Draft Minutes – March 13, 2026 – San Francisco Ethics Commission

Draft Minutes of the Regular Meeting of
The San Francisco Ethics Commission
Friday, March 13, 2026

Hybrid meeting conducted in-person in City Hall Room 400, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, and also held online as a Remote Meeting via WebEx and aired live on SFGovTV

Note: SFGovTV provides a continuous archive of audio, video, and Caption Notes recordings of Ethics Commission meetings that allows viewers to watch those meetings online in-full at the viewer’s convenience. These archives of Ethics Commission meetings may be accessed at SFGovTV at http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=142.

(Note: A complete recording of this meeting can be found on SFGovTv.)

COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: With Chair Argemira Flórez Feng, Vice Chair Yaman Salahi and Kevin Yeh participating, a quorum was present. Commissioners David Tsai and Karen Bell Francois had an excused absence.

STAFF PRESENTING: Executive Secretary & Commission Clerk, Charlie Machado-Morrow; Executive Director, Patrick Ford; Senior Investigator, Eric Willett; Senior Investigator, Bailey Bryant.

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Michael Gerchow, Deputy City Attorney.

MATERIALS DISTRIBUTED:

Item 1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Chair Argemira Flórez Feng called the meeting to order at 10:01am and stated that members of the public may participate in-person or remotely.

Commission Clerk Charlie Machado-Morrow summarized the procedures for participation by members of the public for the meeting.

Item 2. Public Comment on Matters not Appearing on the Agenda.

No public comment was received on the item.

CONSENT CALENDAR: Items 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

The Consent Calendar provided the opportunity for public comment on all consent calendar items. The Commission voted 3-0 to adopt a motion by Chair Flórez-Feng and seconded by Vice Chair Salahi to approve the following consent calendar items that required action by the Commission:

Item 3, Draft Minutes for February 13, 2026, Regular Meeting.

The following Consent Calendar items were informational and required no action by the Commission, but the opportunity for public comment was provided.

Item 4, Executive Director’s Report
Item 5, Electronic Disclosure and Data Analysis (EDDA) Report
Item 6, Audit Division Report
Item 7, Enforcement Report

Public Comment:

No public comment was received on the item.

Motion 260313-01 (Flórez-Feng / Salahi): Moved, seconded, and approved (3-0) to approve the consent calendar item that required action by the Commission.

REGULAR CALENDAR

Item 8. Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Proposed Stipulation, Decision and Order In the Matter of Charlie Chiem, SFEC Case No. 24-787.

Senior Investigator Bailey Bryant presented a proposed stipulation in the matter of former SFMTA IT employee Charlie Chin (Case No. 24787). The case involved 19 violations of the City’s ethics laws between 2021 and 2024, including misuse of City resources, misuse of prestige of office, incompatible activities, and acceptance of restricted source gifts. The investigation found that the respondent used City time, systems, and email accounts for personal purposes, including registering for and attending webinars and creating alias City email accounts to access multiple sessions simultaneously. The respondent also misrepresented his position as an IT manager to gain access to private events and accepted numerous gifts from businesses seeking SFMTA contracts, including sporting event tickets, memorabilia, food, alcohol, and clothing.

After initially being unable to reach a settlement, the Enforcement Division initiated a merits hearing scheduled for February 13. The respondent appeared at that meeting and requested renewed settlement discussions, which resulted in the stipulated agreement presented to the Commission. The stipulation details the 19 violations and proposes administrative penalties totaling $42,611, consisting of maximum penalties of $5,000 for the first five counts and twice the value of gifts received for counts six through nineteen.

Commissioners thanked staff for their thorough investigation and asked questions regarding detection of similar misconduct in the future and the calculation of penalties. Enforcement staff explained that investigative findings are shared with departments to improve compliance and monitoring, and that the gift-related penalties were tied to the value of the benefits received in order to demonstrate the extent of the respondent’s enrichment. Commissioners also discussed mitigation factors and noted that the respondent no longer works for the City. Staff clarified that the final penalty amount differed slightly from a previously proposed default order due to adjustments in the penalty multiplier and the inclusion of an additional count agreed to in the settlement. The Enforcement Division recommended that the Commission approve the stipulation.

Public Comment:

No public comment was received on this item.

Motion 260313-02 (Salahi / Yeh): Moved, seconded, and approved (3-0) to approve the Proposed Stipulation, Decision and Order In the Matter of Charlie Chiem, SFEC Case No. 24-787[DZ1] [CM2]

Item 9. Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Proposed Amendments to Ethics Commission Streamlined Administrative Resolution Program.

Senior Investigator Eric Willett presented proposed amendments to the Streamlined Administrative Resolution Program (SARP), which establishes a fixed-penalty process for resolving minor and straightforward violations of the Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code. Originally created from a 2013 fixed-penalty policy and significantly expanded in 2021 to cover 41 provisions of law, the program aims to encourage prompt compliance, resolve cases efficiently, and ensure consistent enforcement outcomes while allowing enforcement staff to focus on more serious matters. Over the past five years, 36% of complaints received were eligible for the program; 19 stipulated settlements were resolved under SARP totaling $45,821 in penalties, compared to 37 settlements through the main enforcement program totaling $417,126. Additional matters were resolved through warning letters.

Staff proposed amendments to improve program functionality by expanding coverage to additional strict-liability provisions, removing obsolete provisions to reflect updates to the Code, clarifying standards for certain violations, revising penalty amounts to better reflect harm and encourage corrective action, and shortening the engagement timeline from 30-60-90 days to 30-45-60 days. Additional revisions include adjustments to Form 700 penalty levels, a $1,000 cap on penalties for cases resolved outside the incentive timeline, and various technical corrections. Commissioners asked questions regarding revisions to warning letter criteria, staff discretion when respondents have prior violations, and feedback from interested parties. Staff explained the amendments provide flexibility for enforcement staff while maintaining due process protections and noted that stakeholder meetings raised no opposition to the proposed changes.

Public Comment:

No public comment was received on this item.

Motion 260313-03 (Yeh / Salahi): Moved, seconded, and approved (3-0) to approve the Proposed Amendments to Ethics Commission Streamlined Administrative Resolution Program