February 13, 2023
Contact: Michael Canning (415) 252-3100
Chair Yvonne Lee called the Meeting to order at 10:03 a.m. With Vice-Chair Larry Bush, and Commissioners Theis Finlev, Michael Romano, and Argemira Flórez Feng participating, a quorum was present.
Under Item 2, provided the opportunity for general public comment on matters not appearing on the Agenda but within the Ethics Commission’s subject matter jurisdiction.
Under its Consent Calendar, provided the opportunity for public comment on all consent calendar items and voted 5-0 to adopt a motion by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Commissioner Romano to approve the following Consent items that required action by the Commission:
- Item 3, Proposed Resolution on Continuation of Remote/Hybrid Commission Meetings,
- Item 4, Draft Minutes for January 13, 2023, Regular Meeting, and
- Item 5, Draft Minutes for January 20, 2023, Special Meeting.
Item 6, Acting Executive Director’s report dated February 6, 2023 was informational and required no action by the Commission.
Under Item 7, Commissioner Lee nominated herself to continue serving as Chair and was elected unanimously (5-0). Chair Lee nominated Commissioner Bush to continue serving as Vice Chair, Commissioner Bush accepted the nomination and was elected unanimously (5-0).
Under Item 8, heard a presentation from Pam Derby of CPS HR Consulting regarding the Executive Director recruitment process, discussed next steps in the hiring process, and provided opportunity for public comment.
Under Item 9, discussed the impact of the upcoming termination of the Governor’s COVID-19 emergency proclamation and the Mayor’s emergency order on current Ethics Commission hybrid meeting operations and whether to continue to resource and provide online and telephone conferencing services to facilitate remote public comment. Commissioner Flórez Feng moved to continue offering remote public comment at Commission meetings, the motion was seconded by Commissioner Finlev and approved unanimously (5-0).
Under Item 10, heard a presentation and discussed the backlog of outstanding audits and updates from the Audit program.
Under Item 11, heard a presentation and discussed the proposed FY24-FY25 Ethics Commission budget. Commissioner Romano moved to submit the proposed budget to the Mayor, the motion was seconded by Chair Lee and approved unanimously (5-0).
Chair Lee declared that Item 12(e) regarding the determination of a probable cause was being continued to the Commission’s next meeting, making Items 12(b) and 12(g) no longer relevant.
The Commission then took up Agenda Item 12(a) and provided the opportunity for public comment on all matters pertaining to the proposed closed session. Under Item 12(c), the Commission unanimously (5-0) approved a motion by Commissioner Bush and seconded by Commissioner Finlev to proceed into closed session for an update with the City’s Department of Human Resources Labor Negotiator regarding Labor Negotiations on the status of ongoing meet and confer concerning the Ethics Commission’s gift and ethics recommendations for City law.
The Commission moved into closed session at 12:08 pm.
After reconvening in open session at 1:09 pm, the Commission approved a motion by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Commissioner Romano by a vote of 4-0 to not disclose matters discussed in closed session, with Commissioner Bush unable to vote due to technical difficulties.
Under Item 13, provided the opportunity to discuss items for future meetings.
Under Item 14, provided the additional opportunity for general public comment on matters not appearing on the agenda.
Under Item 15, adjourned the meeting at 1:13 pm.
Draft Minutes for the February 10, 2023, Regular Meeting will be available upon their completion and will be included on the Agenda for the Commission’s next Regular Meeting, which will be made available on the Commission’s website at sfethics.org.
Meeting agendas and materials are available at https://sfethics.org/ethics/category/agendas.
For further information, please contact the Ethics Commission at ethics.commission@sfgov.org or (415) 252-3100.
SFGovTV provides a continuous archive of selected Commission, council and board meetings that allows viewers to watch those meetings online in full at the viewer’s convenience. Video, audio, and closed-captioning archives of Ethics Commission meetings may be accessed here.