Ethics Commission

City of Troy, Ethics Commission Monthly Minutes 433 River Street Troy, New York 12180 April 24th, 2014 - 6 pm I. Call to Order / Pledge ‐ Called to order at 6:01pm II. Roll Call Cubit Bennett Mazor Ellis Benbow Absent ‐ Shaw, Jamison III. Approval of Minutes from last meeting ‐ Motion Mazor, Second Ellis ‐ Ayes ‐ 5 No ‐ 0 IV. Open Issues 1. Case#E102072014 ‐ Councilman Doherty (Cubit) Tentative date to discuss with the Councilman 5/29 2. Web site update (Cubit) ‐ Minor formatting changes. Email address is available. Public can email the commission at ethics@troyny.gov. Commissioner Benbow did not receive test message. Commissioner Cubit will verify that city has correct address. 3. Agreement with Counsel ‐ Pending V. New Business 1. Training ‐ Internal a) John Mancini of the NYS conference of mayor has agreed to attend our June 26th (6pm)meeting to share knowledge which will further our growth as an ethics commission. As that date approaches, provide Rev. Shaw with questions for him to address. 2. Training - City wide, Employees and Officials. - see item 3 3. Review of Ethics Audit from 2011 and identify areas needing attention. Commission reviewed audit from 2010 and noted that gaps in recommendations made by comptrollers audit. Commissioner Mazor will contact Jeff Piro (worked on drafting legislation after audit) in regards to the CAP report sent to the comptrollers office. Was one filed? Commissioner Cubit will contact comptrollers office to obtain a copy of the filed CAP and to order GML Ethics material to distribute to all city locations. Commissioner Cubit will also draft a proactive letter to the Mayors office to remind all those that need to submit disclosure forms need to so that the commission has them prior to the May 15th filing date also to see if the commission can obtain a list of all that would be required to file (app. 75 based on 2010 number). It was also noted that in the review only 22 of the required 75 filers did actually file disclosure forms. Commissioners Mazor and Benbow also stated that approximately 50 filed last year. The need to make sure all those required to file do is top priority. The commission also noted that Whistleblower notice will be available via the website but still does not make itself available to all employees. Commission Ellis and Cubit said that making sure training material are available in multiple formats at all locations needs to be addressed. 4. Establish goals - see item 3  City of Troy, Ethics Commission Monthly Agenda 433 River Street Troy, New York 12180 5. Counsel for Ethics Commission - Updates on Open Meeting Law - Counsel update commission that Executive Session can be called under §108 - to confer with counsel and to review case merits. Counsel in still reviewing it fully and will present a memorandum shortly. 6. Case review - new cases, potential cases. Commissioner Cubit addressed commission that it maybe receiving items from other organizations in regards to current investigations as well as meeting with us over those items. Information will continue to be collected by Commission on the Demolition projects, Reeves resignation as well as Scolite issue. VI. Public forum The public is encouraged to attend the ethics commissions monthly meeting to address the commission, or to turn in sworn complaints (there will be no discussion on submitted complaints or current cases). Speakers are limited to 5 minutes and are to be directed to the Commission only. VII. Adjournment ‐ 7:09pm