[0:10] that would be my
input and I would um I would much prefer
[0:15] not to get into a long drawn out thing
because that will add to this meeting
[0:19] and Anthony said he's got to be out by 8
so I'm sure others have questions that's
[0:24] all I
have good good comment yes yeah and
[0:30] commissioner Terrell yeah I I very much
sincerely apologize for missing the last
[0:36] um planning one it's the only one I
missed and um I had some comments to
[0:42] make about the open space and also tree
preservation and um would I like should
[0:48] I just submit those in writing and then
that can be just taken care of that
[0:52] way yeah and just so that will be the
development code I just want to make
[0:56] sure that um we're dividing up these uh
so uh there might be some uh General
[1:02] open space policies uh and maybe some
policies on on uh tree preservation that
[1:09] uh are supportive of text amendments to
the development code uh but for March 11
[1:16] um oh it's okay it will just the
comprehensive plan the focus yeah okay
[1:21] yeah okay do should I still submit those
comments about the code
[1:25] update uh yeah um I yeah better to to be
there with the the council yeah I just
[1:33] biffed it was the only one I've missed
the whole time and I was there for the
[1:38] other tree discussion but this one I
yeah missed it sorry and there will be
[1:43] um I guess I'm sort of taking uh March
what is it March 5th city council
[1:48] meeting just uh one more kind of work
set but sort of a wrap up of just the
[1:53] things that what was identified at the
last uh meeting there I think it was
[1:58] just like last week or so
uh that uh some that people want a
[2:03] little bit more explanation on but we
will have a hearings ready document very
[2:09] shortly here um so uh yeah we're just
trying to fine tune as much as we can
[2:15] for the development code the development
code hearing will be on April 8th that's
[2:19] the April 8th is the Planning Commission
public hearing for the development code
[2:25] uh so yeah you're um that's right on the
heels of the comprehensive plan hearing
[2:32] okay and so should I just submit those
comments CCU send them to Shannon to Amy
[2:36] who should I send them to or I 3j uh Amy
I think through the city is is better
[2:42] yeah yes please send them to you and
you'll distribute them to whoever needs
[2:47] yeah thank you sh happily share yeah and
I don't I like I said I don't have a lot
[2:51] but um I I was listening to it and um I
think I was sort of mentioned in passing
[2:58] as being missing and
I feel like I should add what the very
[3:03] brief comment I would have
made thank you thank you for your
[3:08] service Susie and also sort of we've
gotten the trip trickle down effect by
[3:12] Susie's continued uh attendance to that
so I just appreciate your attendance in
[3:17] all those meetings and um yeah if we
could get those documents ahead of time
[3:22] that would help us to be thoughtful uh
participants thank you Scott thanks yeah
[3:28] is anything else happy to convey that
but we'll we'll get the documents out as
[3:33] soon as possible nope thanks Scott
appreciate it I just sent an email to
[3:38] Amy letting him know that uh letting her
know that April 8th sadly I will um be
[3:44] out of the state and unavailable that
day so uh that's gonna be a fun one
[3:48] Susie you get to be the chair that
day apologies in advance okay well I
[3:54] I'll pay attention to what you do every
day every time we meet before then and
[3:58] maybe I'll maybe I'll be able to handle
we'll see I'll send you a picture of
[4:01] myself that you can kind of staple your
for there you then you can you can just
[4:05] have everybody coming at me
anyways excellent uh do we have any
[4:10] public citizen comments before we get
into our training this is for items that
[4:15] are not on the agenda I see two
individuals that uh are not
[4:19] Commissioners and I wanted to invite
them for or do
[4:23] we just to heads up Chris Brewbaker is
another trainer with the ethics
[4:28] Commission
[4:32] okay see hearing none and seeing none
we'll proceed with our ethics training
[4:36] item 4B on our agenda Mr sparza the
floor is yours Mr White have a good
[4:41] evening
sir all right well now my Brady Bunch
[4:45] screen has now altered we've lost that
one that one person had had an even
[4:51] thing there but that's all right so uh
I'm going to share my screen because uh
[4:55] I'm giving a presentation here so I need
to show y'all some stuff so it's let me
[4:59] get situated here for a
[5:03] sec let's see all
[5:10] right all right hang
[5:16] on right how's that look on your end
does that look all right looks good I
[5:21] see a thumbs up awesome so just heads up
Chris Brewbaker is also with the ethics
[5:26] commission um he's he's kind of one of
the newer folks so he's sitting in he's
[5:30] going to answer what questions he has uh
in the chat uh if he gets stuck he'll
[5:36] probably you know throw it back at me
but here's the deal we're going to cover
[5:40] a lot of stuff uh as is uh as much as
I'd love ethics to be really simple it's
[5:46] not it's very complex but uh my job here
today is to kind of make this a little
[5:50] bit easier to uh take to take in so um
forgive me if I get if I if I get
[5:57] repetitive on some things this just my
attempt of trying to to kind of hammer
[6:01] the basics into your head
um um You probably see on the screen my
[6:06] name's Charlie uh if you have a question
um there's a few of us here so I don't
[6:12] mind you unmuting and ask me asking me
but uh if you can hang on at at at all
[6:18] towards the very end because I'm
probably as I move through here I'm
[6:21] probably going to be answering your
questions um as I as I as I chop through
[6:25] this thing and just heads up we're going
to be building so you're hear me say
[6:30] that quite a bit so uh that being said
let's go ahead and and dive into this
[6:35] thing I'm going to take y'all's pictures
out of here let me just make it a little
[6:39] smaller so I can see the thumbs up and
stuff on my end and uh because I'll
[6:44] probably be asking you things if if this
is okay or that okay so um let's go
[6:48] ahead and jump into this so the first
thing is is uh the this commission the
[6:55] the legislative assembly of Oregon has
determined that our role as a public
[6:58] official is one one of a public trust so
one way to safeguard that public trust
[7:03] uh is by following the statutes in ORS
244 you're going to hear me say or s244
[7:07] a lot now don't worry you don't need to
memorize that number okay it's just
[7:11] that's where we do all of our our world
in the ethics part of the commission is
[7:16] all in OS s244 and that being said let
me say that it's our responsibility as
[7:21] public officials to follow those
statutes it's not our public body's
[7:25] responsibility it's us as individuals to
make sure we follow them so so
[7:30] um and the things we're going to talk
about is is pretty simple it's an
[7:34] overview so we're going to talk about uh
using your uh position for financial
[7:39] gain uh what gifts are appropriate to
accept and also we're going to Define
[7:44] what a conflict of interest is then how
to handle that so how do we handle a
[7:48] conflict of interest so um again for us
tonight is just going to be a review of
[7:55] the statutes we're not going to get into
all the legal speak so um again my job
[8:00] is to make sure that I deliver this in a
way that that's easier for people to
[8:05] understand so that being said if you do
uh need to go to the statutes go to the
[8:10] statutes this is not legal advice I'm
not a lawyer so uh the statutes are
[8:15] there uh if you need to go in deeper now
here's here's the catch and this is
[8:20] something that we've been pressing
really hard in the past
[8:24] year is that I I want yall to see the
ethics commission as a resource so
[8:29] um reach out to us shoot us a message
give us a phone call uh ask us questions
[8:35] we are a resource we're here for you
folks okay so um let's just say for
[8:39] example you're in a situation and uh you
don't want to go to the statutes or you
[8:44] go to statutes and you're like I'm lost
in this legal speak world uh send me
[8:48] over to Charlie then of course of course
you call us you just an email we will
[8:52] help you with that that's part of what
we do is is making sure you folks uh uh
[8:56] stay within the statutes and and not
find yourself in any any trouble so I
[9:01] know I'm I kind of look at like we're on
the front end the training side we're on
[9:04] the front end we're on the proactive
side um so that being said a little bit
[9:09] about the ethics commission we were
created in 1974 and again this was to
[9:14] establish transparency in the Oregon
government um there are nine citizen
[9:19] Commissioners uh they're the ones that
uh kind of approve what we do when
[9:24] moving forward with uh investigations
and things of that nature there's 15
[9:28] staff
members and uh our jurisdiction is over
[9:32] three areas so uh I've got a funny one
here to tell you here in a minute but
[9:37] the big one we're going to talk about
today is rs44 again don't have to
[9:40] memorize that we also have legislation
over Lobby law regulations basically
[9:44] just lobbyists have to register with
Oregon and they have to file expenditure
[9:48] reports the other one's going to be the
big one is public meetings law um this
[9:53] uh public meetings law is going to be
required training for public officials
[9:57] it's going to be coming from us
here's the big the big reveal it will
[10:01] not be ready until May or June at this
point um the reason being is that
[10:08] um with the Attorney General's office uh
they have to approve our training
[10:13] because this has been handed over to us
and they want to make sure that we're
[10:16] delivering the proper material in the
proper way um and so they're determining
[10:21] what that information is so that's where
we're at right now so it's not like
[10:25] we're kind of trying to figure out we we
we just open up the book and okay we'll
[10:28] start with this one and just keep on
going but uh they're kind of like no we
[10:33] want we want something more specific so
that's coming up um the reason my joke
[10:38] here was that this is our area of
jurisdiction we get a lot of phone calls
[10:41] of people saying well you know hey uh uh
they changed out the toilet paper in our
[10:46] bathroom that's an Ethics violation I
know it is uh they went from good stuff
[10:50] to bad stuff do something about it well
it's not our jurisdiction we get those
[10:55] those types of calls a lot so there's my
little joke on on our jurisdiction so
[11:00] today uh the big ones we're going to hit
is going to be use of office and it's
[11:04] not going to be in this order by the way
use of office private employment uh
[11:08] conflicts of interest nepotism and gifts
so we're going to do a deep dive in all
[11:12] these uh but you heard me say we're
going to build right so we got to start
[11:16] off with some
definitions so the first definition
[11:20] you're going to run to is a public
official and so uh the way a public
[11:24] official is defined in ORS is that you
if you serve the state a city a county
[11:31] or special district or any other public
body you are a public official and this
[11:36] is whether you're compensated or not
okay so when I you're compensated or not
[11:40] you folks probably are not compensated
for being Commissioners so yeah there
[11:44] you go so guess what you know the answer
to this already right you're sitting in
[11:48] this training you are a public official
so um my first thought whenever uh I
[11:55] think of non-compensated public
officials I always think of for some
[11:58] reason vol firefighter that's where my
first my brain goes first all right so
[12:03] that's public official that's the easy
one now we're going to do something that
[12:07] gets a we're going to change things up a
little bit so uh relatives we all know
[12:12] who our relatives are in the real world
okay that that's an easy one but in the
[12:17] statutes they Define it a little bit
tighter so in the statutes it says it's
[12:21] your spouse it's your children your
stepchildren it's your daughter-in-laws
[12:25] your sons-in-laws it's your parents your
step parents it's your siblings and step
[12:29] siblings and it's your spouse's family
so you notice some people are missing
[12:35] from this list um Grandma and Grandpa
are
[12:39] missing your aunts and uncles are
missing and your cousins are missing
[12:43] okay that's just a few off the top but
um by the statutes when they talk about
[12:47] relatives this is it there's three more
though we need to add to this so uh the
[12:53] first one is going to be a relative is
anyone that you have a financial support
[12:59] obligation to all right uh the next one
is going to be anyone that is benefiting
[13:07] from your employment so maybe they're on
your healthare okay that's also a
[13:11] relative and also a relative is anyone
that you may be benefiting from their
[13:15] employment okay so you may be on someone
else's health care that's also a
[13:20] relative by the statutes all right so we
got that out of the way everybody with
[13:24] me so far all right awesome thank you
Susie all right so next one's going to
[13:30] be household members so this is where
things get a little a little more
[13:34] complicated but again my job is to make
this simple right so household member is
[13:38] anyone who is living in your home okay
so this is a
[13:42] roommate uh this could be a significant
other could be a best friend and then of
[13:47] course it could be you know your cousin
an aunt or an uncle or your grandparents
[13:51] okay it's basically anyone living in
your
[13:54] home all right so we got those out of
the way now we're going to keep going
[13:58] going we're building so a business
everyone knows what a business is but we
[14:02] have to Define
it and the ORS it defines a business as
[14:07] any legal entity that's operated for
economic gain okay so that's simple
[14:10] that's a that's a self-employed
individual that's a sole proprietorship
[14:14] it's a partnership it's a corporation
it's a firm uh a franchise an
[14:18] association that's a business all right
next one's going to be an Associated
[14:24] business so this is where things get
this is where things start getting a
[14:27] little complicated so the first one's
going to be a private business so a
[14:32] private business is one that and we're
going back to the definitions you your
[14:38] relative or a member of your household
is a director and officer owner employee
[14:44] or agent of this private business okay
this is a business that you're
[14:47] associated with or they own stock Equity
interest stock options or debt intiments
[14:53] of $1,000 or more okay so this is this
is how this looks okay so let's let's
[14:58] just say for example my daughter works
as at a cashier at a local hardware
[15:02] store and we'll just say Smith is Smith
Hardware I I use this example in every
[15:06] training so if you've heard it just just
bear with me so um my daughter is
[15:12] cashier at Smith and Smith Hardware I am
associated with that business because my
[15:17] daughter is an employee of that private
business okay so that's how this works
[15:25] okay so you may take a moment and take
inventory of who you're relatives are
[15:29] who your household members are and find
out where they work and guess what if
[15:34] they fit in this in in this category up
top then that is a business which you
[15:38] are associated with okay all right let's
take it one step
[15:44] further all right a publicly heeld
Corporation so that's that's a fancy way
[15:48] of saying this this is a business that's
traded on the stock market okay so in
[15:52] order for you to be associated with a
publicly Health Corporation you your
[15:57] relative or member of your household
would have to be an officer or director
[16:01] of that Corporation or own stock Equity
interest stock options or debt
[16:06] instruments of a $100,000 or more okay
so let's take that example I gave you
[16:11] earlier my daughter is working at Smith
and Smith Hardware it's a locally owned
[16:15] private privately owned business and she
gets a job at Home Depot as a cashier
[16:21] well guess what Home Depot is not a
business I'm associated with because she
[16:26] would have to be an officer director of
that business for me to be associated
[16:30] with it okay so if she got promoted just
say for example yeah they her cashier
[16:35] skills were great and they decide to
Bumper up to officer or director then
[16:39] yes then I would be associated with Home
Depot that would be a business I'm
[16:43] associated with okay of course also the
stock options uh Equity interest debt
[16:48] instruments of $100,000 or okay so we
got business business we're associated
[16:54] with now let's talk about what is not a
business it's pretty simple but like
[16:58] again we have to Define
it so public bodies are not businesses
[17:04] so your state agency your city your
county your special district your school
[17:09] district the Oregon government ethics
commission we are not businesses okay we
[17:13] are public bodies the other one and this
is where we get tricky is a nonprofit
[17:18] 501c where you your relative or member
of your household is in an unpaid
[17:23] capacity okay so that would be something
like let's just say for examp let's
[17:29] bring my daughter into this let's just
let's just run her through this okay
[17:31] let's say for example she serves on the
board of the YMCA and uh which we all
[17:38] know YMCA is a nonprofit right she's on
the board of a y of the YMCA and she's
[17:43] in an unpaid capacity it's still not a
business I'm associated with okay let's
[17:48] just say for example uh she's a a member
of the YMCA pays pays a membership fee
[17:54] is a member of the YMCA still not a
business with which I'm associated with
[17:58] because she's not getting compensated
all right but let's say for example uh
[18:04] along with being a board member in the
Summer She uh she's paid to be a
[18:08] lifeguard okay well guess what at that
point it is a business which I'm
[18:12] associated with because she is at that
point collecting uh an hourly wage okay
[18:18] in that scenario okay everybody with me
so far all right cool Susie speaking for
[18:24] all of y'all she's doing great by the
way so it's I'm hope I'm if I lose Susie
[18:29] we're all lost okay all
right so I'm G throw a question out at
[18:33] you uh give me a thumbs up thumbs down
um Susie you're you're calling the shots
[18:38] here so your cousin is included in the
Law's definition of a relative true or
[18:43] false yeah you got it that's pretty easy
I'm I'm throwing softballs at here this
[18:48] is also telling me my training is
working so awesome let's throw another
[18:51] one at you city council member is a
public official true or
[18:56] false awesome
all right I think we have a curveball in
[19:00] here oh yeah here it is we're gonna make
you think for a minute the nonprofit you
[19:04] volunteer at serving lunch once a month
is a business which you are associated
[19:09] true or
[19:13] false I'm getting I'm getting the
headshake from manette in the no fashion
[19:18] but if you're not getting paid for it
yeah so the catch here is you volunteer
[19:24] yeah and the business isn't a publicly
own business correct
[19:29] so we're good so true or
false so with that's okay yeah perfect
[19:38] awesome okay all right that was the easy
part let's get into the tough
[19:43] stuff all right conflict of interest
so we all know what a we've heard those
[19:49] words uh we were you I know you folks
are probably very familiar with what a
[19:53] conflict of interest is but the training
here is designed to kind of break this
[19:57] down on the simpl term so we're going to
figure out what a conflict of interest
[20:01] is and I'm going to walk you through the
steps of how to handle a conflict of
[20:04] interest all right so a conflict of
interest is basically broken down in two
[20:11] categories potential or actual okay and
so the way this kind of works the the
[20:17] the simple definition of of a of a
conflict of interest
[20:21] is
when you as a public
[20:25] official take some sort of action
okay either a vote a recommendation or
[20:31] approval and that vote recommendation or
or approval has a financial impact on
[20:39] specific people and that would be you
your relatives or a business that you or
[20:44] your relatives are associated with okay
so and that's that's about as simple as
[20:51] it gets and you're going to hear me say
this over and over again so we we we get
[20:54] in our head so first one is uh it's
broken down two parts actual potential
[20:59] so the actual one is when we talk about
you as a public official taking some
[21:05] sort of action again that decision
recommendation or approval with that
[21:10] with that action with certainty would
have a financial impact on you your
[21:18] relatives or business that you are your
relatives are associated with okay so
[21:24] what does that mean how how does this
unfold okay so let me let me give you
[21:28] kind of a basic example let's just say
um you're in charge of
[21:34] determining um who's going to do all the
catering for all the City events for the
[21:40] next year
okay and your father owns a catering
[21:47] business okay your
father submits a bid for that particular
[21:55] job for that that role of being uh the
cater for all the city's events for the
[22:00] next year okay so at this point you
would have an actual conflictive
[22:06] interest because you are on the board
that's deciding whether or not who's
[22:10] going to get this this contract and your
father who is your relative who owns a
[22:16] catering business which is a business
you are associated with has submitted a
[22:20] bid okay and you know that either
approving or denying this bid is going
[22:26] to have a with certainty a financial
effect on your father's catering
[22:32] business okay so the idea here is
that the decision you make is with
[22:39] certainty going to have an effect on the
business at your your father's catering
[22:43] business so that's an actual conflict of
interest okay so the next one is going
[22:50] to be
potential so potential it gets a little
[22:54] bit more muddy in this in this section
so with a potential conflict of interest
[22:59] it's still that scenario where you the
public official are taking some sort of
[23:04] action making a decision a
recommendation or approval but this time
[23:08] it's
unclear if let and let's go back to that
[23:12] example your father owning a catering
business right so at this point you're
[23:16] just thinking of of bringing on or
thinking of Contracting out a catering
[23:21] business you haven't really discussed it
in depth but you're thinking about it
[23:26] and also your father
uh who owns that catering business may
[23:30] or may not put in a bid at this point he
doesn't even know about it and maybe
[23:34] You' said it in passing but he said you
know what I I'm pretty good I think
[23:39] we're good for the year I may or may not
depends on how things work so at this
[23:44] point it's a since it's just a possible
Financial effect it's
[23:49] uncertain uh at that point it's
potential okay so with potential it's
[23:55] always unclear it's not you can't see
the financial gain or the the uh the
[23:59] financial detriment or the financial
effect it's it's just not clear so
[24:04] that's where potential comes into
play everybody with me so
[24:10] far all right okay all right so let me
throw a scenario at
[24:14] you all right so you are reviewing and
approving Grant applications government
[24:20] agencies colleges universities Public
Schools public school districts and
[24:25] nonprofits are all eligible to apply the
nonprofit your spouse works at has
[24:31] applied for the
grant what I'll ask you first do you
[24:36] have a conflict of interest yes or no
yes yes yes okay is it actual or
[24:41] potential
actual all right so yes this is an
[24:47] actual conflict of interest all right
good good call because the catch here is
[24:53] if you look at the at the final answer
here nonprofit right
[24:58] but your spouse works there so they get
they get a salary so there that
[25:02] Financial impact is for certain okay
easy one all right let's let's change it
[25:07] up just a little bit all right your
spouse serves on on the board of a
[25:12] nonprofit 51c corporation that has
applied for the grant do you still have
[25:16] a conflict of interest potential you got
it yep it's potential but actually you
[25:24] could you could go as far as saying no
because
[25:28] uh your spouse serves on the board
there's actually no Financial impact
[25:33] there at all so all right let's go one
step further what if your spouse works
[25:38] for a school district as apply for a
grant yes conflict of interest okay so
[25:46] let's think about that for a sec so
remember a conflict of interest again my
[25:51] just be with me as I repeat is you're
making a decision it's going to have a
[25:54] with have some type of financial effect
on certain people okay in this case the
[25:59] school district is not a business okay
so it bounces back to public body so you
[26:05] don't have a conflict of interest in
this scenario because you're making a
[26:08] decision for a public body okay the
decision is always going to be based
[26:13] upon uh the you your relative or
business you're associated with so uh
[26:19] the idea here is that you're making
decisions based on the school
[26:23] district ideally you're supposed to be
making decisions on the school district
[26:27] um so this would not come into play as a
conflict of
[26:30] interest everybody with me so
far can I ask a question sure so the
[26:37] school district's applying for a grant
so there's money
[26:41] involved yes I'm I'm not clear on why
that's not a conflict of interest okay
[26:47] so just on the on the simplest terms the
school district is not a business which
[26:53] you're associated
[26:56] with it's a school district it's a
public body that's this that's simple as
[27:02] I can put it okay but the spouse works
there
[27:06] yes but you're in a public body he's in
a public or the spouse the person yes is
[27:12] in a public body and because they're
both public bodies you got it okay thank
[27:19] you that's it that that's the one that
everybody gets stuck on because they're
[27:22] just like well you know it's there's
still a financial gain there yes for the
[27:27] School District it's not a business so
the idea here is look if we if we break
[27:33] it down even simpler the idea here is
you're not making decisions that's gonna
[27:37] uh be a financial gain for you
personally or your relatives personally
[27:42] or their business the idea here is that
it's the it's the school district yeah
[27:46] it isn't gonna line anybody's individual
personal Pockets there you go I was
[27:50] gonna say that but I that's I I was
trying to lean on that pretty hard but
[27:54] you got it so remember a conflict of
interest is always going to be you as a
[27:58] public official uh making uh some type
of decision that's going to have some
[28:02] type of financial impact on specific
people okay so conflicts of interests
[28:07] exist okay that's that's that's a thing
it happens it's it's it's not something
[28:12] that's like I have a conflict of
interest I can't do this it it happens
[28:16] so there's steps you need to take so
what if you are meant with a conflict of
[28:20] interest so if you're a board member a
commissioner or elected official if it's
[28:25] a potential conflict of interest then
you'll need to make that public
[28:29] announcement that you have a potential
conflict of interest okay and you need
[28:32] to do this on each occasion before
acting okay so let's go back to the yeah
[28:37] the father and the catering business
okay so yeah you you're in a in a
[28:42] meeting and you're discussing uh the
option for hiring a catering business
[28:47] for the year uh but you haven't really
made any decisions yet that's the moment
[28:51] where you would step up and say um my
father owns a catering business I have a
[28:55] potential conflict of interest uh each
time this is brought up all right
[29:00] conflict it gets a little more specific
I mean sorry actual conflict is where it
[29:04] gets a little bit more specific so at
this point again you must make that
[29:07] Public Public
Announcement uh on each occasion and at
[29:13] this point and we're talking now that
you are actively looking for a catering
[29:17] business and your father has actually
who the catering business actually put
[29:20] in a bid and at this point um you
there's no participating discussion
[29:26] debate or voting
okay so you have to step
[29:31] back all right so there is a catch to
this though so the idea here is
[29:39] that if a public official's vote is
necessary to meet
[29:45] Quorum then at that point you still make
that Public
[29:49] Announcement but also you may not
discuss or be part of the debate okay so
[29:54] you make that announcement yeah my
father owns a catering business
[29:57] um I can't be part of this discussion
and of course at that point you may vote
[30:03] okay the idea behind this provision
is that Oregon government keeps moving
[30:09] forward okay so we don't get stuck
behind uh not be able to make Quorum not
[30:15] be able to move forward this is is in
here to provide that for you all
[30:21] right okay so conflicts of interest that
was the hard one any questions for me on
[30:28] conflicts of
interest what's
[30:32] up um so you know I I think in the past
ethics change that I've had it's it's
[30:38] really it's as you said that that that
the the business of whatever the entity
[30:42] is has to move forward but as long as
you're transparent and you announce
[30:46] every time and you refrain from any
participation then ethically you're
[30:51] covered absolutely yeah that's exactly
it you know it's the idea here is that I
[30:58] mean when you when you start kind of
again on simplest terms you know you
[31:03] don't want to be on the board and and
have your you know your father's
[31:06] catering business doing all the catering
your brother's construction business
[31:10] doing all the construction your your
son's landscaping business doing all the
[31:14] Landscaping I mean that's that's kind of
what's going on here so are you jumping
[31:19] ahead to nepotism oh my God little a
little bit here here's the thing um we I
[31:26] I Tred to put this in all the in all the
in all the trainings but they all
[31:30] overlap just a little bit I mean they
all overlap
[31:35] so um so conflicts of interest that's
easy let's go into use of office so use
[31:39] of office is basically you are
prohibited from using your official
[31:46] position or your official uh use of
office uh for financial gain or uh you
[31:54] also may not attempt to use your
official position for financial gain or
[31:58] avoidance of financial detriment okay so
this one expands a little bit further
[32:02] this one says this this applies to not
only yourself your relative or a
[32:08] business that your uh that you or your
relative are associated with but this
[32:12] goes further into household member okay
so um and this could look like a lot of
[32:18] different things okay so this could look
like um using an agency vehicle to run
[32:24] your personal errands on the clock okay
it could be
[32:27] uh using the copy machine it could be uh
parking your RV on County property um
[32:34] just because no one has told you you
couldn't um the idea here is that you
[32:39] know you parking your RV on County
property it may be in a back lot
[32:42] somewhere but you're avoiding those
storage fees that you would have to pay
[32:45] somewhere else okay
um um also you can't create an
[32:51] opportunity for yourself as well in your
role as a public official so prohibiting
[32:56] Uso office again looks like a lot of
different
[33:00] things but what you always want to ask
yourself is do I only do I have this
[33:05] opportunity only because of my role as a
public official and if the answer is yes
[33:10] then it's probably prohibited okay so
um I mean we have tons of examples like
[33:17] these go
[33:20] ahead um I was going to say reflecting
back on that too uh one of the other
[33:25] sort of decision points was
would an average person in in the public
[33:31] sector have the same opportunity in
other words could they Park their IV in
[33:36] the public works lot you know if the
answer is no then that answers your
[33:40] question you yeah yeah it always goes
back to do I myself only have this
[33:47] opportunity because of the position I
hold and like I said it could be I mean
[33:51] these are things that that come to us
quite a bit I mean things like uh we've
[33:56] had uh complaints where uh people were
taking home uh pressure washers from
[34:04] from different public bodies you know
maintenance facilities and pressure
[34:08] washing their home their driveways and
doing their neighbors and then taking it
[34:11] back to work on on Monday morning leaf
blowers um people taking home agency
[34:19] vehicles uh I mean there is a catch and
we're going to talk about these in the
[34:23] next couple slides but just kind of
always remember this opport is only
[34:27] available to you because of the position
you hold and it's probably not allowed
[34:30] and so um this is one where a classic
example of of reaching out to us if you
[34:37] have a a question or concern uh about
something that you may be doing that you
[34:43] that that you may not think is allowed
okay so we'll get into the exceptions
[34:46] here because this is kind of what we're
alluding to so first one's going to be
[34:51] your official compensation package so
your official compensation package I
[34:55] know everyone kind of thinks of okay
well it's your salary it's your
[34:58] Healthcare it's your 401k but this could
go further so depending on your public
[35:03] body they may actually have more for you
and it may be something like to the
[35:07] effect of well if you work for the city
you get to park for free on City on on
[35:12] the city lot okay everyone else has to
pay but because you're a city a public
[35:16] official City employee then you are
allowed to park in that lot for free
[35:20] that that may be part of your
compensation
[35:24] okay so another one's going to be
honorarium an honorarium is something
[35:28] that um you may have been given in
return for like giving a speech or a
[35:33] presentation and this is something that
there was no price set in the beginning
[35:36] you you gave a speech a presentation you
you you showed up and spoke to a group
[35:40] of people and afterwards they uh they
wanted to give you a certificate or a
[35:45] plaque or they wanted to give you a gift
card that's allowed just make sure that
[35:50] um you're aware that there is a $50
limit on
[35:53] that and then reimbursements again this
go goes back to uh if your public body
[35:59] allows reimbursements for certain things
so this may be uh for example
[36:05] uh um if you had to pay upfront to go to
a conference uh and the public body has
[36:11] agreed to reimburse you for those
registration fees or in my case I travel
[36:17] sometimes uh I'm allowed to see
reimbursement for my meals so uh just
[36:22] make sure that uh the reimbursements is
something that your public body has
[36:26] agreed to and when I say agreed to it's
in writing so this is always going to be
[36:30] in
writing all right go a little bit
[36:33] further uh unsolicited unsolicited
professional Achievement Award this is
[36:37] going to be something like uh winning
the teacher of the year award or maybe
[36:41] you won the Nobel Prize okay these are
allowed okay um don't confuse them with
[36:49] appreciation Awards this is one
acknowledging your role as a
[36:52] profession and then a legal expense
trust fund contribution so this this is
[36:56] something that's set up through US
basically what it is it's a trust fund
[37:00] to help pay for any legal fees that a
public official May incur in their role
[37:06] as a public official um heads up there's
I believe there's one account with us
[37:12] and it's not even active so that tells
you how popular this item is um from
[37:18] what I've been told it's it's very
complicated it's not easy and it's set
[37:22] up through us so I was told if anyone
has uh questions or concerns about this
[37:27] reach out to us uh and we can walk you
through that all right so let me throw a
[37:33] scenario at you and just tell me the
number I'll I'll read them out and just
[37:36] yell the number out at me uh using your
which is which one is the violation so
[37:40] using your agency's open wi-fi network
on a personal device during breaks
[37:45] number two picking up your spouse from
the airport and Acy
[37:49] vehicle uh number three taking home
Surplus computer equipment that was
[37:53] going to be thrown out
anyway or number four accepting a gift
[37:58] card for being a speaker at an
event so what do you think I see two two
[38:06] yeah two is easy and I see a three okay
all right so let me run through them
[38:10] real quick so yeah the first one that's
that's a no-brainer right you're using
[38:14] your agency's open wi-fi so anyone can
get on it on your personal device on
[38:19] your break no violation there number two
obvious you're using the agency vehicle
[38:24] to pick up respon from the airport a gas
if you're doing on the clock it's agency
[38:28] time that's that's all I no no so number
three taking home Surplus computer
[38:32] equipment that was going to be thrown
out anyway this goes back to is this
[38:37] opportunity to take this computer uh
computer equipment home only available
[38:42] to me because of my role as a public
official and so this is totally that
[38:46] scenario so the idea here is when it
comes to uh in this scenario you would
[38:51] either need depending on your public
body's policy or procedure it would
[38:56] either either need to be turned into
Surplus and at that point you can go to
[38:59] the Surplus and buy it there
or uh set it out in the lobby if you
[39:05] have a Lobby and put a free sign on it
um maybe post it on your website uh but
[39:11] the idea here is that as long as the
public has an opportunity to purchase
[39:16] this equipment um then it would not be a
violation but in this case it would be
[39:20] so yall did good on that one number four
we already know that one $25 gift card
[39:24] for a speaker round vent that would fall
under
[39:28] honorarium all right so remember
prohibited gains is always going to be
[39:32] uh not just that Financial benefit but
also avoid an expense
[39:37] so this is even if it does not result in
any cost of the public
[39:42] body all right so this is this is level
one so I'll throw a question out at
[39:49] you and tell me what you
think all right your public body has an
[39:54] account that gets a 50% discount at
local hardware store while doing your
[39:59] personal shopping you ask for the public
body's discount have you violated ethics
[40:04] law I'm seeing the nods yeah absolutely
okay yeah because that opportunity to
[40:09] get that 50% discount is only there
because your public body has a discount
[40:14] there yeah you can't do it uh one one
thing that's come up in the past was
[40:18] well what if I use my own credit card
and I don't use the discount but I get
[40:24] the
points okay so if you're purchasing
[40:28] things for your public body and your
public body is reimbursing you and
[40:31] you're keeping those points then yeah
that would be that would be a
[40:36] violation all right any questions for me
so
[40:40] far how's the pace am I moving too
[40:45] fast okay thumbs up awesome all right so
again you heard me say these things
[40:50] overlap now we get into private
deployment so you heard me say already
[40:56] that uh a lot of public officials like
yourselves are are not uh are not
[41:03] compensated by your public body okay so
that means that you probably have a some
[41:09] you work for someone or you have your
own business and that's perfectly fine
[41:12] we get that that's okay the idea here
though is that you can't create an
[41:18] opportunity for your private employer or
for your business in your role as a
[41:22] public
official so you have to make sure that
[41:26] there is clear distinction between your
role in your private employment and your
[41:31] role as a public official and that you
do not create opportunities uh for your
[41:38] private business or your employer in
your role as a public official okay so
[41:43] this is either directly or indirectly um
the idea here is that uh this is the
[41:50] example that came up in in one of our
trainings was um well let's say I own a
[41:55] I own a t-shirt printing business and uh
on the side uh would it be all right for
[42:00] me to suggest that we all get matching
printed T-shirts and uh I mean I'll put
[42:06] in a bid doesn't mean I'll get it but
I'll put in a bid well yeah no you just
[42:12] you not only have you violated the
prohibited use of office but you know
[42:16] you're also skating on that conflict of
interest issue as well so um so how they
[42:22] kind of draw the line in this is that
you want to make sure that you use no
[42:27] governmental body
time uh you use no governmental body
[42:33] resources that includes your fellow
employees too you can't go over to like
[42:38] for example we have uh we have a lawyer
on staff and so I can't go to her and
[42:43] say hey uh you know can you help me out
with this contract I'm trying to get
[42:47] that that wouldn't work either so uh no
official action that would financially
[42:50] impact your
business uh no confidential information
[42:54] obtained and then and disclose all
conflicts of interest now I just want to
[42:59] back up a moment this this is not just
you this is you your relative a member
[43:05] of your household or a business that you
or your relative or member of your
[43:09] household is associated
with all right everybody with me so far
[43:15] all right awesome okay so next one's
going to be employment and contracts and
[43:20] so this one comes up from time to time
as well so uh the idea here is that you
[43:26] as a public official if you played a
significant role in authorizing a
[43:30] contract then you cannot work under that
contract from a period of two years from
[43:35] date of authorization okay so what does
that mean well that just means that
[43:40] let's say for example Your Role is a
public official uh you played a
[43:45] significant role in authorizing a
contract and that's a that's a broad
[43:48] term by the way when they say
significant role it's not just you
[43:51] signed it maybe you were on a selection
committee for vendors or uh or or
[43:56] selecting a contractor executing a
contractor recommending approval there's
[44:00] my serving on a selection committee
maybe you were just pricing vendors okay
[44:05] if you played a significant role in that
contract then uh you are restricted from
[44:10] working under that same contract for a
period of two years so what does that
[44:14] mean okay let's say for
example
[44:18] um uh you you you're part of this
contract and uh you've signed on this
[44:25] company and the company come back and
said hey uh you know I know you're on
[44:30] the planning board of uh the city of
Carlton uh we really could use a um
[44:37] project manager on this new contract we
were just awarded I know you had a hand
[44:41] in it and I'd like you to to hire you uh
come on board and help us with this
[44:46] since you know the inner workings of
what's going on here um uh of course
[44:52] that's nice of them but for us ethics
involved it'd be a per period of two
[44:56] years so um once those two years passes
then if they still need that project
[45:01] manager then yeah you could move on then
but um it would be a violation if you
[45:06] did otherwise okay
so or if you did it within that twoe PS
[45:12] to your stretch all right everybody with
me so
[45:16] far okay all right so let me throw a
trick question at
[45:21] you all right and this is a tricky one I
didn't talk about it I think yall
[45:26] already have a handle on this so in
addition to your role as a public
[45:29] official you also own your own business
can you promote your business by posting
[45:34] flyers in the agency
breakroom I see a big big no from Anette
[45:39] okay so here's the deal with this
training this this is this training was
[45:43] put in place before I came on board and
so it's a total like got you question
[45:49] because the correct answer because
there's polling involved when when when
[45:53] I host the trainings um I have access to
to polling questions in the training and
[45:58] and the idea here is no you would not be
able to okay
[46:03] unless that bulletin board it was in the
break room and that break room was open
[46:07] to the public okay so that's when you do
the polling yeah right it's like all
[46:13] right so yeah um yeah the idea here is
yes you could post it if the area is
[46:19] open to the public okay so that's the
catch remember if if the opportunity if
[46:23] the opportunity is available to the
public then it's not a violation or
[46:27] prohibited use of
office all
[46:31] right any questions on
that wow okay I'm gonna throw another
[46:39] one at
you all right your public body contracts
[46:44] with a consulting firm your spouse is
recently employed by this firm but does
[46:48] not work on agency related
projects would you have a conflict of
[46:53] interest if a Contracting matter
involving the firm came before
[46:57] you what do you
[47:02] think oh you're you're you're muted
andette I I saw you looks like you said
[47:07] something
potential all right interest okay let me
[47:12] ask you this why
potential because he's not working on
[47:16] any agency related projects I I like
where you're going with this but this is
[47:23] actual because you're spouse is employed
by the
[47:27] firm and is a business which you are
associated with doesn't matter what
[47:32] department your spouse works at they are
that is a business which you're
[47:37] associated with so it doesn't matter if
if um if they uh work in let's say the
[47:44] mail room or if they're on the board or
if they're a clerk the idea here is it's
[47:51] still a business you're associated with
regardless of of what department
[47:58] actually it's yeah it's the third little
uh bullet or the third it's not a
[48:02] paragraph but the third item there that
actually spells that out and I I kind of
[48:07] breezed on through that so that was me
yep it's okay these are all trick
[48:11] questions some of them are easy some of
them are tough they and I and I I have
[48:16] to say I'm just smiling to myself
because I recently retired a couple
[48:21] years ago from the county
and had so many of these and I I've
[48:26] dealt with a few people there at the
ethics commission with a lot of these
[48:31] with yo County officials so it's it's
kind of an interesting little little
[48:36] evening here yeah I I thought I see your
name on the on the thing here anette's
[48:40] iPad I was like that sounds familiar I
think we've seen your name do we have a
[48:45] conflict of interest oh my
[48:49] gosh stop
talking all right awesome okay so uh any
[48:55] questions so
far all right let's go ahead and move
[48:59] into nepotism like you said these all
over overlap a little bit right so a
[49:05] nepotism the nepotism rules apply to and
you saw these definitions earlier right
[49:09] it's going to be relatives it's also
going to be household members okay so in
[49:15] general nepotism and I'm going to give
you the long drwn out version and I'm
[49:18] GNA give you my version of it um in
general the way it works is a public
[49:24] official uh cannot directly engage in
the personal employment by our public
[49:31] body that would impact the employment of
a relative or a member of your
[49:37] household so what does that mean that
means you cannot participate in the uh
[49:43] interview discussion or
um or debate in any public body that
[49:49] would affect the employment of your the
a relative or member of your household
[49:53] so this includes uh appointing employing
promoting discharging firing or
[50:00] demoting okay and for me it's easy the
way I think of it
[50:04] is as a public official you can't
participate in the hiring or firing
[50:10] promoting or demoting of a relative or
member of your household that's that's
[50:14] the simple way to to put it now it goes
a little bit further you also can't
[50:20] participate in the interview process the
discussion um or debate too again you
[50:26] can't be part of the hiring firing
promoting or demoting okay so not only
[50:34] can you not do that you can't be part of
the discussion either so um now here's
[50:38] the catch unless your public body has
something in place that allows it okay
[50:44] so we already know in Oregon there's a
lot of small towns not a whole lot of
[50:49] folks and if there's a policy that
allows it then we want you need to make
[50:53] sure that it's in writing
[50:58] all right it goes one step further okay
so you cannot uh directly
[51:05] supervise uh your U household member or
uh I'm sorry your relative or member of
[51:11] your household so even if they work
there you can't supervise them at all
[51:15] okay again unless your public body has
uh policies in
[51:21] place all right so scratch that now if
there're a unpaid volunteer then yeah
[51:27] you are totally allowed to uh supervise
and participate in any hiring firing
[51:33] promoting and demoting if they're
volunteers so that that's where uh they
[51:37] kind of draw the line if they're they're
pay that's one set of rules if they're
[51:41] volunteers it's another set of rules now
let me take a moment to just back up for
[51:45] a sec because on the on the supervision
part of nepotism um it does say that you
[51:53] are allowed uh to supervise uh a
relative or member of your household in
[52:00] ministerial acts okay so they can make
copies they can uh they can send out the
[52:07] mail uh they can handle fax machines if
y'all are still using a fax uh filing
[52:12] small things like that that's
[52:16] allowed all right any questions so far
yeah I see one go ahead how about um
[52:22] Financial oversight of their Department
[52:28] oh that's a good
[Music]
[52:31] question and that's one I have not had
that
[52:36] question so what I'm going to do is I'm
writing this
[52:44] down because I haven't had that question
so I always defer to um you can't you
[52:51] know hire fire promo or demote but you
also can't directly supervise
[52:55] but you're talking now about um as I'm
thinking about now you're if you're
[53:00] making that Financial
oversight it it might it it just right
[53:05] off the top this is just my opinion but
right off the top it sounds like it's
[53:09] going back to if you're making decisions
that's going to affect the public body
[53:13] then that's not a business which you're
associated with so it's probably going
[53:18] to go back to that but I don't like
giving you the wishy-washy answer I like
[53:22] double-checking things so uh let me do
this I I'll hit Amy up tomorrow and I'll
[53:28] shoot everyone an email with an answer
to that question so that we're we're all
[53:31] on the same page that's a good question
though I've not had that one all right
[53:36] so here's I'm GNA quiz you real
quick all right so choose all that apply
[53:41] nepotism rules apply to your a cousins B
children C
[53:48] roommates D parents e
grandparents F foster children
[53:58] and this is just on the service we're
not going to get into the whole you know
[54:02] the gray area who may be living in your
household this is strictly based upon uh
[54:08] the
statutes what do y'all think tell me the
[54:13] two that wouldn't count how's that we'll
make it
[54:15] easier you think I gave
it a unless they're living with you
[54:22] correct
and you know it could be D or E unless
[54:28] they're living with you oh wait a minute
no parents were included but
[54:31] Grandparents were not right you got it
but foster children okay so grandparents
[54:38] are are not unless they're living with
you and if they're your foster children
[54:42] you're gonna assume they're living with
you but they could be your adult foster
[54:45] children
so okay so yeah in in general foster
[54:49] children yes would be a member of your
household so um you got it so by the by
[54:55] the definitions we saw
earlier um as a relative or member of
[55:00] your household in that scenario cousins
and grandparents they don't count okay
[55:06] it doesn't mean we don't love them they
just they don't count in the
[55:09] statutes
okay any questions so
[55:15] far all right so uh I keep saying this
but um gifts I say I keep saying this in
[55:22] a lot of trainings gifts is the toughest
one
[55:25] I I think conflicts of interests is
Pretty Tough PR use of office it's okay
[55:30] but gifs is a tough one
because
[55:33] um there's so many different scenarios
in which a public official will receive
[55:37] a gift okay so we have to kind of break
this down and just let me give you heads
[55:43] up your acceptance of the gift is always
going to depend on your role as a public
[55:49] official and your decision-making Powers
okay so um on the surface uh just
[55:55] remember also with gifts it's us as
individuals as public officials to be
[56:00] responsible for what what we accept as
far as gifts are concerned so it is our
[56:06] responsibility so first thing is is what
a GI what is a gift and this is the
[56:10] statutes definition I know what a gift
is okay I know when someone's giving me
[56:14] something but the idea here is um we
have to Define it for the purpose of the
[56:20] training and the statute so first thing
it says is GI to something of economic
[56:24] value
all right it's given without equivalent
[56:29] payment and it's given to a public
official a relative or household
[56:34] member and it's not offered to others on
the same terms and conditions so I'm
[56:39] kind of like okay you just made a gift
all weird and I don't understand what's
[56:42] going on here so here's here's how I
break it down so if a local coffee shop
[56:47] is sending out mailers for a buy one get
one free coffee and it's they're sending
[56:52] out to everyone that lives in the city
is is it a
[56:56] gift it's a coupon yeah it's a coupon
it's it's a mailer it's going out to
[57:01] everyone yeah it's it has some value
you're buying one coffee and you get
[57:03] another one free but it's offered to
everyone in the city okay now if I go
[57:08] into that same coffee shop on my own and
I go to buy a cup of coffee and the
[57:12] manager says hey that's Charlie he's
with the ethics commission hey this
[57:15] coffee is on me is it a
gift absolutely it's a gift okay because
[57:22] at this point it's only offered to me
he's only buying me the cup of coffee it
[57:26] is worth value right it's given to me
without that equivalent payment and even
[57:31] if even if my spouse goes in or one of
my Rel a relative or member my hous girl
[57:35] goes in and gets that same free cup of
coffee then it's a gift okay so that's
[57:42] how I kind of break it down if is
something that's given to you it's worth
[57:45] something they're only giving it to you
you're not making an equivalent payment
[57:48] for it then it's absolutely gift if it's
offered to others on the same terms and
[57:52] conditions not a gift so we got gift out
of the way we kind of hinted at what is
[57:56] not a gift it's basically this first
thing is your official compensation okay
[58:04] so remember this is Broad right so this
isn't just your salary and your 401k or
[58:09] your um your health care this includes
anything else that your your public body
[58:14] compensates you with and that's that
free parking downtown uh
[58:19] maybe maybe they let let you take the
vehicle home if you have uh overnight
[58:24] travel you get back into town late
that's allowed just make sure that's in
[58:27] writing anything else your public body
gives you as far as compensation that's
[58:31] in writing that's not a gift also if
it's available to the public okay
[58:37] so one of the things we talk about a lot
in here and what we get a lot of
[58:42] questions about are Swag Bags and I just
found out uh when I came on with the
[58:46] ethics commission I knew what a swag bag
was but I didn't know what the
[58:49] definition of it was swag bag is stands
for stuff we all get I did not know this
[58:56] so uh I learned something new but here's
my scenario since I brought it up your
[59:02] agency sending you to a conference
attendees of the event consist of
[59:06] colleagues stakeholders vendors and
members of the general
[59:10] public a a vendor at the event is
handing out a free swag
[59:15] bag all right so we have to kind of
analyze this a little bit I can already
[59:19] tell you right now if it's being offered
to members of the general public then I
[59:23] could probably hang on to that swag bag
but we have to go to this
[59:27] analysis so is it something of economic
value all right so you open up the swag
[59:32] bag Swag Bags usually what
sunglasses uh a stress squeeze thing
[59:38] something that lights up a keychain a
lanyard uh may not be much but it is
[59:42] worth
something um is it given to you an an
[59:45] official a public official relative or
member of your household is he given
[59:49] without equivalent payment we're not
going to get into the whole well maybe
[59:52] it's part of my registration fees a part
of the entry fee we're just going to say
[59:56] the entry fee was the entry fee they're
handing these out you can take it or not
[1:00:00] take it of course is it not offered to
others so when it comes to Swag Bags um
[1:00:09] the idea here is you really have to sit
back and see who the item first off the
[1:00:13] conference what what are who's attending
this conference and then who's handing
[1:00:16] out that free swag bag so uh the way
they break this down is here's my
[1:00:20] example for you so your agency is
sending you to a conference
[1:00:25] attendees of the event consist of public
officials
[1:00:29] only a vendor at the event is handing
out a free swag bag so what do y'all
[1:00:35] think of this scenario got off top yeah
see thumbs down right so yeah and
[1:00:41] someone told me they're like well the
public can go to anything they want not
[1:00:44] necessarily okay so I mean if it's a if
it's a conference for U City Auditors
[1:00:51] then odds are the public isn't want to
I'm mean sure they can go to that but
[1:00:55] obviously it's it's it's geared towards
City Auditors okay so that's primarily
[1:01:00] who who that conference is geared
towards so if they're handing out a free
[1:01:04] swag bag this is where we get in that
that spot we have to kind of analyze
[1:01:08] things before we can accept
it so we need to know who the source of
[1:01:13] the gift
is and the source is always going to be
[1:01:16] the ultimate payer of the gift do they
have a legislative or administrative
[1:01:20] interest in my decision making as a
public official that's distin from the
[1:01:24] general
public and last part is what is the
[1:01:28] valuee okay so that's that's your your
first set of question so let's break
[1:01:33] this down a little bit further so the
gift source so the gift Source you heard
[1:01:38] me say is the ultimate payer of the
expense okay and it is our
[1:01:42] responsibility to know the source's
identity okay so
[1:01:47] [Music]
um if we don't know the source's
[1:01:50] identity then what do we do okay let's
just say we go to our office and there's
[1:01:55] a a gift basket U full of really great
stuff um and on on it there's just a
[1:02:03] note saying hey thanks for the job you
do and this actually happened at at a at
[1:02:07] a public body where someone left a note
saying hey we appreciate the work you do
[1:02:11] for the community uh here's a thank you
they had no idea who it came from well
[1:02:15] so as a public official as an individual
you can't accept that because you don't
[1:02:19] know who the source is and let's just
say that gift basket was way over the GI
[1:02:24] amount we'll talk about that here in a
second so anytime you offered a gift
[1:02:27] that's Anonymous um you need to either
and you can't find out who it is yeah I
[1:02:34] see the thumbs down right so there's two
ways to handle this um either accept it
[1:02:38] on behalf of the public body okay so uh
you know just throw it in the break room
[1:02:44] open it up tell everyone have at it or
uh you can take that gift and donate it
[1:02:49] just make sure that you don't accept the
tax benefit from that donation okay okay
[1:02:55] right and so again I'm building here so
this is the first part so let's go to
[1:02:59] the next part so we need to know who the
source is so the next one is do they
[1:03:05] have a legislative or administrative
interest in me as a public official so
[1:03:10] that means that they have an economic
interest meaning that uh they are going
[1:03:14] to be affected by the decisions I make
as a public official okay and that
[1:03:20] decision is distinct from that of the
general public Okay so
[1:03:25] uh let me back up a moment years ago I
say in a past life I was a state
[1:03:29] inspector and um really didn't have that
much I didn't feel like I had that much
[1:03:34] decision- making but U as an inspector I
was offered lunches by those folks that
[1:03:41] I was inspecting so when you start to
think about it that way it's kind of
[1:03:45] like well wait a minute yeah I do have
actually some decision making involved
[1:03:49] in my work I could pass or fail their
facilities and me passing or failing
[1:03:55] their facilities means either money
they're going to have to spend or money
[1:03:59] they're not going to have to spend and
so them buying me lunch they have an
[1:04:05] interest in decisions I make okay so um
and so we get asked us a lot they're
[1:04:11] kind of like well wait a minute you know
uh can I accept this gift and we always
[1:04:15] go back to well do they have a
legislative or administrative interest
[1:04:20] in the decisions you make and so that's
really again up to us as the public
[1:04:24] official to determine we have to sit
back for a moment and go okay so uh you
[1:04:29] know that lunch for our director yes
absolutely that same lunch for say
[1:04:35] someone in our training department maybe
not so much because uh they're not going
[1:04:40] to the effects the training groups uh
the training folks do isn't going to
[1:04:44] affect them so it would it would change
depending on your role as a public
[1:04:48] official based upon uh your decision-
making all right so so you are allowed
[1:04:55] to accept gifts from those that have a
legislative or administrative interest
[1:04:59] it's allowed okay but there's a limit
okay and that limit is uh you must not
[1:05:05] exceed $50 in a calendar year and that's
from January to December okay so if we
[1:05:10] go back to that scenario of me being an
inspector in that past life um yeah they
[1:05:15] could buy me lunch but I'd be restricted
to that $50 in the calendar year so um
[1:05:21] someone said well that's that's a lot of
donuts or that's a I'm like yeah but
[1:05:26] here here's the thing uh it's uh for me
G for me in that past role uh I didn't
[1:05:32] get any lunches from anyone because it
just didn't feel right um that just it
[1:05:36] just didn't feel right so um but yes you
are allowed just be aware of that of
[1:05:43] that restriction so um for us as public
officials this also includes inside the
[1:05:49] office so another way to kind of play
this out in the office is um
[1:05:54] those of us I'm gonna say down here on
the bottom because I'm I'm a trainer I
[1:05:58] have folks above me uh I have an
interest in the decisions that our
[1:06:02] director makes okay I have a decision I
have interest in possibly getting a
[1:06:07] raise a promotion uh so uh my director
would have to restrict the amount of
[1:06:14] gifts that I give them okay so why
because that legislative or
[1:06:20] administrative interest is there so they
have to step back and go wait a minute
[1:06:24] um I can accept gifts there that
restriction comes into play right I can
[1:06:28] accept gifts but we have to cap it at
$50 okay now let's flip it
[1:06:33] around our directors uh above us or
those folks that are above us in the
[1:06:39] decision-making realm can shower us with
gifts all day long Okay the reason being
[1:06:44] is that there's nothing I have no
decision- making uh uh uh power over um
[1:06:51] anything my director does okay so that's
that's kind of how that works or or My
[1:06:55] co- or my co-workers on the same level
okay so I can't I can't offer anyone a
[1:07:00] promotion or raise or or give them time
off I I just don't have that power so
[1:07:06] gifts amongst coming down and amongst
employees all day long we're good to go
[1:07:10] just remember it always applies going up
so just kind of think about that if
[1:07:15] anyone's getting you a gift and uh
you're going to have to stop and make
[1:07:19] that that uh that analyze that for a
moment all right right so now we're
[1:07:25] going to get into the gift exceptions so
heads
[1:07:28] up there are a ton of gift exceptions uh
just a ton of them so um there's 16 of
[1:07:38] them to be exact in the statutes we're
only going to hit a few today I had to
[1:07:43] cut some of them out because uh I know
that I was told that y'all really want
[1:07:48] to talk about some SEI stuff so I I
saved room for that okay so that's going
[1:07:53] to be our dessert so um not a good
dessert but in dessert all right so gift
[1:07:58] exceptions there's 16 of them heads up
we have a on hour training that talks
[1:08:03] about all this stuff so we do a deep
dive in the Standalone training it's one
[1:08:09] hour just about gifts
alone all right so the first one is
[1:08:14] relatives so again by the statute
definition um you can exchange gifts
[1:08:19] amongst relatives all day long not a
problem
[1:08:25] um an unsolicited token or award so this
is where we start getting that
[1:08:29] appreciation award or um just a uh just
a just an award for the sake of giving
[1:08:36] you an award for just being an awesome
person and this is allowed the idea here
[1:08:40] is that whatever that item is the resale
value is expect to be less than
[1:08:45] $25 okay so it just heads up if your
name's engraved on it that typically
[1:08:50] knocks it down to that $25 mark But
there is a cat okay so if it's if it's a
[1:08:56] plaque and it comes with a crystal vase
or a gold watch or um a uh uh something
[1:09:06] that's goes beyond that $25 amount uh
then you're going to be restricted from
[1:09:12] accepting it okay unless it can be
separated okay unless that unless that
[1:09:16] plaque can be kept you give the vase
back or or if they give you the plaque
[1:09:20] and a watch and you give the watch back
uh that would be allow you keep the
[1:09:25] plaque all right next one's going to be
a food and beverage exception so this is
[1:09:29] one where you as a public official all
these next scenarios is going to be you
[1:09:34] as a public official representing your
public body and you're attending a
[1:09:39] public event where other public
officials are attending the public is
[1:09:43] allowed the event is
publicized and part of this is a
[1:09:48] reception where there's either a lunch
or a dinner this is allowed okay
[1:09:54] don't confuse it with a private dinner
if someone's there and they say hey
[1:09:57] let's skip this dinner I want to take
you out the let's grab something
[1:10:00] different uh then that would be that
would fall back under the private dinner
[1:10:05] would be falling under the gift
Provisions so uh but here again
[1:10:11] representing your public body as a
public official members of the public
[1:10:15] are allowed to attend lunch or dinner
that's
[1:10:18] allow same scenario you as a public
official except we knock this down a
[1:10:22] little bit you as a public official
again representing your public body uh
[1:10:27] and you're at a meeting or an event and
there's incidental entertainment or
[1:10:32] maybe there's donuts and coffee uh
muffins those are allowed as well it's
[1:10:38] considered incidental so just remember
anytime you offered a gift it's it's our
[1:10:44] responsibility as public officials
determine whether or not we can accept
[1:10:48] them so um we always have to analyze it
is it something of economic value did
[1:10:53] did I make an equivalent payment is it
offered to others on the same terms and
[1:10:58] conditions and then the curveball here
is does it do any of the exceptions
[1:11:04] apply and so uh once you break that down
then you have to analyze whether or not
[1:11:10] you can accept it and so uh then you
have to determine who the source of the
[1:11:15] gift is uh and do they have a
legislative or administrative interest
[1:11:19] in my role as a public official my
decision-making capacities and of course
[1:11:24] is it within the $50
limit and then of course if you've
[1:11:29] accepted anything else from them in the
past year right in the past calendar
[1:11:32] year all
right throw I'm gonna throw a question
[1:11:37] out at you and tell me what you think
okay get ready it's confusing I don't
[1:11:41] like this question but it again they
were designed to make you think a little
[1:11:46] bit all right the local JY is offering a
discount on a monthly membership to
[1:11:53] employees of your public body daycare
providers healthcare workers First
[1:11:59] Responders and grocery store workers in
your
[1:12:03] community can you accept the gift
without violating ethics law what do you
[1:12:11] think yes I'm seeing a
nod so yeah the answer is yes because
[1:12:16] it's it is offered to others that are
not public officials okay so the the the
[1:12:22] the catch here would be
if a local gym was only offering it to
[1:12:27] uh planning board Commissioners for the
city of Carlton that was
[1:12:32] it then yeah you guys probably have to
stop back and either either go into
[1:12:37] Cahoots with each other and I'll join or
play it safe and say no okay the answer
[1:12:42] the correct answer to that is no okay so
but but wait even if it was I mean even
[1:12:47] if we all decided to join that still
wouldn't be okay because no it wouldn't
[1:12:51] that was that was my that was my sad
attempt at making a joke okay it would
[1:12:56] not if y'all all are in cahoots then
yeah no it still wouldn't be then we're
[1:13:00] already in violation yeah you're already
in violation so yeah all right in fact
[1:13:06] here's here's this happens quite a bit
not so much local Jam but we get a lot
[1:13:10] of questions because cell cell phone
providers or cell service providers
[1:13:15] offer a lot of discounts to City and
County employees and so we've had this
[1:13:20] come across to us hey can we accept this
and it always comes back to well it
[1:13:26] depends uh you know is it being offered
is it being offered to others in the
[1:13:31] community okay is it is it is it being
offered to you but you but is it off
[1:13:35] being also being offered to others as
well okay and if it is then that opens
[1:13:40] it up to accepting it but then it comes
down to no it's just city employees or
[1:13:45] no it's just County Employees well then
it's going to be P based upon well what
[1:13:49] is your role as a public official are
you on um
[1:13:54] are you part of the folks that
determines whether or not the city gets
[1:13:58] a who they go through for their sell
provider or are you just someone that uh
[1:14:03] you know I have I'm not I can't decide
on whether or not the city goes with
[1:14:07] this particular self provider um then
you may be able to accept it but those
[1:14:11] folks that uh could make a decision that
could impact that self self self service
[1:14:16] provider uh then those folks probably
have to sit back and determine whether
[1:14:20] or not they could take it so again it
goes back to your role as a public
[1:14:24] official and your decision making and
that decision- making would affect that
[1:14:30] particular vendor or this this the
source of the gift and would it have an
[1:14:35] impact on them yeah so there there's you
know everyone always says oh gifts it's
[1:14:41] easy you know we say yeah it's easy
don't accept them that's it's pretty
[1:14:46] much all right so I told you I saved the
best for last so what is a statement of
[1:14:53] economic interest okay we're we're
coming up on that season by the way so
[1:14:59] uh um right now uh we're we're we're
talking to a lot of jurisdictional
[1:15:06] contacts we're doing jurisdictional
contact training for those folks uh are
[1:15:11] y'all familiar with who the
jurisdictional contact is with your
[1:15:14] district with your
David are you talking about David Hunter
[1:15:19] our folks or okay yeah David is so there
should be someone at your in your at
[1:15:26] your city that's kind of the liaison
between uh the city and David David's
[1:15:31] with the o with us at the ethics
commission basically what it is with the
[1:15:35] jurisdictional content they basically
tell us who who are the seci followers
[1:15:39] in the district because we have no idea
with all the cities uh in in Oregon
[1:15:44] cities counties all the other districts
that are involved but let me break this
[1:15:49] down again let's let's break out the
definitions so a statement of economic
[1:15:55] interest is something that is a public
official is required to file and so
[1:16:00] there's a whole list of public officials
in LS
[1:16:05] 244.50 so if you're
wondering uh do I need to file uh you
[1:16:12] would look up your role as a public
official in
[1:16:16] 244.50 uh to get that it's a ton of
folks it's a ton so um
[1:16:23] and the idea here is that uh you provide
us with your financial sources now let
[1:16:28] me be clear on something it is not your
financial income we're not looking at
[1:16:36] the dollar amount it's just who your
source of income is so everyone has a
[1:16:40] source of income okay so um you know if
you're if you're retired your your
[1:16:45] source of income is social security okay
um I work for ogek if I had to file my
[1:16:50] source of income would be the Oregon
government ethics Commission okay I
[1:16:54] would not we are not asking for your
salary or that dollar amount okay the
[1:16:59] only time we ask for dollar amounts is
anything you may have received from a
[1:17:03] source that has a legislative or
administrative interest that's
[1:17:06] it all right this is due annually I'm
going to go ahead and say this now
[1:17:10] you're going to hear it again uh in my
next few slides but it is done uh
[1:17:15] between March 15th and April 15 okay so
you have uh roughly 30 days to to submit
[1:17:24] this okay now heads up if you're already
in the system that's fine you may want
[1:17:28] to take a moment now since we're in
we're in we're coming up on that season
[1:17:33] to just kind of step in and make sure
that all your information is up to date
[1:17:37] okay so as an SEI filer it is your
responsibility to keep your account up
[1:17:41] to date that's that's a long-winded way
of saying make sure you have a good
[1:17:46] email address in there and that your
name's right
[1:17:49] okay it is due annually
and it is done through our electronic
[1:17:56] filing system so if you're wondering hey
April 15th fell on a Sunday or a
[1:18:01] Saturday night I still can I do it on
Monday no it's open 247 so um you are
[1:18:08] required Able by April 15th to have that
done okay I say that because we get a
[1:18:13] lot of lobbyists that that they have to
file and they always say I should say
[1:18:17] always but some folks are like hey well
it fell on a Sunday so I figured I could
[1:18:20] do it on Monday well yeah you can do it
on Monday but you're you're going to
[1:18:23] acre some penalties for that so because
you were late so um information it's not
[1:18:30] included you heard me say this already
so your income again your income is that
[1:18:35] dollar amount we don't want to know it
also your home address okay let me add a
[1:18:42] caveat here the only time your home
address would be in your SEI is if
[1:18:50] you're running your business out of your
home okay so when we ask for your
[1:18:54] business address and you're working out
of your home or using your home as your
[1:18:59] business address then yes your bus your
home address would now pop up in that
[1:19:04] category
okay so you heard me say a lot of folks
[1:19:09] file uh the short list on here is going
to be uh city and county officials uh
[1:19:16] judicial officers Justice of the Peace
uh Port board
[1:19:21] Commissioners uh or all the all the
directors of Oregon governmental
[1:19:25] agencies have to
file and then education administrative
[1:19:30] and financial officers and school board
members this heads up uh last year was
[1:19:35] the first year for school board members
to have to file the first question they
[1:19:40] said was we've ever had to do this
before why do we have to do it now um
[1:19:45] the ethics commission doesn't decide the
legislature decides on who files and so
[1:19:50] um they determine that Schoolboard
members are responsible for some large
[1:19:56] budgets and because of that they
determine that Schoolboard members
[1:20:01] should be filing an SEI as well okay
again it goes back to that transparency
[1:20:07] and knowing where your interests lie
okay and again those decision-making uh
[1:20:13] powers that those public officials
have all
[1:20:18] right so
um for SE resources so if you're if
[1:20:24] you're new to filing or you forgot
that's fine it's been a year okay I I
[1:20:29] can't remember anything from a year ago
um so uh you know I'm I'm in trouble for
[1:20:35] everything so it's always like this
happens every year Charlie our
[1:20:39] anniversary really yes I forgot okay so
that's that's me from a year ago so um
[1:20:44] but we're here for you folks so we
provide uh Oak has trainings for seci
[1:20:50] filers so we uh if you want to take a
training it's a one-hour training we H
[1:20:54] we do that we also have written a
written handout guide just heads up
[1:21:00] there has been some changes for seci
filers this year I'm I'm getting to it
[1:21:05] um but right now uh our written handout
is not ready yet because that change has
[1:21:11] not been put in there
yet um we have a ton of information on
[1:21:16] our ogek
website for trainings and of course you
[1:21:21] know the big one heard me say this
earlier uh we are a resource uh Annette
[1:21:26] you mentioned David that means that you
you've talked to him quite a bit so let
[1:21:31] me back up a moment you can always reach
out to us do not hesitate to pick up the
[1:21:35] phone or shoot us an email uh we are
geared up and ready for this every year
[1:21:41] this happens so we're there's already uh
it's not written anywhere but it's
[1:21:46] implied strongly that you cannot take
your vacation between uh February and
[1:21:52] April because the season gets pretty
pretty hectic so the new thing for this
[1:22:00] year is that uh all SEI filers will now
have to list their clients their
[1:22:08] customers their investors their legal
relationship their contractual
[1:22:14] relationship and business
relationships with those that have that
[1:22:20] uh are 10% or more of your businesses
gross annual
[1:22:24] income again it's not the dollar amount
it's just the source okay it's just
[1:22:31] those entities okay that is it so yes
you're GNA have to step back for a
[1:22:37] moment and uh do the math on this okay
so uh the way I the way I kind of uh
[1:22:44] again in my simple mind I kind of think
in terms of okay yeah you you do own a
[1:22:49] catering business or you own a
landscaping business or maybe you own a
[1:22:52] construction business and you do a lot
of business with a lot of folks well
[1:22:57] you're going to have to sit back and go
okay well who are my biggest clients and
[1:23:01] do they make up 10% of my gross annual
income and if the answer is yes uh then
[1:23:06] you need to list them and of course also
those that have a legislative or
[1:23:11] administrative
interest okay so this is this is
[1:23:18] the the the new thing for this year so
so we're already planning a lot of push
[1:23:26] back on this so again this is not
something we dreamed up this is
[1:23:29] something the legislature said okay hey
let's uh let's let's step up the game a
[1:23:34] little bit and uh look at this a little
bit closer so it's it's no secret you've
[1:23:40] probably seen the headlines in the past
year or so about a lot of public
[1:23:44] officials and uh this is directly uh how
this has impacted uh the SEI filers
[1:23:53] so all right let's go one step
further all right so why does a
[1:23:59] statement of economic interest need to
be filed I think it's I think it's
[1:24:02] pretty clear but the idea here again
going back to our original I think our
[1:24:07] second or third slide to safeguard the
public trust okay again it's that that
[1:24:13] level of
transparency us uh identifying our our
[1:24:18] sources of income identifying those
folks that make up 10% or more our
[1:24:22] client base or 10% or more of our gross
annual income or those folks that have a
[1:24:27] legislative or administrative interest
kind of shines a light on our conflicts
[1:24:30] of interest our possible use of office
and again it is required by law okay so
[1:24:36] that's the big one it is required by law
so um you're probably thinking okay well
[1:24:43] it's required by law okay what does that
actually mean that means that if you
[1:24:47] don't file that there are sanctions that
come into play
[1:24:53] so the way it works is that uh you
already know March 15 through April 15
[1:24:58] is uh SEI filer season and you already
know that you can reach out to us at any
[1:25:05] time if you need help with that there's
also if you're kind of an independent
[1:25:09] person all our stuff will be rolling out
all the new stuff with all the changes
[1:25:13] will be available on that March 15th uh
opening date hopefully before then I'm
[1:25:18] not part of that that group but
hopefully before then but what I'm
[1:25:21] getting at is it happens sometimes you
do file late we try and close that Gap
[1:25:27] but if you do happen to file late it is
$10 per day for the first 14
[1:25:33] days
[Music]
[1:25:35] okay um the next thing is it goes past
that 14-day limit then it bumps up to
[1:25:41] $50 per
day until you hit at $5,000
[1:25:50] Max all right so that's that's the
penalties for not filing on time um our
[1:25:58] records uh will show what you've done in
the past years if you file there's our
[1:26:03] database because it's done through EFS
it tells us hey this folks fil this
[1:26:07] person filed late they were two days
late three days late uh you know last
[1:26:13] year the year before the year before
that so uh just a heads up these are
[1:26:20] things that we are aware of we do see
those folks that are AC crewing
[1:26:23] penalties if we find that you are AC
crewing penalties first thing first is
[1:26:28] the electronic filing system will send
you an email every day telling you you
[1:26:34] are uh you are late with filing your SEI
so that's again important that you go in
[1:26:39] and make sure that your information is
up to date okay uh we are also notified
[1:26:44] and also the jurisdictional contact is
notified as well so the idea here look
[1:26:50] here's here's my disclaimer on this
it's it makes our life easier at the
[1:26:55] ethics commission when everyone files on
time that basically April if April 16th
[1:26:59] RS around everyone's filed on time we're
done for the year we're good uh we can
[1:27:03] close the book and move on but uh filing
L doesn't do any we don't it's not like
[1:27:09] these penalties go to us and we have a a
party or anything it goes into the
[1:27:13] general fund so we don't even see this
so for us uh it it's our benefit not
[1:27:19] only your benefit but our benefit as
well when you file on time
[1:27:24] okay all
right any questions for me on this
[1:27:32] section okay all right seci filing you
know look here's the thing I'll just
[1:27:38] throw that throw this out you get stuck
call us just call us that's um we we
[1:27:44] deal with a lot of public officials you
guys already know there's folks out
[1:27:48] there that are in some out there in the
frontier
[1:27:52] um areas of Oregon cell service internet
servic is
[1:27:57] horrendous um we fully expect to be
helping people fire their file their
[1:28:02] seis over the phone that's just part of
the part of the course so um do not
[1:28:07] hesitate to reach out to us all
right so just to kind of uh recap what
[1:28:15] we've covered tonight we talked about
use of office private employment
[1:28:19] conflicts of interest nepotism you got
the SEI part as a bonus um but the other
[1:28:25] part of the ethics commission you you're
on the training side you're on The
[1:28:28] Upfront part of it we also handle
complaints so when it comes to
[1:28:33] complaints just heads up we only take
signed complaints we do not take
[1:28:36] Anonymous complaints every complaint we
we get there's going to be follow-up
[1:28:40] questions we need to know who we're
talking to um and we will be reaching
[1:28:45] out to those public officials after the
complaint was made and that's where our
[1:28:48] preliminary review kind of kicks in so
uh we go into preliminary review we
[1:28:54] determine there is a uh looks like a uh
a violation of of of
[1:29:02] rs44 or Lobby or public law we go to the
Commissioners and ask him if we can move
[1:29:09] forward with an investigation of course
if a violation is found then we get into
[1:29:13] those penalties again that a little bit
of what we saw earlier but this this is
[1:29:16] going to apply more to RS 244 and uh
well this applies to all of them
[1:29:21] actually so there's that $5,000 Max
civil penalty uh $10,000 if it's a
[1:29:27] willful violation uh forture twice the
amount of any Financial benefit realized
[1:29:32] from ethics violation and it's no secret
as public officials if if you've been
[1:29:38] pretty good but one day you just slipped
up we send out a lot of letters of
[1:29:41] Education okay so uh basically that's
just telling you hey here's what the
[1:29:45] statute says and this is what you did
and don't do it again because if you do
[1:29:50] it again you may find yourself in one of
these other categories at that point so
[1:29:55] but again
remember we're here for you folks so we
[1:29:59] do offer staff advice staff opinions and
commission advisory opinions and what
[1:30:05] I'm getting at is when you reach out to
us with a situation that you found
[1:30:08] yourself
in uh this is something that's current
[1:30:12] this isn't something that's happened in
the past uh but if you find yourself
[1:30:16] currently in a situation reach out to us
shoot us an email what I'm saying is is
[1:30:22] is if we offer staff advice staff
opinion or if we give you a
[1:30:25] commissionary advisory opinion that
offers you a level of Safe Harbor okay
[1:30:29] we will give you instructions what your
next moves will
[1:30:33] be can you accept this gift do you have
to return it um uh I'm trying to think
[1:30:39] of some other ones can you can you drive
that agency vehicle home those type of
[1:30:43] things that's that's something that you
can ask us and if it's if it's allowed I
[1:30:48] mean we're going to ask tons of more
questions these never are just ask a
[1:30:51] question there there's always a back and
forth with these but again it's giving
[1:30:55] you that level of safe haror you do have
to follow the instructions
[1:30:59] so there's tons of resources on our
website as well you guys probably
[1:31:04] already know if you follow an SEI you
can find it in public records you can
[1:31:08] look up anyone that's an SEI file that's
filed um in our public records again
[1:31:13] doesn't tell you the dollar amount it
just goes to the source but you can see
[1:31:17] everyone in there that's filed um you
can also look up past complaints past
[1:31:23] advice um trainings this is this is the
big overview training that we give for
[1:31:28] public officials we break this down into
uh one hour chunks so we offer more
[1:31:34] questions we give more scenarios uh we
throw in a lot more
[1:31:38] questions today was just the broad
overview and of course uh if you have a
[1:31:44] complaint you can also file it online as
well on our website I already know when
[1:31:48] you look at our website I'm like it's
like every other public Body website
[1:31:51] it's like a lot of words and not a whole
lot of buttons I'm like there's got to
[1:31:54] be an easier way but this is this seems
to be the way it works for uh public
[1:31:58] bodies but um before I close
out uh just unmute tell me what your
[1:32:04] biggest takeaway today is what was the
one thing today you were just like I did
[1:32:08] not know that and I am now
[1:32:14] enlightened I'll give you a minute while
you're thinking about it here's how you
[1:32:18] reach us I will I I think the um the
about someone who's a
[1:32:25] volunteer yeah I mean that sort of stuff
happens around here that there's you
[1:32:30] know we know people who serve on Boards
of nonprofits and things like that and
[1:32:35] and knowing that that's not necessarily
I mean that that if they're a volunteer
[1:32:41] it's not a conflict of interest is was
new totally new to me yeah I think I
[1:32:46] think Annette uh said it so poetically
when she said uh you
[1:32:53] know the money is not going into
someone's pocket and
[1:32:58] so that that's that's the thing um you
know volunteer uh nonprofit uh there's
[1:33:06] no financial gain then uh and financial
gain again your pocket then yeah it's
[1:33:12] not a conflict of interest but here's
here's the thing though we get this a
[1:33:15] lot it's kind of like well I'm not sure
I'm not sure if I have a conflict of
[1:33:19] interest hey if you're not sure but you
think something's there then then just
[1:33:23] say hey folks I have a potential
conflict of interest here because uh you
[1:33:28] know my one of my relatives uh you know
is on the board of the YMCA but they're
[1:33:34] not paid but I feel like I just need to
make this announcement that there's a
[1:33:38] potential conflict um that's totally
allowed that's you know if you're unsure
[1:33:43] I mean we had one that was recently
where it was
[1:33:46] uh uh a fire district was uh they were
voting to to build a road so that folks
[1:33:54] could evacuate from a
neighborhood and someone complained and
[1:33:58] said well that person on the board lives
in that neighborhood that that street
[1:34:03] would be driving through and so that's a
that's a uh conflict of interest and
[1:34:09] it's kind of like well we came back and
said well where's where's the financial
[1:34:13] gain uh you know it's it's it's helping
everyone in the neighborhood evenly I
[1:34:20] mean you could argue that okay well
maybe it shaves 5 minutes off their
[1:34:24] commute to work
right but it's it was unclear it's like
[1:34:30] well they could announce a potential but
right now there's no there's no actual
[1:34:34] conflict because there's no real money
going into their pocket or no avoidance
[1:34:38] of financial detriment so um yeah
potential all day long I mean every time
[1:34:43] we have a commission meeting there's
there's one our commissioners is always
[1:34:46] saying hey you know what potential
conflict I know this person they're
[1:34:50] they're a member of my Community I know
this person so I'm going to just back
[1:34:53] out so um potential all day long no harm
no foul it's the actual that's that you
[1:35:00] got to watch out
for okay so it's 7:47 that's that's all
[1:35:05] I have um again my name's Charlie
Esparza there's my email Charles uh you
[1:35:11] know when I'm in trouble I get called
charles. aspara oac.org
[1:35:15] and.go um shoot me an email you can give
me a phone call or no my phone's not on
[1:35:21] there but you can reach me uh 5033 at
5105 um I do have a followup email for
[1:35:27] y'all uh regarding the uh Financial
oversight of public officials and how
[1:35:33] that may relate to nepotism I think we
kind of answered it but I I I want to
[1:35:37] get a solid answer for that one so
expect a follow-up email probably
[1:35:41] tomorrow or Wednesday so other than that
all I could say is thank you for having
[1:35:46] me Amy reached out to me back she
actually reached out to Ruth and I drew
[1:35:50] the short Str raw and had to train you
guys tonight um I joke it's I'm a
[1:35:55] trainer uh everyone in the office knows
man if there's a live audience to throw
[1:36:00] Charlie in front of by all means do it
so uh um again thank you for having me
[1:36:07] uh that's all I have thanks Charlie
thank you for making it fun yeah and
[1:36:14] uh with that okay here's my my my pitch
right um I'll I'll be sending you a
[1:36:19] customer survey as well
so if you just take the time out to fill
[1:36:23] that out just let us know uh if you
enjoy the training if you did enjoy
[1:36:27] enjoy the training if you wish we
expanded on more things or needed more
[1:36:31] detail let us know uh we kind of we
really really rely on feedback uh
[1:36:37] because we usually don't we send out the
emails we really don't know what what's
[1:36:39] going on out there if anyone benefited
from it so uh please take that customer
[1:36:44] survey let us know let us know how we're
doing and what we can do to improve it
[1:36:49] okay with that that's all I got I'm
going to stop my share and I'm gonna let
[1:36:52] ammy uh Amy take over sorry about that
thank
[1:36:57] you all right so it looks like uh our
chair is gone so Vice shair you get a
[1:37:04] little
taste so and unless we have any
[1:37:08] commission or comments we are ready to
adjourn whenever you guys are so do we
[1:37:12] have a motion to
[1:37:16] adjourn you second a
vote we adjourn all right thank you all
[1:37:22] I appreciate it okay thank you Char bye
bye bye bye bye