Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-3-28 LEGISLATIVECITY OF SANTA ANA MEETING OF THE LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS, ETHICS, TRANSPARENCY AND COMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL COMMITTEE MINUTES March 28, 2018 An audio recording of this meeting is available on the City of Santa Ana website, http://santaana.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view id=2&clip id=1783. CALLED TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 12:12 pm by Chair Vicente Sarmiento at the City Hall, Ross Annex, Room 1600. ATTENDANCE Members Present: Chair Vicente F. Sarmiento Vice Chair Michele Martinez Staff Present: Judson Brown; Christina Talley; Julie Castro -Cardenas; Robert Cortez; Yesenia Cruz; Rosa Flores; Edgar Garcia; Jorge Garcia; Raul Godinez; Maria Huizar; Norma Mitre -Ramirez; Daisy Perez. Also present were Ryder Smith of Trippepi Smith; Casey Elliott, and Corrie Williams from Townsend Public Affairs; Gerry Serrano; Dan Maldonado and Leslie Pollner from Holland & Knight via telephone. Public Comments No Comments from the Public Approval of Minutes of the January 31, 2018, Legislative Affairs, Ethics, Transparency and Communications Committee Meeting MOTION: Approve minutes. MOTION: Martinez SECOND: Sarmiento VOTE: AYES: Sarmiento, Martinez NOES: None (0) AGENDA ITEMS 2. Receive and File Legislative Updates Federal Legislative Update from Holland & Knight - Leslie Pollner reported that congress passed $1.3T FY18 Omnibus Spending Bill. Highlights include: $1.56 for TIGER priorities; Santa Ana Streetcar should be getting its funding; expansion of low income housing tax credit for affordable housing. $300M increase for CDBG; significant increase for homeless assistance grants. Legislative Affairs, Ethics, Transparency and Communications Council Committee Meeting Minutes March 28, 2018 Page 1 Dan Maldonado reported on policy issues, immigration and border wall, which will be discussed in the future at the Federal level. Leslie reported on Census 2020 — Controversial question about citizenship. California and other states have filed suit and funding for census. Vice Chair Martinez inquired about LGBTQ community as it pertains to housing and the homeless. Dan responded that funds are being allocated for LGBTQ. Leslie will check to ensure they are not missing anything. Vice Chair Martinez inquired about workforce/housing dollars. H&K responded that the County and workforce investment board will distribute. Needs to be a coalition of all 34 cities to move forward and make sure all cities get their money. Santa Ana will be impacted. State Legislative Update from Townsend Public Affairs - Casey Elliott spoke about opportunity zones program: California has 880 tracts to participate in program that are eligible for tax. Tax breaks available for private financing in those zones; Santa Ana secured 11 censured tracts under opportunity zone. Vice Chair Martinez asked how the City can partner with school districts to provide open space, skate parks, community gardens and how funds can be utilized to purchase property. Casey will provide follow up on the details. Chair Sarmiento stated that there's a need to incorporate and track County items is doing as it is becoming adversarial with regard to funding and how it impacts Santa Ana. Jorge Garcia indicated that City Manager's Office would present an option for County tracking. This committee recommended the legislative platform to the entire City Council. This body cannot act on behalf of the Council, but can make recommendations if something is specifically outlined in the platform, Council has authorized committee to take position. If not outlined, take back to Council. Can refine the process further. 3. Review and Take a Position on Legislative Bills Jorge Garcia reported that the legislative matrix covers 35 pages of items. He outlined a few items obtain feedback as to what the Committee is looking for. He stated that all support or opposition letters are now sent to entire City Council and EMT. Vice Chair Martinez stated the matrix is fantastic and recommended setting a policy so the Committee can say this is what we support so Council can affirm. Chair Sarmiento agreed, stated this is really good information. He recommended we augment with positions with groups like the League of California Cities to help us take positions. Committees shouldn't have ability to circumvent Council, but should be able to take a position. Legislative Affairs, Ethics, Transparency and Communications Council Committee Meeting Minutes March 28, 2018 Page 2 7. Possible Censure Action Chair Sarmiento moved on to item #7 and entertained a public comment from Dave Hoen. Mr. Hoen spoke about the Councilmember who was under consideration for censure. He stated there should be a penalty when a Councilmember does something wrong. Chair Sarmiento thanked Mr. Hoen for his comment. He then stated that on March 6, 2018 there was a Council meeting where the issue of district elections for the June ballot was discussed. He then stated if a Councilmember decides we don't want to fulfill our obligations that are required by the Charter, this is a violation at the very least of code of conduct and ethics. You can be in complete disagreement with outcome and can sign under protest. He asked if there is any sanctionable remedy we have under our code and asked Maria Huizar what can we do we do, what have we done before? Maria Huizar responded with historical background how this item came about. Three existing agencies for Brown Act violations. Next is political reform act violations such as campaign contribution violations, Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). Next is current code of ethics values and violations policy. In 2008, members who established the policy said values based. Enforcement agency is FPPC. If we want to use for ethic related violations, an agency available to direct complaints to. Any charter or muni code violations, provisions in our Charter is a misdemeanor. How enforced, not really sure. In 2016, Ethics Committee reviewed several policies, considered a possible censure policy and directed staff to prepare a policy. Raul Godinez mentioned three samples of draft policies. The first option has sensure option; the second has disapproval and censure option; the third has three options admonition, sanction and censure process. Former Committee at the time directed the draft two policies be blended and this is how censure policy was presented at the last Committee meeting. Raul stated we are here to receive input as to what kind of policy the Committee would like to have staff work on then presented to full Council for approval. Chair Sarmiento asked to hear from the City Attorney as to what has been done in the past for violations of conduct. Vice Chair Martinez stated the City Attorney cannot prosecute Council when she represents the Council; recommends we use the FPPC to enforce. She further stated that the Charter needs to be updated. Christine Talley stated she could only echo what Sonia's opinion is — the duty of Mayor under Charter is ministerial, no discretion not to sign the ordinance if it has been duly passed in accordance the City laws. Chair Sarmiento asked Maria if there is any dispute that what was a duly adopted item on the agenda 65B in March? Any dispute it was not duly adopted? Maria responded the vote was a 4/3, majority of Council voting in support of the item. Chair Sarmiento stated given those facts, his opinion is there is violation of not following the charter. His recommendation is to render a letter to full Council. In the past, a Legislative Affairs, Ethics, Transparency and Communications Council Committee Meeting Minutes March 28, 2018 Page 3 letter was drafted and sent by Council when a Councilmember used the City seal during an election. We send a letter to full Council explaining what we see, calling attention to it. Then come back and clean things up, remove language, vesting Mayor with that. Have to get these items duly adopted and attested to. His motion, limited scope, violating clear responsibility and vesting Mayor by charter. Vice Chair Martinez shared a precedence was set when Mayor Pulido chose not to sign the City Manager's contract, set a precedent to have MPT sign. If Mayor chooses not to follow his responsibilities, we bypass him. He voted no, refused to sign. This time around, we chose to take him to court. We need to be consistent. Chair Sarmiento recommend we vest authority to a designee for resolutions/ordinances as we did with contracts. The City Attorney said this is different because it's a resolution. To be consistent, send letter of reprimand not just for this resolution, but for refusing to sign the City Manager's contract. That would be consistent. We don't have recourse because we would have to go to the voters to put on ballot. That's the difference where lack of consistency on signing. Vice Chair Martinez requested the City Attorney restate the motion. Christina responded she couldn't say what the code says that because she hasn't looked at that particular issue on where the Mayor's authority to sign contracts from where that derives but as a general matter; if the right derives from muni code, then City Council has authority to amend code or adopt a resolution that clarifies or interrupts the code. If derived from the Charter, it can't be changed except by a vote of the people. Without knowing specifically what the code says about Mayor's rights, I don't want to speak to that. If in code, Council has authority to make change. If in charter, voters. Vice Chair Martinez asked Maria to confirm and Maria responded yes. Vice Chair Martinez seconded the motion; Mayor will not be reprimanded, a letter will be sent to him that he has not fulfilled his duties. Chair Sarmiento accepted the amendment, to identify we adopt some changes and put on ballot, to vest sole responsibility of Mayor, in absence of Mayor or refusal to sign, would go to MPT. If MPT refuses to sign, goes to Council. We can incorporate in letter. Other change I would make is that the letter goes to Mayor and full Council. 4. Development of the City Council Policy Regarding Violation of Code of Conduct and Ethics Chair Sarmiento indicated he would like to digest this value -based code of conduct. He stated we can't be extremely punitive but can say to our colleagues some scrutiny for violation. Cannot move anyone from office because it's not our authority but can call attention to violations that are blatantly made. Use FPPC to enforce, doesn't make sense to use the County. Motion - seconded by Vice Chair Martinez. Send draft to Chair Sarmiento's attention Legislative Affairs, Ethics, Transparency and Communications Council Committee Meeting Minutes March 28, 2018 Page 4 5. Transition of Committee to an Ad Hoc Committee Raul Godinez said an Ad Hoc Committee would give us more flexibility when scheduling trips or meetings. Vice Chair Martinez in agreement. Chair Sarmiento wants to digest and consider having a three-person committee again. He stated the Ad Hoc might not solve the problem but having the flexibility of an ad hoc makes sense. 6. Update on Communications Manager Position and Citywide Communications Jorge Garcia introduced Ryder Smith of Trippepi Smith. Jorge reported a consultant was secured while a recruitment or another arrangement is made to hire a Communications Manager. The City Manager entered into an agreement not to exceed $25K with Trippepi Smith to provide on call services. Then he invited Mr. Smith to introduce himself and answer any questions. Chair Sarmiento said he is glad we have someone on board. He stated that how we do communications is outdated. Our community is different in ethnicity, culture, income levels. How we communicate matters, whether with Vietnamese or Latino community, hope we can capture different ways to communicate. Can we get an update on progress, and things that are being done on this Committee. Vice Chair Martinez asked who is handling communications. Raul commented that communications was being led by Robert Cortez but recently, has been assigned to Jorge Garcia, who brought in Trippepi Smith to help. Vice Chair Martinez asked who would be in charge of social media? She stated we haven't done a good job and need to be consistent. Jorge responded he's working with Ryder on developing a communications assessment, take a look at what infrastructure, weak points looks like, areas of improvement. Ultimate goal was to fill with an employee now we are rethinking. Right now a work in progress, develop a full scope of work. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS • No Comments FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS • None ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 2:18 pm. The next Committee will be held at noon on June 27, 2018. /i Rosa Flores Recording Secretary City Manager's Office Legislative Affairs, Ethics, Transparency and Communications Council Committee Meeting Minutes March 28, 2015 Page 5