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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 19288-08-2010ORDINANCE NO 19288-08-2010 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 2 "ADMINISTRATION" OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH (1986), AS AMENDED, BY DELETING THE PROHIBITION OF NEW MEMBERS OF THE ETHICS REVIEW COMMITTEE FROM HEARING COMPLAINTS FILED PRIOR TO THEIR APPOINTMENT, AND FURTHER PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE IS CUMULATIVE, PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City Council has previously adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to elected officials, employees, officers, and advisory board members of the City as codified in Chapter 2, Article VII of the City Code (the "Code") and WHEREAS, the Code provides for the Ethics Review Committee, a five (5)-member committee of citizens appointed by the Crty Council, to, among other things, rule on alleged violations of the Code; and WHEREAS, the Code currently provides that a member of the Ethics Review Committee shall continue to hold office after his or her successor has been appointed for the limited purpose of the disposition of all complaints filed dunng that member's term and prohibits a newly appointed member of the Committee from participating in a decision regarding a complaint filed prior to the expiration of the previous member's term, and WHEREAS, the Code provides that three (3) or more members of the Ethics Review Committee constitutes a quorum of that Committee; and WHEREAS, as of the date hereof, three (3) of the Ethics Review Committee members previously appointed by the Crty Council have either resigned from or are no longer eligible to serve on the Committee, leaving only two (2) members of the Committee able to hear any pending complaints, and WHEREAS, the City Council accordingly wishes to amend the Code to allow newly appointed members of the Ethics Review Committee to loin the remaining two (2) members of the Committee for the purpose of disposing of all pending complaints, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS THAT SECTION 1 Section 2 241 (Members) of Chapter 2 (Administration) of the Code is hereby amended to delete the last sentence of subsection (f) of such Section m its entirety so that such subsection (f) reads as follows All vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired terms. A member shall hold office until his successor has been appointed by the city council and shall continue to hold office after his successor has been appointed by the city council for the hmrted purpose of the disposition of all complaints filed dunng that member's term. Nn „ate ~. ,.t „ ao,..~,,.., ,.o ,...a.~~ „ ~,...~~ ~ r r m,t,~t~a ,. „ ~„ +t,o o ~ „~~i,o ,. ~ ~ ~. ~ L r'.' , .V,l~o«~~ +o SECTION 2. This Ordinance shall be cumulative of all ordinances of the City except where the provisions of this Ordinance are m direct conflict with the provisions of such other ordinances, m which case the conflicting provisions of such other ordinances are hereby repealed. SECTION 3. The sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Ordinance are severable. If any portion of this Ordinance is declared illegal or unconstitutional by the valid final judgment or decree of any court of competent ~unsdiction, such illegality or unconstitutionality shall not affect the legality and enforceability of any of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. SECTION 4. This Ordinance shall be m full force and effect following its adoption by the City Council. AND IT IS SO ORDAINED ADOPTED AND EFFECTIVE August 24, 2010 APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY By. Peter Vaky Assistant City Attorney 2 City of Fort Worth, Texas Mayor and Council Communication H - COUNCIL ACTION:. Approved As Amended on 8/24/2010 - by Adoption of Ord. No. 19258- 08-2010 a DATE Tuesday August 24 2010 REFERENCE NO G-17030 LOG NAME 12ETHICS CODE AMENDMENT SUBJECT Adopt Ordinance Amending the City's Code of Ethics to Clarify when Certain Advisory Board Members.: Must Disclose Interests or'Recuse from Participating in or Voting on Certain Matters, to Address'Various Sanctions under the Code, and to Address Appointment of Ethics Review Committee RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached Ordinance amending the City's Code of Ethics to (i) clarify when a particular advisory board member must disclose certain interests or recuse from participating or voting on certain matters before the board to which the member has been appointed (ii) provide that a person does not violate the Code of Ethics for conduct undertaken by that person in reliance upon an opinion of the City Attorney that such conduct is permissible and would not constitute a violation of the Code and (iii) address the appointment of the Ethics Review Committee DISCUSSION The City Council regularly creates task forces to make recommendations to the City Council regarding a variety of issues that are highly technical specialized and complex. The members of these task forces are citizens who are volunteering their time in response to a request by the City Council for assistance and service In order for such task forces to be able to address these issues in any substantive and effective way members of these task forces often need to have personal or professional knowledge insight and expertise with respect to the issues before their committees Therefore it is sometimes inevitable that a member of one of these boards will be an employee of or have some other remunerative relationship with a business or industry interest that is in some way tied to the issues before the task force In fact, these professional connections typically are not only known by the City Council at the time of the member's appointment to the board but are actually prerequisites or a primary basis for the appointment. Accordingly at a special meeting of the City Council on August 19 2010 the City Council requested the City Attorney to prepare an amendment to the Code of Ethics which clarifies that individuals serving on these task forces will be permitted fully to participate in and vote on matters before the boards to which they have been appointed In doing so the City Attorney has also noted that the Ethics Review Committee which is appointed by the City Council to rule on alleged violations of the Code of Ethics has authority to sanction a person for conduct, even when that conduct was undertaken in reliance upon an opinion of the City Attorney that the conduct was permissible and would not constitute a violation of the Code For example if the City Attorney's opinion is that a task force member may participate in and vote on a particular matter before the board to which the member was appointed the Ethics Review Committee (and the City Council in its appellate authority) could interpret the Code differently and sanction that individual for violating the Code of Ethics, even though that person's actions were based entirely on the City Attorney's guidance or opinion In the interest of fairness the City Attorney recommends that the Logname: 12ETHICS CODE AMENDMENT Page 1 of 3 Code of Ethics be amended to provide that a person does not violate the Code to the extent that the person's conduct was consistent with an opinion of the City Attorney that the conduct was permissible In addition to the Ordinance amending the Code of Ethics itself a copy of the. Code is attached and redlined to show how the amendments are integrated into the Code Section 1 of the Ordinance clarifies that the policy declaration of the Code of Ethics which is essentially a preamble that explains the purpose of the Code is not a part of the Code itself In other words a person cannot violate the Code of Ethics unless that conduct is clearly prohibited by the Code This amendment is reflected in Section 2 236 of the redlined Code Section 2 of the Ordinance simply adds terms and definitions for 'City Attorney" 'resident" and 'task force all of which are necessary for reference in other parts of the Ordinance The most important term is 'task force which is defined as an advisory board that is intended to address a specific issue on a temporary or short-term basis. This amendment is reflected in Section 2 237 of the redlined Code Section 3 of the Ordinance merely addresses a housekeeping matter It corrects a previous reference to members appointed to advisory boards established 'by ordinance charter or state law Often advisory boards are established by City Council resolution or vote This amendment clarifies that the provision in question applies to all advisory board members regardless of the method of their appointment. This amendment is reflected in Section 2 238(a)(6)d of the redlined Code Sections 4 and 5 of the Ordinance amend the Code to allow a task force member fully to participate in and vote on any matter before the task force to which the member has been appointed These provisions recognize that task forces are intended only to address specialized and often complex, issues in a short amount of time and that their members are often appointed because they have specific professional expertise connected to the issues the board is considering Because these task forces are advisory only any professional connections that the members may have can be taken into consideration by the City Council when the Council receives recommendations from the task force they should not disqualify members from participating in matters that the Council desires These amendments are reflected in Section 2 238(d)(5) and Section 2 239(d) of the redlined Code Section 6 of the Ordinance amends the Code to specify that a person does not violate a provision of the Code for conduct undertaken by the person in reliance either directly or indirectly upon an opinion of the City Attorney Whether specific conduct was undertaken in reliance of the City Attorney's opinion is a factual question that is to be resolved in a preliminary hearing of the Ethics Review Committee as addressed later in the Ordinance This amendment is reflected in a new Section 2 239 1 of the redlined Code Sections 7 and 8 of the Ordinance are minor amendments that address the appointment process and terms of service of the Ethics Review Committee These amendments are reflected in Sections 2 241 (c) and (d) of the redlined Code Section 9 of the Ordinance addresses another housekeeping matter The Code currently stipulates that the Ethics Review Committee is to meet on a quarterly basis. In the past, there has not been enough business before the Committee to warrant quarterly meetings This amendment specifies that the Committee shall meet as necessary to carry out its duties. This amendment is reflected in Section 2 243 of the redlined Code Section 10 of the Ordinance fixes another perceived shortcoming in the Code Currently in order to have standing to file a complaint under the Code of Ethics a person must be a registered voter if eligible of the jurisdiction where he or she resides As a result, a Fort Worth citizen who is not registered to vote is ineligible to file a complaint, while an eligible voter who lives in San Antonio for example could file a Logname 12ETHICS CODE AMENDMENT Page 2 of 3 complaint. Because the Ethics Code focuses on purely local matters it is recommended that all residents of Fort Worth have standing to file a complaint. Non-residents would not have standing This amendment is consistent with the current eligibility requirements for members of the Ethics Review Committee which is that they be residents of the City This amendment is reflected in Section 2 247 of the redlined Code Section 11 of the Ordinance requires the City Attorney to review all complaints and to notify the Ethics Review Committee if he or she believes that the conduct asserted in the complaint was undertaken in reliance upon an opinion of the City Attorney This amendment is reflected in Section 2 249(c) of the redlined Code Sections 12 and 13 of the Ordinance provide for a preliminary hearing to be held by the Ethics Review Committee if the City Attorney notifies the Committee that he or she believes that conduct asserted in a complaint was undertaken in reliance upon an opinion of the City Attorney The City Attorney's written notice and testimony that conduct was undertaken in such reliance constitutes prima facie evidence that the person complained against did not violate the Code of Ethics This amendment is reflected in Section 2 251(b) of the redlined Code The amendments reflected in Section 2 251(a) are simply resulting clerical changes. Finally Sections 14 through 17 of the Ordinance delete the provisions in the Code that allow the Ethics Review Committee .and the City Council to impose sanctions against an individual whose conduct is found to have been undertaken in reliance upon an opinion of the City Attorney that the conduct was permissible and would not constitute a violation of the Ethics Code These amendments are reflected in Section 2 255 (a) and (b) and Section 2 256(i) and (j) of the redlined Code Sections 18 through 20 of the Ordinance are standard savings severability and effectiveness clauses. FISCAL INFORMATION /CERTIFICATION The Financial Management Services Director certifies that this action will have no material effect on City funds. FUND CENTERS TO Fund/Account/Centers FROM Fund/Account/Centers CERTIFICATIONS Submitted for City Manager's Office bv: All ACMs (6222) Ori inating. Department Head. David Yett (7623) Additional Information Contact: Peter Vaky (7601 } Logname• 12ETHICS CODE AMENDMENT Page 3 of 3