WASHINGTON STATE
EXECUTIVE ETHICS BOARD
2425 Bristol Court SW–
Conference Room 148 – Olympia, WA
January 13, 2012
Regular Meeting Minutes
A. Preliminary Business
1. Roll Call
The regular meeting of the Washington State Executive Ethics Board
(EEB) was called to order by Chair Matthew Williams at 9:00 a.m. In attendance were Vice Chair Lisa Marsh and
Member Nancy Biery. Member Linnaea Jablonski was absent. Board staff in
attendance included: Executive Director Melanie
de Leon, Assistant Attorney General Bruce Turcott, Administrative Officer
Ruthann Bryant, Investigator David Killeen and Extern Phillip Downes.
2. Approval of Agenda
Melanie de Leon noted that the agenda had been revised to remove a
discussion item and add three policies from the Washington State Patrol for review.
Motion 12-001 Moved by Vice Chair Marsh,
seconded by Member Biery:
The Board approves the January
13, 2012 agenda as amended.
The motion passed unanimously.
3. Approval of the November 18, 2011 Meeting Minutes
Motion 12-002 Moved by Vice Chair Marsh,
seconded by Member Biery:
The Board approves the November 18, 2011 minutes as presented.
The motion passed
unanimously.
B. Enforcement Matters
Stipulation
EEB Case No. 2011-029 (Llanto)
Melanie de Leon briefed the Board on the proposed stipulation and
order in the matter of Dale Llanto. Mr. Llanto agreed
that he may have violated RCW 42.52 when he used his state computer to view
over 36 hours of unauthorized non-work related websites and email over a one
month period. The stipulation proposes a penalty of $1,500.
The Board deferred action until after closed session.
Executive Director
Dismissals
EEB Case 2011-017 (Scharnhorst),
EEB Case 2011-022 (Weaver), EEB Case 2011-026 (Koehler), EEB Case 2011-027
(Gregoire), EEB Case 2011-028 (Davis) and EEB Case 2011-038 (Smith)
Melanie
de Leon summarized six Executive Director dismissals.
C. Policy Reviews
Melanie
de Leon reported on policies submitted by Bellevue College, the Department of
Enterprise Services (small agency client services), the State Board for
Community and Technical Colleges and the Washington State Patrol.
Vice
Chair Marsh commented that she would like Bellevue College to expand on their
policy prior to approval. The Board concurred.
Motion 12-003 Moved by Vice Chair Marsh,
seconded by Member Biery:
The Board approves the Department
of Enterprise Services’ Small Agency Client Services’ Outside Employment Policy
and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges Ethics
Policy/Procedure Policy as presented.
The motion passed unanimously.
Vice Chair Marsh expressed concern with the Washington State
Patrol’s Employee Conduct Policy which appears to allow the Chief to approve
actions that may not be permitted under the Ethics in Public Service Act. She requested that Board staff work with the
Washington State Patrol on the policy.
Motion 12-004 Moved by Vice Chair Marsh,
seconded by Member Biery:
The Board does not approve
the Washington State Patrol’s Employee Conduct Policy.
The motion passed unanimously.
Vice Chair Marsh also requested that the Washington State Patrol’s
policies regarding Code of Ethics – Employees and Code of Ethics – Officers, be
held over until the March meeting. The Board concurred.
D. Staff Reports
1. Executive Director’s Report
Melanie de Leon provided an overview of current Legislation that
either impacted the Ethics in Public Service Act or the Board itself. She
briefly discussed the draft Legislative report Board staff completed in
response to the budget proviso mandated by the 2011 biennial budget.
Extern Phillip Downes discussed how
each agency’s ethics program was reviewed on the same criteria and how Board
staff would use this review to help improve or maintain the agency’s
program. He walked them through each of
the surveys sent to agency staff and state vendors and some of the results
received. Survey results will be
provided to each agency that responded so that the Board staff can help design
an ethics program that will address any concerns highlighted by the
survey. The Board was invited to review
the draft in depth and provide any comments/changes to Board staff by January
27, 2012 so that the report can be published before the end of January.
2. AAG Report
No AAG reports were given.
3. Other Staff Reports
Ruthann Bryant provided an update on the issue of Respondent’s
names appearing in Google searches resulting from a stipulated order on the
Enforcement section of the Ethics website.
Staff will redact the name from the order and re-post it to the website
after the amount of time required under record retention requirements has
passed. This project will be completed
as time permits.
E. Public Comment/Board Member Comment
Mr.
Robert Branscomb, Manager GIA/Voluntary employee Benefits, Colonial Life &
Accident addressed the Board regarding the repeal of Advisory Opinion 00-11.
The Board took no action.
F. Executive/Closed Session
At
10:40 a.m. the Board moved into Executive Session to discuss potential
litigation, immediately followed by Closed Session to deliberate on quasi-judicial
matters.
At 11:50 a.m. the Board returned to regular session and reported
the following:
Motion 12-005 Moved by Vice Chair Marsh,
seconded by Member Biery:
The Board finds Reasonable
Cause in EEB Case #2011-013 Brad Samples, EEB Case #2011-014 Ginger Richardson,
EEB Case #2011-018 Artee Young, EEB Case #2011-020
Daniel Russ, EEB Case #2011-030 Sandra Ledbetter, EEB Case #2011-031 Mari
Trotter, EEB Case #2011-033 Edwina (Smith) Pezoldt, EEB Case #2011-035 Clinton
Staples and EEB Case #2011-036 Kevin McStay.
The motion passed unanimously.
Motion 12-006 Moved by Vice Chair Marsh,
seconded by Member Biery:
The Board approves the
Stipulated Facts, Conclusions and Order in EEB Case #2011-029, Dale Llanto, as presented.
The motion passed unanimously.
G. Miscellaneous Matters/Adjournment
There
being no miscellaneous matters, the meeting was adjourned at 11:58 a.m.
Approved by the Board 3/16/12