Recommendation to request City Manager and City Attorney to report back to the City Council on the next steps and timeline for implementation of the Ethics Commission, including any enacting ordinances or budget appropriations that may be required.
Thank you. Ms. Case. Thank you very much. That that concludes public comment. And we're going to go on to the next item, if we can. If we can, please, Madam Kirk. Item 21. Communication from Councilman Austin. Councilmembers Hooper. Now Vice Mayor Andrew's recommendation to request city manager and city attorney to report back on the next steps and timeline for implementation of the Ethics Commission. Come to Austin. Thank you. So on November six, 2018, Long Beach voters approved Measure C with 61.9 or 61.79% of the vote as part of a series of charter amendments. Measure created the city's Charter and Ethics Commission for the purposes of monitoring, administering and implementing governmental ethics in the city. While the composition of the Commission and Appointment Procedure was contained in the Charter Amendment language, the Charter section entitled Staff Assistance and Budget reads Staffing for Administrative and management functions of the Commission will be addressed in the Municipal Code. The Commission will have a budget as determined by the City Council sufficient to conduct the Commission's mission and business. Therefore, Council, we must take action, further action through an ordinance and budget appropriation before the Ethics Commission can convene. And with this motion, we would request that the city manager and city attorney report back to the City Council within 60 days with possible steps that we need to take and propose timelines so that we may carry out the will of the voters in an expeditious manner as possible. Councilmember a councilmember support. Thank you, Councilman Austin, for bringing this item forward. I think he said it all and I stand in support. Thank you, Councilmember Vice Mayor Rogers. I also echoed that sentiment. And this is a long overdue and I hope I'm hopeful for a path to move forward. And thank you again, councilman. Most infamous. Thank you. And obviously, I'm very supportive of this and very supportive. Of. Councilman Austin's efforts also in ensuring that this got before the voters. Mr.. Mr. WEST. And, Mr. Modica, I know that you will be coming back to do a full presentation on on this process. Is there a update tonight about kind of what what you see as a timeline? And then obviously we can get the full presentation when this item comes back. I know that you've been working on this. Yes. This is something we've been contemplating. Would you want to kind of outline what we expect the process to be for both this and for measure, which is the redistricting? They are linked in that the measure, the people measure outlines that the appointment process is linked to the Ethics Commission. So we plan to have a memo come back to you that will kind of outline this. We'll talk about some of the major tasks that we see the Ethics Commission kind of first dealing with with. We also will outline the process for appointment that's prescribed in the in the initiative and the timeline for that. So we expect within about 30 days, hopefully even a little quicker, we will have a report back to you on those two topics. Let me go let me go to Councilwoman Price and then back to Councilmember Austin. Councilwoman Price. Just briefly, I, too, wanted to thank Councilman Austin. This committee and the need for it were really his brainchild was an effort that he initiated by bringing it to council. And I think it's a great idea. I look forward to learning what the structure, the proposed structure is going to be and talking about how we can make sure that we all have input into what that what that committee looks like and what kinds of things are the subject matter jurisdiction of that particular committee in terms of our work here on council. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Austin. So, Mr. City Attorney, just to get some clarification on my motion specifically, I'm asking for to come back not just in a memo form, but in an ordinance, too, to actually create the the the, the, the budget for for this this this in the municipal code to create a budget for the Ethics Commission, because currently that's not in place. And I don't think we've actually had a conversation about that from at this body. That's correct. And from from our standpoint. In drafting the ordinance, I think we would need the memo from the city manager's office to. Tell us what it is exactly they. Want in the budget and how we are creating that. We're happy to work with the city manager and get that to you and then for your consideration. And from that report, we can get some direction from the city council. That is exactly what the city manager is recommending or do you have any changes to it? And then we will draft the ordinance. That that that helps a lot. And in our report will be analyzing what is that budget, what are the current staffing that we have and whether we need any additional staffing. And we'll report that back to you. Thank you, sir. And to add to that, which I think is important, is the most. Most of these commissions and the way they work, you look at other ethics commissions, which we did, the actual a lot of the actual detail of the commission itself will actually be in the municipal code. And that's actually something that the council will have to develop through some kind of deliberative process. And so I think getting the information back from staff is great. And then the council will have to engage on the actual ordinance, as Councilman Austin mentioned, and what actually will then go into the code that will lay out more of the rules of the commission itself. And so I think. Councilman Austin. And for the benefit of Thompson. Mr. City Manager, can you just outline for those who are interested in the process? Because I've been approached by many people in the community who are interested in both the Citizens Redistricting Commission as well as The Advocate. What do you see as the timeline in terms of implementation over the next few months? So I don't have everything in front of me. But Measure Key, which sets up the Ethics Commission, will go first in that we need to see an Ethics Commission. There's very prescribed rules about how that is set up and the appointments that are made by the mayor and I believe by the city auditor as well. So then we'll outline that process and there will be a public call for, you know, how to how to make those applications that the mayor and the auditor would select from. And then the measure outlines how the rest of the remaining members are selected. Then in order to get the redistricting commission, you have to have the members of the Ethics Commission seated and available. And then they would go through a process to appoint, you know, the members of the the redistricting commission. So it's more complicated than that, but we'd be prepared to lay out all of that. So anyone interested will have a clear guide on how to do that, if they're interested. Great. Thank you for clarifying that and fun times ahead. And as a and as a Mr. Murdoch, as a clarification point, the Ethics Commission within D.D. is a screening panel. They don't make the final selections of the of the actual commission members. Correct. They screened and then, I believe the commission members select at. Random through the city clerk's office. Any other council comment on this? Any public comment on this? Please come forward. Any other public comment? Okay, then we'll just have. Please come forward. So we'll have these two and then we'll close the speakers list. Again, Ian Patton with the Long Beach Reform Coalition. I would just like to ask, I voted against this personally because the amendment felt it didn't have teeth, it didn't have investigative power and certain other things that I think belong in an ethics commission. But since you have another bite at the apple here, um, I would personally like to know from the city attorney, if you have the power to add those powers as an ordinance to the commission, give it the power to investigate, to take whistleblower tips, referrals from the council, and actually do investigations issue subpoenas if necessary, other things that would actually give it that sort of a real a real ability to dig into specific potential issues in the city. That's my question. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Courtesy of Long Beach Reform Coalition and people of Long Beach. I also voted against it for I mean, I think it's a it's a it's a very worthwhile commission to pursue. My concerns were the formation of the commission back in August 7th. I when when the vote happened by the unanimous vote by city council to turn the proposals into measures, I submitted some documents that included a discussion back and forth via email with Common Cause in Sacramento, outlining some bullet points that would have made for us the approval of the of the Ethics Commission a given, which would have also helped us to support the redistricting commission. Among those the the the the the items that that concern me and a lot of my fellow citizens are that the redistricting commission has some very strict guidelines as to who can be a member. But the Ethics Commission, who has who plays a part in the selection of those members of the redistricting commission does not. So, for example, the Ethics Commission, one can be a major campaign donor to any of you or any other public official. One can be a former elected or appointed official. One can be a lobbyist or have been a lobbyist. And of course, after serving on the Ethics Commission, once the term is over, one can then become an elected official or become a lobbyist or become a major donor to any one of you. So that part to me is is is a really critical conflict of interest that I would like to see all of you address ideally tonight. But, you know, it's late. But eventually, I would really like that to be addressed by by each of you, because that's that's a really that's been a real sticking point for our support of both for the Lobbyist Reform Coalition and the people of Long Beach to support wholeheartedly this commission. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes comment on this item. A roll call vote, please. Councilmember Pearce Councilwoman Price Councilmember Supernova. High. Voice Mary Andrews. Hi. Councilman Austin. Councilmember Richardson.