December 12, 2023
Contact: Michael Canning (415) 252-3100
Chair Yvonne Lee called the Meeting to order at 10:04am. With Commissioners Theis Finlev, Argemira Flórez Feng, and Yaman Salahi participating, a quorum was present. Commissioner David Tsai joined the meeting a few minutes after it was called to order.
Under Item 2, provided the opportunity for general public comment on matters not appearing on the agenda.
Item 3, Discussion and Possible Action regarding Hearing on the Merits In the Matter of Paul Allen Taylor, Case No. 20-243 (1920-031), was continued to a future meeting.
The Commission then took up Agenda Item 4(a) and provided the opportunity for public comment on Item 4(c), Public Employee Appointment/Hiring, Executive Director, in the proposed closed session. Under Item 4(b), the Commission unanimously (5-0) approved a motion by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Commissioner Flórez Feng to proceed into closed session regarding Executive Director recruitment.
The Commission moved into closed session at 10:29am.
After reconvening in open session at 2:03pm, the Commission unanimously (4-0) approved a motion by Commissioner Flórez Feng and seconded by Commissioner Finlev to not disclose matters discussed in closed session. Commissioner Tsai had an excused absence and did not rejoin the meeting after the closed session.
Under its Consent Calendar, provided the opportunity for public comment on all consent calendar items and voted 4-0 to adopt a motion by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Commissioner Salahi to approve the following consent calendar item that required action by the Commission:
- Item 5, Draft Minutes for October 13, 2023, Regular Meeting
- Item 8, Draft Minutes for November 9, 2023, Regular Meeting
- Item 9, Ethics Commission Regular Meeting Schedule for Calendar Year 2024 staff memo dated December 4, 2023
The following consent calendar items were informational and required no action by the Commission, but the opportunity for public comment was provided.
- Item 6, Acting Executive Director’s report dated November 3, 2023
- Item 7, Fiscal Year 2023-24 Budget Update memo dated November 3, 2023
- Item 10, Acting Executive Director’s report dated December 4, 2023
- Item 11, Director of Enforcement’s Report dated December 4, 2023
Item 12, Proposed Stipulation, Decision and Order In the Matter of Christian Kitchin (SFEC Complaint No. 2223-527), was removed from the consent calendar and discussed. The proposed stipulation was then approved unanimously (4-0) by a motion made by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Commissioner Salahi.
Under Item 13, discussed the Ethics Commission Draft Annual Report for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2023, and adopted unanimously (4-0) a motion by Chair Lee and seconded by Commissioner Salahi to approve the annual report as drafted.
Under Item 14, provided the opportunity to discuss items for future meetings.
Under Item 15, provided additional opportunity for general public comment on matters not appearing on the agenda.
Under Item 16, adjourned the meeting at 2:17pm.
Draft Minutes for the December 8, 2023, Regular Meeting will be available upon their completion and will be included on the Agenda for a future Regular Meeting of the Commission, 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.