April 17, 2023
Contact: Michael Canning (415) 252-3100
Chair Yvonne Lee called the Meeting to order at 10:04 a.m. With Commissioners Theis Finlev and Michael Romano participating, a quorum was present. Commissioner Argemira Flórez Feng was not present due to an excused absence.
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 3-0 to adopt a motion by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Chair Lee to approve the following Consent items that required action by the Commission:
- Item 3, Draft Minutes for March 10, 2023, Regular Meeting,
- Item 5, Proposed amendments to the Statement of Incompatible Activities (SIA) for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and the Homelessness Oversight Commission, and
- Item 7, Proposed amendments to the Statement of Incompatible Activities (SIA) for the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood and the Children and Families Commission.
Item 6, Proposed amendments to the Statement of Incompatible Activities (SIA) for the Public Works Department, Public Works Commission, and Sanitation and Streets Commission, was removed from the Consent Calendar and continued to the call of the Chair.
Items 4, 8, 9, 10, and 11 were moved off of the Consent Calendar and considered as separate items.
Item 4, Acting Executive Director’s Report highlighting various departmental programs, operations, and staff news, was informational and required no action by the Commission, but the opportunity for public comment was provided.
Item 8, Proposed Stipulation in SFEC Case No. 23-486, was continued to the call of the Chair after Commission Romano recused himself from participating in the item.
Under Item 9, discussed the cover memo and Proposed Stipulation in SFEC Case No. 22-463. Chair Lee moved to reject the proposal and have Staff to continue working on this matter, the motion was seconded by Commissioner Finlev and approved unanimously (3-0).
Under Item 10, discussed the Cover memo and Proposed Stipulation in SFEC Case No. 20-291. Chair Lee moved to reject the proposal and have Staff to continue working on this matter, the motion was seconded by Commissioner Romano and approved unanimously (3-0).
Under Item 11, discussed the Cover memo and Proposed Stipulation in SFEC Case No. 22-470. Commissioner Romano moved to reject the proposal and have Staff to continue working on this matter, the motion was seconded by Chair Lee and not approved (2-1), with Commissioner Finlev in the dissent. Commissioner Finlev moved to approve the proposed stipulation and that motion was not seconded.
Under Item 12, discussed the Cover memo and Proposed Stipulation in SFEC Case No. 21-323. Commissioner Finlev moved to approve the proposal, the motion was seconded by Chair Lee and approved unanimously (3-0).
Under Item 13, heard a presentation from Staff and discussed the Enforcement Hearing Guidebook Draft dated April 7, 2023.
Chair Lee declared that Item 14(d) regarding the update with labor negotiators was being continued to the call of the Chair, making Items 14(a) and 14(d) no longer relevant.
The Commission then took up Agenda Item 14(b) and provided the opportunity for public comment on Item 14e in the proposed closed session. Under Item 14(c), the Commission unanimously (3-0) approved a motion by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Commissioner Romano to proceed into closed session regarding the public employee appointment of the Executive Director.
The Commission moved into closed session at 11:35 am.
After reconvening in open session at 1:00 pm, the Commission unanimously (3-0) approved a motion by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Commissioner Romano to not disclose matters discussed in closed session.
Under Item 15, provided the opportunity to discuss items for future meetings.
Item 16, additional opportunity for general public comment on matters not appearing on the agenda, was not called by the Commission.
Under Item 17, adjourned the meeting at 1:15 pm.
Draft Minutes for the April 14, 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.