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Ethics staff outline whistleblower ordinance changes, staffing and website rollout amid budget guidance
Summary
Ethics Commission staff announced new hires, reported eight open recruitments, described a revised whistleblower protection approach (separating intake from retaliation protection), and said the office would soft-launch a new website; staff also summarized mayoral guidance asking departments for 3% and 6% budget reductions over two years.
At the Dec. 19 meeting the Ethics Commission heard its executive director's report covering staffing moves, policy work on a proposed whistleblower protection ordinance, a planned website rollout and the mayor's budget guidance.
Staff introduced Jacqueline Hickey as the new senior clerk and said Johnny Hosey would assume the education-and-compliance assistant role; interim assistance would be provided by Francis McAvoy and Jack Kanas during the transition. The office reported eight pending recruitments and that a senior personnel analyst would be assigned to help complete hiring.
On the whistleblower protection ordinance, staff described a change in approach agreed with the Controller's Office and the Department of Human Resources: the commission would separate intake of whistleblower complaints from protection against retaliation so that employees who file complaints with supervisors or the controller would have access to retaliation protections from the Ethics Commission. Staff said the revised draft narrows some intake authority to city-level complaints and includes mandatory training for supervisors. "So we separated the two processes," staff said, explaining that complaints for investigation would go to the whistleblower office while retaliation complaints would be handled by the Ethics Commission.
Staff also said the commission planned a soft launch of a redesigned website and warned of brief maintenance. On budget, the mayor's office told departments to propose a 3 percent reduction in the coming year and 6 percent the following year; staff said the Ethics Commission's base budget is roughly $3,300,000 and that the requested cuts could translate to a reduction equivalent to two funded positions if applied to the commission.
Multiple public commenters urged broader whistleblower training (for all employees rather than only supervisors), stronger record-retention rules during investigations, and inclusion of related agencies (for example, federal agencies when relevant) in notifications. Staff acknowledged those concerns and said the commission would continue coordinating with Controller and DHR before returning proposals to the Board of Supervisors.
Staff closed by saying they expected to report on recruitment and website demonstration at the January meeting.
