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Ethics Commission adopts library's incompatible-activities policy amid criticism over handling of previous misconduct finding
Summary
The Ethics Commission adopted final amendments to the San Francisco Public Library's Statement of Incompatible Activities after public commenters pressed the commission to address a prior willful-misconduct finding involving Library Commission President Jewel Gomez and to strengthen disclosures related to the Friends of the Library.
The San Francisco Ethics Commission on the record voted to adopt final changes to the San Francisco Public Library's Statement of Incompatible Activities (SIA) after staff reported that required meet-and-confer obligations with unions had been completed.
Supporters and critics of the SIA spoke during public comment. Peter Warfield, Executive Director of the Library Users Association, told the commission the president's conduct at a library meeting—shouting down a member of the public—was "core to her responsibility as president of the commission" and said the re-election of the Library Commission president after a willful-misconduct finding raised "serious questions" about accountability. Patrick Monette Shaw urged the commission to schedule hearings on his sunshine complaints (11-013 and 11-014) and argued the adopted SIA failed to make willful official misconduct an automatic ground for removal.
Rayhartz, director of San Francisco Open Government, summarized financial figures for the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, saying the Friends reported $3,757,000 in total revenue and $750,000 in program support while drawing down $2,220,000 in assets; Rayhartz said those numbers suggested the Friends had raised and spent more than $5,000,000 with limited accounting in the materials provided to the library commission.
David Pilpel, a public commenter, said staff and commission work on the SIA was "diligent" and expressed support for final adoption. After additional brief public comment the commission called the question and approved the motion to accept the amendments by oral vote (members responded "aye"). The motion on the floor was described as accepting "the amendments as approved at the last meeting." The adopted SIA will be sent to the San Francisco Public Library as the next administrative step.
The meeting record shows strong public concern about how the Ethics Commission's earlier finding relating to Library Commission President Jewel Gomez was handled by other city actors, particularly the mayor and the library commission. Commissioners and staff noted the limits of the Ethics Commission's authority to force mayoral action; one commissioner said placing a follow-up item on a future agenda to discuss communication options with the mayor would be appropriate.
