that the members of the commission call him if they think of something so that he could add it the working document for the next meeting.
Amending the ordinance was discussed. Mr. Barrow will talk to Bubba on the exact procedure for this and will coordinate accordingly.
Next meeting will be determined when Mr. Barrow has completed his assignment. He will contact Danny to establish a meeting. Dennis will be not be in town the month of September.
Adjournment:
Michael Pappas motioned to adjourned. Frances Kay Strickland seconded. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned.
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