Council Subcommittee

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE ON CODE OF ETHICS, IN SPECIAL MEETING OF THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2023 AT 2:00 P.M., GILBERT MUNICIPAL CENTER I, COMMUNITY ROOM 202, 50 E CIVIC CENTER DRIVE, GILBERT, ARIZONA COUNCIL PRESENT: Subcommittee Chair Scott Anderson, Vice Mayor Kathy Tilque and Councilmember Jim Torgeson COUNCIL ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Town Attorney Chris Payne, Town Clerk Chaveli Herrera CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the meeting to order at 2:01 p.m. ROLL CALL Town Clerk Herrera called roll and declared a quorum present. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Consider approval of the minutes of the Subcommittee on Code of Ethics Meeting of August 16, 2023. A MOTION was made by Chair Anderson, seconded by Councilmember Torgeson, to approve the minutes of the Subcommittee on Code of Ethics Meeting of August 15, 2023. Motion carried 3-0. 2. Discussion on Code of Ethics Policy and process. 1 Chair Anderson discussed the policy being in effect and emphasized the importance of the Subcommittee to see if any changes need to be made. Councilmember Torgeson said he asked the Town Attorney to create a draft Conflict of Interest Policy and Town Attorney Payne elaborated on the idea of having a separate policy specific to Conflict of Interest and the disclosure requirement. He said it would not change any of the rules outlining conflict of interest but would require additional disclosures. He stated these would then be filed with the Town Clerk and uploaded online for transparency. Councilmember Torgeson discussed the compromise in options, elaborated on transparency and said the change would eliminate the feeling from the public of any self-dealing. Town Attorney Payne outlined the draft policy and stated it would only impact members of Council not Board and Commission members. Chair Anderson asked if most of what was being proposed in the draft policy was already covered in state law. Town Attorney Payne responded with an explanation on which sections were state law and which were specific to Gilbert. He discussed the section related to relative and remote interests and said the overall idea was not to make changes to what was required by state law but add additional requirements regarding filing disclosure forms and said overall it was a change to process. Vice Mayor Tilque provided recommendations on the layout and separating what was state law from specific in Gilbert. Town Attorney Payne asked if the Subcommittee felt they wanted to go that route or if they preferred folding the new requirement into the existing policies. Vice Mayor Tilque talked through an example to better understand how it would be implemented, and Town Attorney Payne talked about it being two parts, one is an Attorney General complaint process and the other is regarding disclosure which would be a local requirement. Chair Anderson spoke in support of the idea but expressed concern in calling it a policy when it was restating state law. There was discussion between conflict of interest and disclosure requirement and Councilmember Torgeson discussed the transparency component. Vice Mayor Tilque asked if there was currently a required time period for a disclosure to be filed and Town Clerk Herrera responded there was not. Vice Mayor Tilque stated that remote and relative interests were important but recommended a link to the information. She expressed 2 concern on unintentionally setting Council up with adhering to extreme remote interests. There was discussion on where the new disclosure requirement should go and Vice Mayor Tilque questioned whether the requirement would be best in the Code of Ethics of the Code of Conduct. Chair Anderson discussed the importance of encouraging people to read the statute and understand the requirement. Town Attorney Payne discussed the limitations and benefits of placing the disclosure requirement in the current policies and questioned whether or not Council felt that not filing a disclosure was an ethical concern or more of a procedural matter. Councilmember Torgeson talked about the importance of it being done in general and said he did not have a preference in which document it lived. Vice Mayor Tilque stated she leaned towards the Code of Conduct and talked about the expectation. There was further discussion on the process. Chair Anderson stated if the documents were to be amended, he recommended it be done as simple as possible, so it is not redundant. Town Clerk Herrera asked for confirmation that it would only apply to Council and not Board and Commission members which was confirmed and there was discussion on making it clear in the document. Vice Mayor Tilque discussed it being available on the website. Vice Mayor Tilque restated the direction would be an additional requirement for disclosure for substantial interests will be added to the Code of Conduct, the disclosure forms will be filed with the Town Clerk and posted online and there will be statutory links within the handbook. Town Attorney Payne stated he would work with the Town Clerk and bring the information back to Council. There was discussion on when to bring it to Council, and how it should be placed on an agenda, with the consensus being an administrative item to allow for discussion and action. Vice Mayor Tilque asked to further discuss ethics complaints and stated with the new policy in place and the amendments that Council are seeing, she wanted to discuss whether or not those shall be allowed going forward. She said she felt all supplemental documents should 3 be shared with the mediator or investigator. The Subcommittee members were in agreement and asked Town Attorney Payne to add that limitation into the Ethics Policy. Chair Anderson asked if the Subcommittee wanted to address anything related to public records requests and supermajority items from the previous meeting and there was no direction to do so. 3. Discussion on next steps. Town Attorney Payne will draft two new policies and share with the Subcommittee. 4. Action Items a) Set dates for future subcommittee meetings No future dates scheduled at this time. b) other action items as assigned No additional action items assigned at this time. ADJOURN Subcommittee Chair Anderson adjourned the meeting at 3:09 p.m. ATTEST: ___________________________ ___________________________________ Scott Anderson, Chair Chaveli Herrera, Town Clerk 4 CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the special meeting of the Subcommittee on Code of Ethics of the Town of Gilbert held on the 24th of August, 2023. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this ____ day of ____________________2023. ___________________________________ Chaveli Herrera, Town Clerk 5