Versión en español a continuación. Regular Meeting of the Ethics Review Commission Wednesday, September 9, 2020, 6:00 PM Ethics Review Commission to be held September 9, 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, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 by Noon. All public comment will occur at the beginning of the meeting. To speak remotely at the September 9, 2020 ETHICS REVIEW COMMISSION Meeting, residents 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 Reunión del Ethics Review Commission FECHA de la reunion (September 9, 2020) La junta se llevará con modificaciones de distanciamiento social Se permitirán comentarios públicos por teléfono; no se permitirá ninguna entrada en persona. Todos los oradores deben registrarse con anticipación (September 8, 2020 antes del mediodía). Todos los comentarios públicos se producirán al comienzo de la reunión. 1 Para hablar de forma remota en la reunión, los residentes deben: • Llame o envíe un correo electrónico al enlace de la junta en Sue Palmer 512-974-2915 sue.palmer@austintexas.gov a más tardar al mediodía (el día antes de la reunión). La información requerida es el nombre del orador, los números de artículo sobre los que desean hablar, si están a favor / en contra / neutrales, y un número de teléfono o dirección de correo electrónico. • Una vez que se haya llamado o enviado por correo electrónico una solicitud para …
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 2-3-5 OF THE CITY CODE RELATING TO THE AUTHORITY OF THE CITY AUDITOR TO REFER ALLEGATIONS TO THE CITY MANAGER. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN: PART 1. Subsection (O) of City Code Section 2-3-5 (Powers and Duties) is amended to read: (O) The city auditor shall refer an allegation enumerated in this subsection to the city manager. The city manager shall design a process to inform the city auditor of the disposition of the referred allegations for recordkeeping purposes. The allegations covered by this subsection are those related to: (1) a personnel issue; (2) an operational issue; (3) a de minimis fraud, waste, or abuse violation; (4) a public safety issue that is not related to fraud, waste, or abuse;[ and] (5) an issue that the city auditor is not authorized to investigate and that is not within the jurisdiction of the Ethics Review Commission[.]; and (6) a secondary employment matter that the city auditor determines does not interfere with or impede the job performance or productivity of a City official or employee; does not interfere with or impede the City’s conduct of official business; and is too small, minor or insignificant to have an economic impact on City operations. Page 1 of 2 27 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 28 PART 2. This ordinance takes effect on _______________, 2020. PASSED AND APPROVED , 2020 § _______________________________ Steve Adler § § Mayor APPROVED: _________________ Anne L. Morgan City Attorney ATTEST: ________________________ Jannette S. Goodall City Clerk Page 2 of 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 RESOLUTION NO. WHEREAS, since March 2020 the Austin City Council and City Boards and Commissions have been unable to meet in person due to the stay-home work order resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is unknown at this time how long these conditions will last, and WHEREAS, City of Austin uses Cisco WebEx along with analog phone calls to enable virtual meetings of the Austin City Council and City Boards and Commissions; and WHEREAS, the Texas Legislature enacted H.B. 2840 in order to ensure 10 that members of the public have the right to address governmental bodies prior to 11 their decisions on items under consideration; and 12 WHEREAS, call-in public participation allows for members of the public to 13 provide testimony from home as opposed to traveling to City Hall; and 14 WHEREAS, members of the public have reported difficulties including lack 15 of awareness of registration deadlines, shortened speaker times, extended time on 16 hold, incomplete speaker queues, call disconnections, and feedback during calls; 17 and 18 WHEREAS, the City’s technology choices and procedural rules have 19 unintentionally limited public participation and even denied members of the public Page 1 of 3 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 20 the right to address the Austin City Council and/or City Boards and Commissions; 21 NOW, THEREFORE, 22 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN: 23 The Ethics Review Commission makes the following recommendations to 24 improve equitable access to and opportunities for public participation in Austin 25 City Council and City Boards and Commission virtual meetings. Rules and instructions for public participation in virtual meetings should be publicized on Council, Commission, and Board websites and included at the top of all meeting notices and posted agendas. Any changes to rules and instructions for public participation in virtual meetings should be timely and openly discussed by the Austin City Council and City Boards or Commissions. Adhere to normal public speaking time limits and rules for time donation. Either eliminate preregistration requirements for public participation or reduce the advance time required. During meetings, make the queue of speakers and who is next in line visible to the public. The complete ordered list of speakers should be posted as part of the permanent public …
ETHICS REVIEW COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, August 12, 2020 The Ethics Review Commission (“Commission”) convened in a regular meeting on Wednesday, August 12, 2020, Austin, Texas via Videoconference. Chair Luis Soberon called the meeting to order at 6:06 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, Raafia Lari, Robin Lerner, and Donna Beth McCormick. Commissioners Nathan Ryan and Pedro A. Villalobos were absent. City Staff in Attendance: Lynn Carter, Commission Executive Liaison & Assistant City Attorney, and Sue Palmer, Staff Liaison, Law Department. 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. Three members of the public spoke: Ana Aguirre, Zenobia Joseph, and Megan Meisenbach. 1. OLD BUSINESS Discussion and possible action regarding the following: a. 2020 Austin city council candidate forums: including an update from city staff Commission Executive Liaison Lynn Carter updated the Commission on the status of the 2020 City Council election candidate forums, which included the following in part. The September issue of the Austin Energy/utility newsletter will provide information on the candidate forums. The moderated candidate forums will air on ATXN.TV in English and Spanish, cable TV channel 6, AT & T U-Verse channel 99, KAZI FM 88.7. The moderated candidate forums will be streamed live and also available on the archive at ATXN (in English and Spanish). All candidate forums moderated by the League of Women Voters-Austin Area (LWV-AA) will be conducted virtually. During the moderated candidate forums, a limited number of citizens will be able to call into a phone number to listen to the forums if they do not have a TV, radio, or computer/internet access to the candidate forums. The LWV-AA is requesting questions from citizens prior to the moderated forums. 1 Secondly, candidates will be given an opportunity to record a five-minute video- recorded statement with ATXN, which will be posted on the ATXN website. If a candidate does not have a computer, the City will provide a computer for the candidate to use if needed and the City will assist with other technology needs for both the moderated candidate forums and the five-minute recorded statement. The third forum …
ETHICS REVIEW COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, September 9, 2020 The Ethics Review Commission (“Commission”) convened in a regular meeting on Wednesday, September 9, 2020, Austin, Texas via Videoconference. Chair Luis Soberon called the meeting to order at 6:06 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, Raafia Lari, Robin Lerner, Donna Beth McCormick, and Nathan Ryan. Commissioner Pedro A. Villalobos were absent. City Staff in Attendance: Lynn Carter, Commission Executive Liaison & Assistant City Attorney, Sue Palmer, Staff Liaison, Law Department; Brian Molloy, Chief of Investigations in the Office of the City Auditor; Jannette Goodall, City of Austin City Clerk; Kory Ellis, IT Manager, Communications and Technology Management Department; and Brion Oaks, Chief Equity Officer, Equity 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. NEW BUSINESS Discussion and possible action regarding the following: Potential amendments to City Code Chapter 2-3 (City Auditor) related to the City Auditor’s investigative and referral authority. Office of the City Auditor, Chief of Investigations, Brian Molloy provided a presentation on proposed amendments to City Code Chapter 2-3 (City Auditor), Section 2-3-5 (Powers and Duties) Subsection (O). No action was taken by the Commissioners on this item. 2. OLD BUSINESS – PART ONE Discussion and possible action regarding the following: a. Transparency in the open meeting process, including the process for public speakers and the Commission’s jurisdiction and role. City Clerk Jannette Goodall and IT Manager Kory Ellis answered Commissioner questions on the process and unique issues for public speakers and public participation during virtual public meetings of the City. 1 No action was taken by the Commissioners on this item. 3. STAFF BRIEFINGS Equity Office presentation on the creation and purpose of the City of Austin’s Equity Office – Brion Oaks, Chief Equity Officer. Mr. Oaks provided a presentation on the Equity Office; its role at the City of Austin; and the services, trainings, and guidance provided by the Equity Office to city departments and city boards. (No action is taken by the Commission on staff briefings.) 4. OLD BUSINESS – PART TWO Discussion …
