Austin Ethics Review Commission elects new officers, expands working-group membership and dismisses complaint for failure to appear

The City of Austin Ethics Review Commission on April 23 elected Commissioner Ross Pumphrey as chair, Commissioner Britney Sharkey as vice chair and Commissioner Adam Matern as secretary, approved a change to the membership of a working group reviewing the commission's complaints process, and dismissed a preliminary complaint for failure of the complainant to appear.

Acting Chair Andrea Lowe opened the meeting and began officer elections, saying the commission had no current chair or secretary because previous officers' terms had ended. "I am the current vice chair, so the only officer left standing right now," Lowe said as she chaired the nominations process. Caroline Webster of the law department clarified procedural questions about voting: "There is no secret ballot."

Ross Pumphrey, who was nominated for chair, told the commission, "I am willing to be chair. I've been on the this commission for nearly 2 years, I guess, now." The commission then held a roll-call vote; the chair announced that Pumphrey received a majority of votes of commissioners and declared him the new chair.

Britney Sharkey accepted the vice-chair nomination, saying, "Yes, I gladly accept the nomination. In my day to day life, I'm an attorney. I run open meetings. I'm very familiar with the Texas Open Meetings Act and other procedural issues relating to ethics, and so I would really look forward to working with chair Pumphrey and, guiding this commission forward." Commissioners then voted to elect Sharkey as vice chair. Commissioners elected Adam Matern as secretary by voice/hand vote.

On working groups, the commission reviewed the continuation and membership of existing groups. Commissioners discussed a long-running working group that is charged with reviewing whether the Ethics Review Commission should have a process to initiate complaints (rather than relying solely on citizen-filed complaints). Commissioner Lowe described the item as a high priority: the working group "has done some memos. We have done some research," she said, and indicated she and Commissioner Matern would continue on the group and would seek additional members.

Commissioners voted during the meeting to add a volunteer (identified in the meeting as Commissioner Sharkey) to the complaints-process working group and agreed to place a membership item on a future agenda if additional members are proposed. Commissioners also asked staff to provide a summary of pending commission matters and timelines to help the body track upcoming filing or hearing deadlines.

The commission heard that a complainant in a scheduled preliminary hearing, identified in the file as Jack Crisman, did not appear. Commission counsel said the complainant had requested a postponement but "did not state good cause." The commission's chair entertained a motion to dismiss the preliminary hearing for failure to appear; the motion and second were made and the commission voted to dismiss the matter without prejudice.

The body approved minutes from its March 26 meeting with an amendment to correct a misspelling of a commissioner's name. The chair announced the tally verbally during the meeting.

The meeting concluded with several items referred to future agendas, including continuing the discussion about working groups and a proposal that staff provide a one-page synopsis of pending complaints and their procedural stages for commissioners to review before meetings. Chair Pumphrey took over proceedings after the election and presided for the remainder of the meeting.