Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-24-13 Board of Ethics Minutes, draftMINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ETHICS SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 BOZEMAN, MONTANA These minutes are not word for word. Please refer to the audio of this meeting available at www.bozeman.net in the Board of Ethics minutes folder for further detail. The Board of Ethics of the City of Bozeman met in the Gallatin room, City Hall at 121 North Rouse on Tuesday, September 24, 2013. Present were board members Chris Carraway and Melissa Frost. Staff present was City Attorney Greg Sullivan and Deputy City Clerk Aimee Brunckhorst. A. Meeting Called to Order Chris Carraway called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. B. Public Comment Chris Carraway opened public comment. No person commented, so Mr. Carraway closed public comment. C. Approval of Minutes – May A motion to approve the minutes of the May meeting was passed unanimously. D. Disclosure of information or comments received Chris Carraway said he received a call from someone regarding Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter. Mr. Carraway explained to the caller the purpose of the Board of Ethics and pointed them to the code of ethics saying that they could report a specific code violation. The caller hung up on Mr. Carraway. Mr. Carraway explained he felt the callers concerns were related to a moral interpretation rather than an ethical code issue. Aimee Brunckhorst, Deputy City Clerk said she has also received similar calls on this issue and was also hung up on. The city does not own the Animal Shelter but rather contracts with them. E. Staff Report Deputy Clerk Staff Report Aimee Brunckhorst provided an update on the trainings she has been conducting with the advisory boards saying they have been going pretty well other than some difficulties getting some of them talking. The board members have been appreciative that she has been coming to their regular meetings for the training. She has been concentrating on what has come up for board members and whether they have questions. Conflict of interest seems to be the main focus of the trainings as that is what comes up the most for board members. She has been emphasizing talking ethical dilemmas out as a group and that the city attorney is available for questions. She has informed Commissioners that they do not need to attend board trainings as they are signed up for employee ethics training. One training session was created for boards that meet as needed or have one or two city appointees on a non-city board. She received feedback that annual training was silly for board members on boards that only meet quarterly as they have training for every four board meetings. She explained further how these trainings have been going and some of the examples that came up. Employee trainings will be handled by the human resources department with trainings likely to start in October. Greg Sullivan said it may be important organizationally for the Board of Ethics members to attend one of the employee trainings. Melissa Frost spoke regarding awkwardness at a former training she attended when participants learned she was a Board of Ethics member. Aimee Brunckhorst will ask Bethany Jorgenson, Human Resources Manager to forward the employee training schedule to the Board of Ethics members. City Attorney Staff Report Greg Sullivan spoke regarding three informal advisory opinions he gave over the summer. In July, a long standing member of the Community Development Department emailed Greg saying that after his forthcoming retirement he would be getting involved with the YMCA. He anticipated getting involved with the YMCA building committee regarding a facility they would like to create. This person wanted to confirm they would be in compliance with the ethics code as long as they did not appear on behalf of the YMCA before the Commission. Mr. Sullivan provided them with the post employment activities provision and explained details about how that would be operationalized. Greg Sullivan explained he also received a question from Commissioner Mehl stemming from his attendance at the ethics training for the Community Affordable Housing Board. He wanted to know when an advisory board member leaves a board must they fill out the form in addition to verbal disclosure. Mr. Sullivan explained the process to him. Aimee Brunckhorst said the idea to send the post employment provisions via e-mail to board members as they resign or term expire out of a board came from that training. Greg Sullivan said a question came last week from the Trails, Open Space and Parks (TOP) Committee which has five members with one required by code to also be a member of the Parks and Recreation Board. That member was confused because the Trust for Public Land (TPL) purchased a section of the former Story Mill Development proposal property and will be presenting to the TOP Committee for bond funds to purchase that property and have the city turn it into a park. TPL scheduled a tour of the property with both the Recreation and Parks Board and the TOP Committee. The member wondered if he should not attend the tour of the Recreation and Parks Board if it would be considered ex-parte communication of the TOP Committee. Mr. Sullivan advised that 1) the tour should be publicly noticed like any other meeting; 2) rules regarding ex-parte when information is presented at a public meeting. However, at such a tour not all communication of board members is made in a manner in which members of the public can participate. As such, the public’s perception of ex-parte could be heightened by the nature of the tour. To avoid an appearance that you may be relying on information other than what TOP Committee members are privy to, you should consider refraining from the Recreation and Parks Board tour and just attend the tour for the TOP Committee. The member also asked a question stemming from another member of the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board suggesting that the board pitch projects to the Trails, Open Space and Parks Committee. He asked about how he would deal with this possible situation. Greg Sullivan suggested that in such a situation, to avoid an appearance of conflict, he should refrain from the related actions of the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board. Aimee Brunckhorst explained that the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board just completed their annual ethics training. They were very interested in learning more about the conflict provisions because it comes up quite a bit because they are all affiliated with recreation facilities in the community. Greg Sullivan provided the example that there is a member that is also a board member of the YMCA. The City Commission just directed staff to determine if a partnership with the YMCA might be feasible for an aquatics facility. Other members have similar potential for conflicts due to the nature of their other community positions. Aimee Brunckhorst spoke regarding the discussions that happened at the training and at the Parking Commission ethics training. She spoke regarding emphasizing talking questions or issues out as a board. She also spoke to the boards about disclosing relevant information with other board members. Chris Carraway said he spoke with a fireman at an ice cream social who won a computer at a raffle and he knew from when Greg Sullivan went around to all the staff to talk about the ethics code that he should check the Ethics Handbook gift provision. Further discussion took place regarding training. F. Action Items 1. Draft updated Questions for the Online Ethics Training provided to new Employees and new Board Members Chris Carraway said as he tried to revise and update these questions he realized that the code is hard to explain succinctly. He feels the state law questions should be removed as the city code is narrower anyway. The board and staff reviewed the revisions that Chris Carraway prepared prior to the meeting. Motion and Vote to approve the revisions to the online ethics training. It was moved by Chris Carraway, seconded by Melissa Frost to approve the revisions to the online ethics training. The motion passed 2-0. Aimee Brunckhorst will make those changes online. G. FYI / Discussion 1. Melissa Frost mentioned that she has not written the op-ed article that she spoke about at the last meeting. She will work on that in the next year. 2. Upcoming Schedule The board decided not to meet until the fall unless something comes up between now and then. The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, December 17th at 5 p.m. Ms. Brunckhorst will e-mail the members some of the employee training schedules. H. Adjournment Chris Carraway adjourned the meeting at 5:53 p.m. Minutes prepared by: Aimee Brunckhorst, Deputy City Clerk Approved on: