pages: OpenGovernmentCommission/2021-07-19.pdf, 11
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OpenGovernmentCommission | 2021-07-19 | 11 | claimed and have frequent reporting or monthly communication; suggested adding a Staff Communication section to the agenda as a mechanism to share important information with the public; stated the role and responsibilities of the City Clerk's office would include timely communications with the OGC and relaying the decisions or recommendations to the originating body; some of this is internal City communications that the subcommittee just does not necessarily know what happens, along with responding to questions from potential complainants. In response to Vice Chair Shabazz's inquiry, Commissioner Chen stated sometimes complaints do not reach the Commission because they have asked the City Clerk's office for clarification; once the Clerk provides it, they realize it does not qualify as a complaint; she assumes that providing the clarification is one of the Clerk's duties and there must be a lot of interesting queries, including questions where people think the Sunshine Ordinance does more than it does; the Sunshine Ordinance does something very clearly prescribed and people think it is a vehicle to do something else; it would be helpful if the Commission could do something to inform people about the parameters. Vice Chair Shabazz stated the Commission does not necessarily know what staff does in relationship to the Commission; the subcommittee was trying to outline some of the different roles and responsibilities and give staff an opportunity to clarify the roles. Commissioner Reid stated that she would like to find a way for the OGC to be of service to the community regarding the Public Records Act (PRA); suggested having a statement on the City's website that would encourage members of the community to reach out to the Commission directly; also suggested providing a list of resources and points of contact in the community such as the library, Mastick Center or other community organizations. Vice Chair Shabazz clarified the discussion is still on the roles and responsibilities section, not the PRA portion; stated Commissioner Reid's suggestions are interesting and the Commission will have the opportunity to come back to them; he would like to consider how individual Commissioners and relationships with different organizations may be able to be leveraged; the next issue is the question around how to build trust between the OGC and the City Attorney's office; the subcommittee wanted to begin this as a conversation; the guiding questions for bringing up the discussion and how to document it in a report included what are the specific roles, how do the OGC and the City Attorney's office relate to one another, where have issues of contention arisen, and the need to understand the structural conflict of interest between the role of the OGC and the City Attorney's office and find ways within it to work constructively. Chair Tilos stated he definitely agrees with Vice Chair Shabazz's comment regarding the breaking of trust; he does not have answers; restated the issues that created the mistrust, including the December OGC meeting where items were not brought forth to the Council as recommended by the OGC; he is concerned about how complaints will be dealt with in the future and whether complaints will just go to a hearing body or mediator; he will leave it up to the subcommittee to figure out how to make it better. Meeting of the Open Government Commission 11 July 19, 2021 | OpenGovernmentCommission/2021-07-19.pdf |