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Daily Record: Ethics Commission questions appointment of ethics officer
The commission met Wednesday, the same day that Mayor Alvin Brown appointed Senior Assistant General Counsel Jon Phillips as the acting City Ethics Officer. He may serve for 60 days before Council approval is required.
Ethics Commission Chairman Braxton Gillam and Carla Miller, director of the ethics and compliance office, met with Chris Hand, Brown’s chief of staff, Jan. 13 to discuss a budget transfer to fund the compliance office and eliminate the ethics office.
Gillam said he and Miller were assured by Hand that the mayor wanted to “do the right thing” when it came to ethics, but the commission didn’t agree with his appointment of Phillips. “I’m glad to hear that Chris iterated to (Gillam) that the mayor wants to ‘do the right thing,’ but it is in my estimation that his actions don’t show he is doing the right thing,” said Kirby Oberdorfer, a member and former chairwoman of the ethics commission.
“I don’t know by, either intentionally or unintentionally, trying to eliminate the ECO office by not funding it is the right thing. And I certainly don’t think appointing an ethics officer that also happens to be an employee of the General Counsel’s Office with a direct conflict of interest with those that the ethics office may investigate is the right thing,” she said.
Oberdorfer said the right action would be to seek advice of outside counsel for an opinion on whether or not the mayor’s appointment was legal.
“I think we need to get special counsel to investigate whether the appointment of Jon is in compliance with the ethics code and whether it’s legal and whether it’s a conflict of interest,” said Oberdorfer.
Assistant General Counsel Jason Gabriel is the commission’s legal counsel and he was charged with informing the Office of General Counsel of the ethics commission’s request.
Oberdorfer cited a recent issue that provided an example of a conflict of interest with the Office of General Counsel.
The General Counsel’s Office requested that Ethics Director Carla Miller pay back $3,100 she was paid since July 1 because the ethics officer was previously appointed by the mayor and Brown had not appointed Miller. Brown’s office claims Miller’s term officially ended July 1.
The commission said it couldn’t see how its legal counsel supplied by the Office of General Counsel could provide legal advice on the payment issue without having a conflict of interest.
The City now has two ethics officers, both appointed on an emergency basis because of vacancies. Both are subject to City Council approval and both are serving the ethics needs of the City. Miller is not receiving a paycheck for her efforts, which includes maintaining the City’s Ethics Hotline.
Miller and the ethics commission have stated that the new ethics compliance office was created to replace the City ethics office, but the City ethics office was not planned to be removed until the new office was functioning.
The mayor’s office expects the Council to address the issue of two ethics offices and the budgetary issue facing the ethics compliance office, which has no funding presently.
“That question of having two ethics offices is something the Council may want to address, as well as the budget issue that’s come up,” said Hand. “Certainly, we can’t infer what their intent is. They are going to have to speak to this.”
According to Ordinance 2011-197, passed by the Council in June:
“Section 3. Transition. It is the intention of Council that the Office of Ethics, Compliance, and Oversight be budgeted and operational commencing with the 2011-2012 fiscal year, and that all positions of this office be filled with existing budgeted city positions and that no additional funding be necessary to staff the office.”
LINK: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=535505
Views: 58
Comment
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Comment by Patricia M. McBride on January 28, 2012 at 5:00am
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Thanks Tony. This whole thing is a mess, and I don't understand someone not having 5 minutes to speak to a constituent? I also don't understand the mayor making an appointment like this, cutting off or defunding something without so much as a word to the council or a discussion when another person, ie Carla, will be greatly impacted by that action.
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Comment by Tony Bates on January 27, 2012 at 11:16pm
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PART 2b (continued again) - Promise - I through on the site till I talk with someone. But those who are on my -e-mail mailing list will get more.
As you see the Councilman put me off till Feb 14th - -a week after he has made his decision - I along with Connie Benham went to his office and was only able to talk with his assistant - She got the Councilman on the phone- and she told me he still did not even have 5 minutes for me between
now and Feb 14th. WBishop@coj.net - 630-1392- Assistant: Suzanne Warren
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PART 2a (Continued) - It looks like PART 2 was two long- I suggest you scroll down to PART 1 and come back up- if you have time for all this.
From: "Bishop, Bill" <WBishop@coj.net>
To: "tonybates@juno.com" <tonybates@juno.com>
Subject: RE: What happened to the Funding???
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:38:49 +0000
The council and the mayor need to reconcile the issue of two competing ethics offices. i have asked the administration to meet with me on this. as it stands, the mayor and ethics commission each have appointed acting ethics officers as is their right under existing legislation. the ethics commission's is for 180 days and the mayor's is for 60 days. until they agree to meet and resolve this, it will remain thus. fyi - a major reason we have this situation is because Carla did not want to include repealing the old ethics office in last year's legislation and no one else thought about it. i have offered to work with all of the parties involved to solve this but i'm not going to spend a great deal of time working on this solo.
Sent from my Droid Charge on Verizon 4G LTE "tonybates@juno.com" wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bill,
Can I have 10 minutes of your time on this issue. I'll have more if you need me but you can get up and go if you give me the first 10 max(maybe 5).
A place and time of your choosing. If your going to eat lunch -you eat - I talk.(I can't eat anymore anyway).
This is an important issue to many in the public.
Tony---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suzanne: Please set up a meeting with Mr. Bates for the next council day.
Bill
Sent from my Droid Charge on Verizon 4G LTE "tonybates@juno.com" wrote:Tony,
Can you meet with Cm. Bishop on Tuesday, February 14 at 2:00 p.m. here in his City Council office?
Suzanne
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Suzanne,I need to deal with this no later than Tuesday of next week so that I can determine how to move forward with this issue. I accept that the Councilman is very busy and if time is not available I will proceed on bases of the Councilman's last response.
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PART 2 - Might should read the following post - PART 1- first and then come back to PART 2
From: tonybates@juno.com [mailto:tonybates@juno.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 9:27 PM
To: Bishop, Bill
Subject: Fw: What happened to the Funding???More than 6 months have past since all the work on the Ethics issues was codified. Finally the recommendation from the Ethics Commission for Director of the Office of Ethics, Compliance & Oversight(OECO) is scheduled for consideration by the Rules Committee at its next scheduled meeting (Feb 7,2012 ?) Bill 2012-10. Still in "limbo" is funding for the Director.
If necessary will you sponsor ,or sign on as a co-sponsor, of legislation that will clarify that the funding approved in the 2011-12 budget was intended for OECO or, if necessary, initiate a transfer of funds so that this office can begin its intended function?.
Tony Bates
Coalition Jax--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Bishop, Bill" <WBishop@coj.net>
To: "'tonybates@juno.com'" <tonybates@juno.com>
Subject: RE: What happened to the Funding???
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:25:17 +0000Tony: For a variety of reasons, we currently have two competing ethics offices. We have the new system that was put in place last year, which was not funded in the current budget, and we have the old system which was not repealed with the net legislation but was funded in this year's budget. I have requested a meeting with the administration to sort this out. Until this happens, both appointments will be defered in Rules. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Bill
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Bill,
I feel it was clearly the public's intent (and Council's) that the independence of Ethics oversight be established and that was codified by Council both in the Municipal Code and the Charter.
The Ethics Commission was given the authority to recommend their choice of Director of Office of Ethics Compliance Oversight(OECO) and that was Carla Miller. What are you hoping to accomplish by delaying her appointment? Is there objection to the Commission's recommendation?
I did suggest to members of the Rules Committee that the confirmation at the next Rules Committee might be a good place to raise the funding issue.
As far as I am concerned the Mayor's office of Ethics is now purely administrative and only requires a few hours a month to over see all those "Ethics Officers" that are suppose to be through out the bureaucracy. That funding should be part of the Mayors budget. Then you(Council) control the size of that office through the Mayors budget.
I have been trying to persuade the Ethics Commission to reconcile all the old reference(s) to Ethics in the Code and Charter with the new additions to the Code and Charter of last year. I hope you will raise the profile of that issue.
The OECO Director is an independent stand alone issue. That needs to be filled under current law and I see no reason to delay that while you make the necessary changes to the old law that conflicts with the new.
" Councilman " thanks for you attention to my -e-.
Tony
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: "Bishop, Bill" <WBishop@coj.net>
To: "tonybates@juno.com" <tonybates@juno.com>
Subject: RE: What happened to the Funding???
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:38:49 +0000
The council and the mayor need to reconcile the issue of two competing ethics offices. i have asked the administration to meet with me on this. as it stands, the mayor and ethics commission each have appointed acting ethics officers as is their right under existing legislation. the ethics commission's is for 180
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There is a lot of detail you need to know on this Ethics issue. I'm going to give a little now- and then try to prepare more tonight and Saturday. I'll try to figure a way to get it to you as briefly as possible.
PART 1
Over the past couple of days The City Council Rules Committee Chairman Bill Bishop has told me he is going to defer the appointment of the INDEPENDENT Office of Ethics Compliance Oversight Director (OECO) - Carla Miller. HE MUST BE PERSUADED TO CHANGE HIS MIND. This decision must not stand. We will need you to call or e-mail (both if you can) Councilman Bishop and tell him not to delay this appointment. WBishop@coj.net - 630-1392- Assistant: Suzanne Warren
I have been essentially dismissed by Councilman Bishop in my efforts to talk personally with him. Those details will be in PART 2
Please call - Please write - “ " Do not delay the appointment of the Independent Ethics Commission’s selection as their Director of ECO ” " Please cc: or let me know that you have contacted Councilman Bishop. - tonybates@juno.com - For now I need 50 people willing to make this effort
Do not make this effort until you have received thru PART 3. There is another important issue concerning Ethics that you might decide to handle in one communication. I’ll get that to you with follow up in Part 3.
For those of you that I mail to personally about government issues and are reading this on this site you may have or will received this info for the second time. My apologies.
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He has made several attempts thus far, and hopefully, this one will fail as the others have. What possible good would a political appointment do us (what is it, a payback for donations to his campaign?). The way he handled getting rid of Carla was enough for me not to respect or like him anymore. To just defund a commission when they know it is the paycheck of someone who quit a better paying job..................naw. No class at all and what good will this fellow be? He is the mayor's guy!
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Comment by Joanna B McDermott on January 27, 2012 at 3:20pm
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Mayor Brown is trying to claim his title of King of Jacksonville.....sound familiar?
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