Date: September 9, 2024
To: Members of the Ethics Commission
From: Patrick Ford, Executive Director
Subject: Agenda Item 4 – Executive Director’s Report
Summary and Action Requested
This report provides various programmatic and operational highlights since the last report.
No action is required by the Commission, as this item is for informational purposes only.
Staff News
Kevin Kincaid was appointed as an Engagement & Compliance Officer (1844) in the Engagement & Compliance Division on September 3rd. This position became vacant in October 2023, and the department recently received budget approval to fill the position as part of the FY25 budget. In this role, Kevin will provide filer support, compliance guidance, training, and day-to-day administration for the Engagement & Compliance programs.
Kevin joined the Commission’s staff as a Client Support Specialist in the Engagement & Compliance Division in November 2023. He has over 17 years of technical customer support experience working on a variety of software products and technology services at companies such as Oracle and Lyris Technologies. Prior to joining the City, he worked with SmartRecruiters for 7 years in roles responsible for leading customer support teams and as a product community manager. Kevin holds a BS in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University.
Hiring Update
Staff is continuing to focus on recruitment as a top priority for the department. As discussed in the August report, the FY25 budget that was approved for the Ethics Commission provides for a number of reclassifications and hirings. Additionally, the Commission needs to backfill vacancies. Current information about job openings with the Commission can be accessed on the Ethics Commission’s Jobs page.
Finance and Operations: The job postings for the 1824 Budget and Operations Analyst position and the 1454 Executive Secretary position have closed, and the recruitments are now in applicants review phase.
Enforcement: Since the August update, two additional jobs were posted. One of them is an 1823 Senior Investigator & Legal Analyst in the Enforcement Division. This position is a backfill after Bisi Matthews was appointed as Director of Enforcement. The Senior Investigator posting has closed and is in the applicants review phase.
Audits: Currently, the 1686 Audit Manager position, which leads the Audits Division, is posted to the Commission’s website and applications are being accepted. The three 1684 Auditor positions will be posted in the coming days.
Engagement and Compliance: The department is preparing to initiate a job posting to backfill the 1840 Client Support Specialist position that became vacant last week with Kevin Kincaid’s appointment to the vacant 1844 position.
Policy: A vacant 1840 Junior Management Assistant position which was left vacant in prior fiscal years to meet attrition savings targets will be repurposed as a Policy Research Specialist position and filled in FY25. Efforts are underway to initiate this recruitment.
Policy Updates
Mayor’s Executive Directive on Conflicts of Interest in Grant Selection Panels
Last week, the Mayor issued an Executive Directive regarding certain aspects of how the City administers nonprofit grants. This action was in response to recent incidents of City grantees misusing grant funds and, in some cases, engaging in self-dealing. The issuing of this directive has garnered some attention in the local press. Among other things, the directive calls for the City Administrator and the City Attorney’s Office to “prepare a model policy setting guidelines for how to implement a Conflict of Interest Policy for conflicts of interest on grant selection panels for all departments.” Given that administering and enforcing conflict of interest laws is a core duty of the Ethics Commission, Staff will be reaching out to the City Administrator and the City Attorney’s Office to share information about conflict rules and to determine how the Commission may best support these efforts.
Annual Report
Staff have completed drafting the Commission’s FY24 Annual report. The report is currently under review by the Chair and Vice-Chair, after which time it will be agendized for review by the full Commission at the October meeting before publication in mid-October.
Campaign Consultant Electronic Filing Implementation
Following passage of revised regulations at the July 12th Commission meeting, on September 6th staff posted a notice on the Commission’s web site and sent communications to filers and interested persons that campaign consultants will be required to file in electronic format effective December 9th. All registration and re-registration filings for calendar year 2025 and all other filings due in 2025 will be required to be filed on the new electronic forms. Quarterly reports due December 15th covering the period September 1st through November 30th may be filed using the current paper forms. Staff are currently completing testing of the new electronic forms and plan to work on new guidance materials in advance of the implementation.
Proposition D Implementation
Staff are completing the final steps required for the implementation of Proposition D, which becomes effective on October 12th.
Recently, staff reached out to all Department Heads asking them to identify a contact person for their department for communications related to the new departmental gift disclosure requirement. These contacts will receive additional outreach and guidance materials to ensure they are prepared for the first filing due December 16th. Additionally, Department Heads are scheduled to receive a reminder September 9th that departmental Statements of Incompatible Activities have been discontinued and that they should implement departmental policies to retain any features in their current SIAs that are not covered in the new Section 3.218 of the Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code. The Ethics Commission has some unique rules located in its SIA that will not be covered in Section 3.218 of the C&GCC. The rules primarily concern political activities by Staff and Commissioners. Staff is currently engaged in a meet-and-confer process that is required in order to implement a departmental policy retaining these unique rules as a departmental policy.
Finally, Commission staff are working with DHR to send out an email to all city employees about Prop D before the new law becomes effective. This blast email is designed to ensure that all City employees are reached and notified about the new rules contained in Prop D and given access to educational materials and links to the Commission’s advice portals. DHR is able to communicate with all City employees and is collaborating with Staff to ensure the message can be sent to the broadest possible audience.