Commission says public financing ordinance is final; staff prepares Form 700 e‑filing meet‑and‑confer

At the Oct. 18 meeting, staff reported that Mayor signed the city’s public financing ordinance on Oct. 4; staff said the ordinance is "slated to become operative on the first of the year," with implementation work under way to prepare internal processes and outreach.

Pat Ford, Senior Policy and Legislative Affairs Counsel, told commissioners staff are meeting with division heads to plan a seamless rollout and are coordinating with other city offices to implement the new public financing provisions. The office will continue to meet with internal divisions to finalize operations ahead of Jan. 1, 2021.

On the Form 700 e‑filing project, staff said a tentative first meet-and-confer meeting with employee bargaining units was scheduled for Nov. 6 and that the Department of Human Resources will issue invitations; staff expect at least one meeting before the holidays and potentially additional meetings in January to complete the process in time for regulatory considerations. A training program for department heads and staff on conflict-of-interest rules, Form 700 filing and recusal rules was also described; staff said the training is scalable and will be offered on-site to departments that request it.

Commissioners asked about meeting counts and timing; staff estimated an average of three meet-and-confer meetings might be needed based on prior work and said the schedule is driven by operational needs to meet the Jan. 1, 2021 timeline. No formal action was taken at the meeting on these implementation items.