Ethics Committee
Archived Minutes

November 9, 2006

August 31, 2006

July 14, 2006

TCMA Ethics Committee
November 9, 2006
3rd Floor Conference Room, Texas Municipal League – Austin

Members of the Committee present were: Chair: James Fisher, Village Administrator, Bee Cave; Tom Muehlenbeck, City Manager, Plano; Elizabeth Reining, Assistant to the City Manager, Portland; Dolores (Molly) Topper, City Manager, Taft; Jack Harper, II, City Manager, Hillsboro; Kevin Carruth, City Manager, Brownwood. Participating by phone was Chad Nehring, City Manager, Center.

TML Staff: Kim Pendergraft and Kyle J. Jung

James Fisher, Village Administrator, Bee Cave and committee chair, called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. and thanked those in attendance and those participating by conference call. James Fisher reviewed the meeting agenda and provided an overview regarding the online Ethics training course material developed by the committee members. A copy of the material will be sent to John Matthews at E Strategy Solutions. The committee will review the draft version online and suggest changes. The final version will be presented to the TCMA Board at their January meeting by James Fisher. The committee made recommendations for TCMA members to provide quotes to be used throughout the course material.

Once the final version has been developed and approved, Jack Harper asked if a PowerPoint version can be made so that this training can be taken to regional meetings. This will be discussed with E Strategy Solutions.

During the TCMA Ethics Committee meeting, the committee made four recommendations for consideration by the TCMA Board at their January meeting.

1. The committee discussed the cost associated with the online training and made the recommendation to the TCMA Board that the individual taking the course should pay the cost.

2. The committee discussed the consequences if a TCMA member should fail to take the required ethics training as a condition of continued TCMA membership and made a motion to the TCMA Board that this would be an administrative violation of the TCMA Code of Ethics. If a TCMA member failed to take the required ethics training in one year, a single extension of 30 days would be provided, if requested. If the training has not been completed by the end of that additional thirty days, the member’s name would be submitted to the TCMA Board to be dropped from TCMA membership.

3. The committee discussed the ethics training as a requirement prior to TCMA membership and made the recommendation to the TCMA Board that documentation of taking the TCMA ethics course would be required and included with the TCMA membership application before being sent to the TCMA Board for approval.

4. The committee discussed student members and made the recommendation to the TCMA Board that once a student had taken the TCMA ethics course and included documentation with their membership application, their first year TCMA membership dues would be waived.

With nothing else on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned at 11:40 a.m.

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TCMA Ethics Committee
August 31, 2006
3rd Floor Conference Room, Texas Municipal League – Austin

Members of the Committee present were: Chair: James Fisher, Village Administrator, Bee Cave; Vice Chair: Dick Fletcher, City Manager, Robinson; Region 7: Brad Stafford, City Manager, Navasota; Mary Daly, City Manager, Alvarado; Robert Hanna, City Manager, Hudson Oaks; Christal Kliewer, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Prairie; Sam Listi, City Manager, Belton; Tom Muehlenbeck, City Manager, Plano; Elizabeth Reining, Assistant to the City Manager, Portland. Participating by phone were: Region 8: David Harris, City Administrator, Hill Country Village; Charles Ewings, Director of Development Services, Longview; Nick Finan, Assistant City Manager, Pearland.

Guests included: John Matthews and Steve Matts from eStrategy Solutions, Inc.

TML Staff: Gary Watkins and Kyle J. Jung

James Fisher, Village Administrator, Bee Cave and committee chair, called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. and thanked those in attendance and those participating by conference call. James Fisher reviewed the meeting agenda and introduced John Matthews and Steve Matts from eStrategy Solutions, Inc. The two provided a presentation of the online ethics training projects that their company has developed for other organizations. TCMA staff provided John Matthews copies of the TCMA Code of Ethics, Rules of Procedures, and Randy Pennington’s ethics presentation handout to be used as source material for the content of a TCMA-developed online ethics course. James Fisher wanted to form a subcommittee to work with eStrategy Solutions to develop the content for the online ethics course. Those committee members interested in participating should contact James Fisher.

The Ethics Committee is scheduled to make a recommendation regarding the online ethics training course to the TCMA Board for consideration at their January 11, 2007 meeting. The subcommittee should meet soon to develop the content. The full committee will schedule a meeting in November to finalize the online ethics training course and board recommendation.

The Committee discussed the number of professional development hours that should be dedicated to ethics training. The committee decided that they would recommend two (2) hours of ethics training per year for TCMA members. The committee decided that the online ethics course should be developed to satisfy this training requirement, but that other TCMA educational sessions on ethics should be developed to provide additional opportunities to meet this annual requirement.

The committee discussed how the ethics training requirement should affect new member applications (should ethics training be required before membership or within six months of joining TCMA). No final decision was reached and no committee recommendation was made concerning this issue.

In keeping with a previous Ethics Committee recommendation and TCMA Board decision, documentation of completing the ethics training requirement will be tracked through a check off box on the TCMA membership renewal form.

James Fisher provided a status report of ethics situations.

With nothing else on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m.

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TCMA Ethics Committee
July 14, 2006
Texas Municipal League – Austin

Members of the Committee present were: Chair: James Fisher, Village Administrator, Bee Cave; Vice Chair: Dick Fletcher, City Manager, Robinson; Region 1: Gary Brown, City Manager, Floydada; Region 3: Kevin Carruth, City Manager, Brownwood; Region 6: David Moss, City Manager, Southside; Region 8: David Harris, City Administrator, Hill Country Village; Region 9: Molly Topper, City Manager, Taft; Elizabeth Reining, Assistant to the City Manager, Portland; Christal Kliewer, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Prairie; Clay Chandler, City Manager, Mansfield; Cindy Stanfield, Administrative Services Manager, Sugar Land; Jack Harper, City Manager, Hillsboro; Tom Muehlenbeck, City Manager, Plano.

TML Staff: Kim Pendergraft and Gary Watkins

James Fisher, Village Administrator, Bee Cave and committee chair, brought the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. James reviewed the purpose of the committee and emphasized: 1) confidentiality of those on the committee including fact-finding committees and 2) educating the membership on the process of filing a complaint and understanding the process following a filed complaint. Dick Fletcher, City Manager, Robinson and committee vice chair, provided a perspective from the TCMA Board regarding the priority of ethics within the strategic plan.

Clay Chandler, City Manager, Mansfield, was concerned about confidentiality when complaints are filed by non-TCMA members. Gary Watkins reviewed the code, guidelines, and rules of procedure while pointing out the differences between the TCMA and ICMA documents. In particular, differences referenced included:
• Jurisdiction for members not in service
• Defining when a member is no longer a member
• Option of handling a non-member-related situation
• Latitude of proceeding with a case already in the legal system
• Involvement of staff in cases
• Notification to the media
• Reinstatement of a barred or expelled member

The committee was advised that if an individual is a member of both TCMA and ICMA, TCMA relinquishes the right of investigation to ICMA for as long as that member is a member of ICMA. Too, the final decision of a TCMA ethics case is determined by the TCMA Board.

Kim Pendergraft provided a brief demonstration of an online ethics course for the committee to consider as an optional format for members to complete mandatory ethics training.

Chairman Fisher reviewed the status of ethics-related situations and instructed the committee to:
1) Acquire a time on their respective regional program agenda to share what is underway
regarding the ethics committee.
2) Review the sample online program to be sent to them by the staff.
3) Prepare to discuss and reach consensus at the next meeting about:

A. Continuing education: How many of the 40 hours referenced in the guideline to Tenet 8 should/must be ethics-related? What is the minimum acceptable amount of ethics-related training hours someone must have for membership to be approved?
B. Application: Is the intent to approve memberships contingent upon documentation of the training? OR Is the documentation required to accompany the application in order to be approved? How will this impact student membership?
C. Enforcement: Does the association intend to monitor/track the training? Does the association intend to enforce the newly-adopted changes? If so, what are reasonable penalties, sanctions? When will the start date of enforcement begin?

Adjourned at 12:45 p.m.