Independent Ethics Board Meeting Briefs: April 18, 2023

Below are the news briefs from the City’s Independent Ethics Board meeting that took place on April 18, 2023.
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Dwight A. Floyd, the Independent Ethics Officer, noted the activities of the staff since the last meeting. Floyd wrote that, “During this period, we conducted ethics training for new employees. John Reid and I attended a two-day ethics conference in Naples, Florida. I made a presentation during the City of Tallahassee New Member Orientation. We continued the development of the annual ethics training course, maintained administrative duties concerning expenditures, conducted meetings with the Board chair, conducted a meeting with the vice-chair in preparation for the monthly Board meeting, and responded to ethics complaints.”
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The Ethics Officer reported to the Board that the Ethics Office year-to-date expenditures of the Ethics Office was $194,203 with $108,000 allocated to personnel expenses and approximately $84,000 allocated to operating expenses. The report indicates that approximately $225,000 of the $420,000 adopted 2023 budget remains available.
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There were three issues/complaints logged during the period. The Ethics Officer recommended closing two of the three complaints due to jurisdiction issues. The third issue was related to a business owner from Gadsden County who emailed a complaint informally on October 24, 2022. At the request of the Ethics Office, the business owner submitted a formal complaint on February 20, 2023. The complainant alleged misuse of position by a city employee. After a review of the complaint, the Ethics Officer asked for a legal opinion by the Board attorney. The Ethics Office and the Board attorney agreed that the complaint was legally insufficient and dismissed the complaint.
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The Board was updated on a request to the city related to whistleblower complaints. The item notes that during the summer, the Ethics Board submitted a letter to the Mayor and City Commission requesting a revision to the City Ordinance, allowing the Board to address whistleblower complaints under limited circumstances where the Inspector General cannot do so. Unfortunately, the submission was untimely because of the 2022 elections. The staff recently contacted the City manager to request that the Board’s recommendation be included on the City Commission agenda.
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The Board was given an update on the possible penalties for frivolous complaints. The staff indicated that upon its own initiative and after proper notice and an opportunity to be heard, the ethics board may order – where it has jurisdiction over the complainant – investigative costs be paid to the City of Tallahassee General Fund by a complainant for filing a complaint in which the ethics board finds by a preponderance of the evidence that, when initially presented to the ethics board, the complainant knew that a complaint was not supported by the material facts necessary to establish a violation of the ethics code or that the complainant showed a reckless disregard for the truth as to whether the complaint was supported by the material facts necessary to establish a violation of the ethics code.