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11:05 a.m.: The Board took a recess until 11:12 a.m. and reconvened in closed session. <br /> <br />* * * * * <br /> <br />11:22 a.m.: The Board returned to regular session. <br /> <br /> <br />b. Petition No. 2012-03: Initial review of petition alleging violations of Section 2-83 of <br />the Ethics Code when County employees are allowed to attend union meetings, on <br />county time, in which political campaigning takes place. <br /> <br /> <br />MR. DILL: Ms. King, are you still here? <br /> <br />MS. KING: Yes, I’m here. <br /> <br />MR. DILL: Okay, do you mind just coming up here? We might have a few questions for <br />you. If I might point out to the Board, one of the issues regarding this petition is that we <br />don’t have any responders. In other words, there’s no specific person to respond to these <br />allegations. It’s an allegation made in a general sense, correct, Ms. King, for county <br />employees, and referencing Section 2-83 of the County Code of Ethics. Ms. Schoen, have <br />you had a chance to acquire a copy of the collective bargaining agreement to see if <br />there’s any wording in the union contracts regarding this sort of activity? <br /> <br />MS. SCHOEN: No, I haven’t. <br /> <br />MR. DILL: Do you have any knowledge of it? <br /> <br />MS. SCHOEN: No, I don’t. But if that’s something that the Board would like to look at, <br />I can provide that information to you. <br /> <br />MR. DILL: And then what about any sort of precedent on the state level regarding this <br />issue? <br /> <br />MS. SCHOEN: My understanding is the State Ethics Commission issued an opinion <br />about ten years ago, same issue, and basically they relied upon a state statute which <br />allowed state employees to attend informational and educational meetings. So no <br />violation was found. But that was ten years ago. I can provide that as well to the Board <br />for your consideration. <br /> <br />MR. DILL: Okay. Yeah, I’d like to take a look at the precedent. I’d like to also see if <br />there’s any kind of provisions in the collective bargaining agreement between the union <br />and the county. If—obviously our Ethics Code is pretty clear, that campaigning cannot <br />be done on county time. So— <br /> <br />MS. KING: And in a county building, too. <br /> <br />MR. DILL: In a county building, you’re right. So today what we’re doing is deciding <br />how we’re going to move forward with this. It would be my recommendation as chair to <br /> <br /> <br />