2007-08-08 Board of Ethics Minutes mc

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agenda but that in hindsight, and for the future, anything which affects or would interest the Board should appear on the agenda, regardless of whether it is an issue the Board needs to vote on. He described how the Police Commission has nine members and deals with controversial issues. The members would call the secretary to place items on the agenda, and the chair felt she was losing control of the agenda. The chair controls the agenda. With the Police Commission, the issue was resolved by having an item near the end of each agenda for the members to say what they want placed on the next agenda. He said he would leave it to the Chair's good sense as to how to handle the BOE agenda. The Chair said that for the record, if he makes a recommendation to have something agendized, it should be placed on the agenda. If someone wants something on the agenda, they should email him and make a request. If the request is made two weeks before the meeting, he felt it should be placed on the agenda. Ms. Lum said they could also make suggestions near the end of each meeting, and the Chair said anyone could do that. The secretary asked whether the Chair wanted her to add to each agenda a discussion of items for the next agenda. The Chair said to send him the proposed agenda two weeks before the meeting, and he will review it to make sure nothing is missing. The Chair asked Mr. Ashida whether the Chair has the authority to agendize items, and Mr. Ashida said that normally, it is provided by rule. The Council has a resolution that the chair alone dictates what makes it on the agenda. The Chair said he received an email from a Board member regarding Ms. Sharpless, and that all the members were copied on it. He said it may have been harmless, but he did not believe Board members should be emailing all the other members in one email or discussing sentiment towards anything involving the Board. Mr. Ashida said the Chair was correct, as long as the email dealt with matters of Board business. The Chair said he understood this, but felt it was a gray area, and he wants to get out of all gray areas. He did not want any public impression that the Board of Ethics, which is supposed to be telling everyone what is right and what is wrong, engaged in possible gray areas. He did not feel it was in the Board's best interest for a member to email other members regarding any type of business before them. Mr. Ashida said that setting a policy with respect to what should or should not go on would be the Chair's call. A suggestion that came before the Police Commission was to set out a Police Commissioner's code of behavior and conduct. He was not suggesting that needed to be done with the Board of Ethics, but the police commissioners shared similar concerns. The Chair said that for next month's agenda, under New Business, he wanted a discussion on what is appropriate and inappropriate so that members would have a clear understanding of what is expected and appropriate for them. Ms. Lum said that with emails, there is an option to reply to just one person, and the Chair agreed. Mr. Ashida said that when an email comes to his office on a Board matter, he always instructs members not to reply to everyone listed on the email, just to him. When he and a Board member interact individually, the Sunshine Law is not violated. In addition, the Board 5