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Ethics staff roll out new online support portals and training plans for disclosure filers
Summary
Engagement and Compliance Manager Kyle Kennedy told the Ethics Commission the division launched online support portals for six disclosure programs, plans tutorial videos for Form 700 filers, and aims to digitize the campaign consultant registration by Jan. 1; staff reported processing metrics and said turnaround-time tracking is available.
The San Francisco Ethics Commission heard a detailed presentation June 14 from Kyle Kennedy, the agency's engagement and compliance manager, on the division's outreach and service improvements, including new online support portals for all six disclosure programs and plans for short tutorial videos aimed at helping filing officers and filers use NetFile.
"We've implemented support portals for the rest of our five disclosure programs," Kennedy said, describing a centralized ticketing system that helps staff track research, time to first response and time to resolution.
Kennedy said the division administers six disclosure programs: campaign finance, lobbyist registrations, Form 700 (statements of economic interest), campaign consultants, permit consultants and the major developers program. He highlighted program-specific initiatives including two new, tailored candidate/treasurer trainings, a filing officer engagement plan and an online registration and filing process for campaign consultants the division hopes to complete by Jan. 1.
Staff offered recent operational metrics to show workload and service levels: between January and April the division processed 174 committee registrations, resolved 516 tickets through the Form 700 portal (which existed for that full span), assisted 105 walk-ins and handled 686 calls on the main office line. Kennedy said the ticketing system will allow staff to report average turnaround times and common question categories at future meetings.
Commissioners asked whether information could be provided as soon as candidates declare and whether the portal tracks turnaround and phone-call topics; Kennedy said the division already sends welcome emails to new filers, categorizes tickets for analysis and can supply average response metrics in the next executive director's report. He also said the team is rewriting and reformatting guidance pages to improve user experience.
Public comment included a mix of praise and critique: callers John Soderstrom and Olivia Liu commended staff responsiveness and suggested scanning sign-in sheets into a searchable record; another commenter repeated grievances about the Commission's practices but did not challenge the technical accuracy of the presentation.
Kennedy said the division resolved 516 support tickets in the first four months of the year and expects that number to increase now that portals for all programs are active. He also noted a plan to create short one- to two-minute tutorial videos for common NetFile tasks and to provide tailored onboarding materials for filing officers.
The Commission did not take formal action on the presentation itself but asked staff to include ticket turnaround metrics in the next executive director report so commissioners can better assess response times and workload patterns.
