Regular Meeting of the Ethics Review Commission Wednesday, July 8, 2020, 3:00- 4:30 PM Ethics Review Commission meeting to be held July 8, 2020 with Social Distancing Modifications Public comment will be allowed via telephone; no in-person input will be allowed. All speakers must register in advance no later than Tuesday, JULY 7, 2020 by Noon. All public comment will occur at the beginning of the meeting. To speak remotely at the July 8, 2020 ETHICS REVIEW COMMISSION Meeting, persons must: •Call or email the board liaison at 512.974.2915 and sue.palmer@austintexas.gov no later than noon, (the day before the meeting). The information required is the speaker name, item number(s) they wish to speak on, whether they are for/against/neutral, and a telephone number or email address. •Once a request to speak has been called in or emailed to the board liaison, residents will receive either an email or phone call providing the telephone number to call on the day of the scheduled meeting. •Speakers must call in at least 15 minutes prior to meeting start in order to speak, late callers will not be accepted and will not be able to speak. •Speakers will be placed in a queue until their time to speak. •Handouts or other information may be emailed to sue.palmer@austintexas.gov by Noon the day before the scheduled meeting. This information will be provided to Board and Commission members in advance of the meeting. •If this meeting is broadcast live, residents may watch the meeting here: http://www.austintexas.gov/page/watch-atxn-live 1 ETHICS REVIEW COMMISSION JULY 8, 2020 AT 3:00 P.M. VIA VIDEOCONFERENCING CURRENT COMMISSION MEMBERS: Chair Luis Soberon Debra Danburg Raafia Lari Nathan Ryan Pedro A. Villalobos AGENDA Vice-Chair J. Michael Ohueri Secretary Kenneth “Tray” Gober Betsy Greenberg Robin Lerner Mary Kahle Donna Beth McCormick CALL TO ORDER CITIZEN COMMUNICATION Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, all citizen communications will occur at the beginning of the meeting. Speakers are limited to a maximum time limit of three minutes per speaker only on items listed below. 1. OLD BUSINESS Discussion and possible action regarding the following: a. 2020 Austin city council candidate forums update (by City staff, League of Women Voters-Austin Area, and ERC Candidate Forum Working Group) about forum logistics / set up and published information about the forums. b. Working group status reports and/or recommendations on the following. i. Working group one (Vice-Chair Ohueri and Commissioners Greenberg and Lerner) on the following …
A U S T I N U T I L I T I E S N O W I N F O R M AT I O N A B O U T YO U R C I T Y S E R V I C E S Easy ways to lower your bills Energy and water use hit a peak in August and September, which can mean higher utility bills. If you are facing financial difficulty with your utility bill during this time, the City of Austin’s Customer Assistance Programs offer resources and support to qualifying customers. You can find more information on utility bill relief at austinenergy.com/go/cap or austinbillhelp.com. 2 8 3 5 4 - G U A August 2020 the summer. This helps with air flow Lower Your Electric Bills » Change your AC filter every month in and quality. » Set your thermostat at 78 degrees or higher when possible. Every degree higher than 78 degrees can decrease your bill by about 3 percent. » Install LED light bulbs. ENERGY STAR® qualified LEDs use at least 75 percent less electricity, generate less heat than incandescent bulbs and last about 50 times longer, saving both money and energy. » Unplug appliances and electronic devices when not in use. Devices use energy even when turned off. Turn off » Keep curtains and blinds closed on windows hit by direct sunlight. The sunlight can quickly raise indoor » Use fans when you are in the room. Fans can help you feel 2 to 4 degrees cooler. Turn them off when you leave the room to save energy. Remember fans cool people, not rooms! » Sign up at coautilities.com to help manage your electric use and to help reduce your bill. lights when you leave a room. temperatures 5 to 10 degrees. SAFETY TIP! Lower Your Water Bills » Water your lawn on your assigned day and times. » Use drip irrigation for bedded plants, shrubs and trees. This applies water directly to the roots and avoids evaporation. » Replace older toilets. High-efficiency models use 1.28 gallons per flush. Dual flush models use even less water. » Take shorter showers — five minutes, tops. If you take a bath, fill the tub to six inches or less. » Replace bathroom faucet aerators and showerheads. Low-flow aerators use 0.5 gallons per minute. Water- saving showerheads use 1.5 gallons per minute or …
ETHICS REVIEW COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Ethics Review Commission (“Commission”) convened in a regular meeting on Wednesday, July 8, 2020, Austin, Texas via Videoconference. Chair Luis Soberon called the meeting to order at 3:06 p.m. Commissioners in attendance: Chair Luis Soberon, Vice-Chair J. Michael Ohueri, Secretary Kenneth “Tray” Gober, and Commissioners Debra Danburg, Betsy Greenberg, Mary Kahle, Donna Beth McCormick, and Nathan Ryan. Commissioners Raafia Lari, Robin Lerner and Pedro A. Villalobos were absent. City Staff in Attendance: Lynn Carter, Commission Executive Liaison & Assistant City Attorney, Sue Palmer, Staff Liaison Kw Department and Tara Olson, Marketing and Communication Consultant, Communications and Public Information Office. CITIZEN COMMUNICATION Each person who signed up to speak prior to the meeting being called to order and who designated this item on which to speak, or who did not designate an agenda item on which to speak will be allowed three minutes to speak. There were no speakers for Citizen Communication. 1. OLD BUSINESS Discussion and possible action regarding the following: a. 2020 Austin city council candidate forums update (by City staff, League of Women Voters-Austin Area, and ERC Candidate Forum Working Group) about forum logistics / set up and published information about the forums. Tara Olson, Communications and Public Information Office, updated the Commission on the status of the 2020 City Council election candidate forums. Each moderated candidate forum will be held virtually by live streaming through the Webex platform and on the City of Austin’s Facebook live due to the pandemic. The forums will air on ATXN.TV, Channel 6, and KAZI FM radio. The September issue of the Austin Energy/utility newsletter will include updated candidate forum information. The City of Austin’s website provides information on candidate forums at: Austintexas.gov/elections and austintexas.gov/CandidateForums . Carol Eckelkamp, League of Women Voters-Austin Area (LWV-AA), spoke about the process for the public to submit questions to the LWV-AA for consideration at candidate forums and the LWV-AA role as moderator in the candidate forums. 1 b. Working group status reports and/or recommendations on the following. - Working group one (Vice-Chair Ohueri and Commissioners Greenberg and Lerner) on the following subjects: - Commission sanctions including effectiveness, past cases, and recommendations. - Potential amendments to City Code, Chapter 2-7 (Ethics and Financial Disclosure). Vice-Chair Ohueri and Commissioner Greenberg reported on the status of the working group’s progress. - Working group two (Chair Soberon, Secretary Gober, and …
