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City Council Study Session — 031201Q� <br />DRAFT Minutes - Page 13 <br />possible conflict of interest issues. Councilmember Ihlan noted <br />that Section 6, regarding financial interest disclosure, was not <br />currently being enforced, and opined that it should be codified in <br />the proposed ordinance. <br />Discussion included whether conflict of interest concerns with <br />the City Attorney were applicable given his hiring by the City <br />Manager with City Council approval; the need for a citizen group <br />to do the initial investigation; inclusion of the majority of the <br />Task Force report in the proposed ordinance; and current <br />information and disclosure of financial interests of <br />Councilmembers. <br />Councilmember Pust expressed concern regarding complaints <br />brought against employees for public discussion creating a huge <br />liability issue for the City related to confidentiality in workplace <br />policies in place by the City and employment law rights. <br />City Manager Beets noted that, under current City resolution, <br />complaints against staff, other than himself, would be directed to <br />the City Manager for an internal investigation. Mr. Beets noted <br />that he understood the Mayor's recommendation and ordinance <br />language would only provide for mandatory ethics training for <br />all City employees. <br />Mayor Klausing opined that he saw the primary function of the <br />Ethics Commission to be educational, not enforcement, noting <br />that in his professional employment, it was found that most <br />ethics violations were initiated by a misunderstanding of the <br />rules, rather than from willful intent. <br />Councilmember Maschka and Pust expressed their support of the <br />proposed Ethics Commission re-instatement and ordinance. <br />Councilmember Ihlan spoke in support of an ordinance reflecting <br />and adopting the Task Force report; withholding her total support <br />without knowing what provisions would be included. <br />Councilmember Kough spoke in support of including advisory <br />commission members, in addition to appointed officials. <br />r <br />