January 24, 2024
Contact: Michael Canning (415) 252-3100
Chair Yvonne Lee called the meeting to order at 10:05am. With Commissioners Theis Finlev, Yaman Salahi, and David Tsai participating, a quorum was present. Commissioner Argemira Flórez Feng had an excused absence.
Under Item 2, provided the opportunity for general public comment on matters not appearing on the agenda.
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 items that required action by the Commission:
- Item 3, Draft Minutes for November 30, 2023, Special Meeting
- Item 4, Draft Minutes for December 8, 2023, Regular Meeting
Item 5, Acting Executive Director’s report dated January 19, 2024 was removed from the consent calendar. A separate discussion was had on Item 5. Item 5 was informational and required no action by the Commission, but the opportunity for public comment was provided.
The Commission then took up Agenda Item 6(a) and provided the opportunity for public comment on Item 6(c), Public Employee Appointment/Hiring, Executive Director, in the proposed closed session. Under Item 6(b), the Commission unanimously (4-0) approved a motion by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Commissioner Tsai to proceed into closed session regarding Executive Director recruitment.
The Commission moved into closed session at 10:14am.
After reconvening in open session at 10:44pm, Deputy City Attorney Brad Russi announced that during the closed session, the Commission voted (4-0) to appoint Pat Ford as the Executive Director of the Ethics Commission.
Pat Ford addressed the Commission and Chair Lee confirmed his start date of January 29, 2024.
The Commission also voted unanimously (4-0) to approve a motion by Commissioner Finlev and seconded by Commissioner Salahi to not disclose matters discussed in closed session.
Under Item 7, heard a presentation and discussed Ethics Commission budget priorities for the Fiscal Year 2024-25 and Fiscal Year 2025-26.
Under Item 8, heard a presentation and discussed the March 2024 Ethics Commission Ballot Measure focused on gifts, training, and other City ethics laws.
Under Item 9, heard a presentation acknowledging outgoing Commission Chair Yvonne Lee, whose full six-year term of service on the Ethics Commission is concluding.
Under Item 10, provided the opportunity to discuss items for future meetings.
Under Item 11, provided additional opportunity for general public comment on matters not appearing on the agenda.
Under Item 12, adjourned the meeting at 11:40am.
Draft Minutes for the January 24, 2024, 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.