The Public Ethics Commission (PEC) held its regular meeting via teleconference on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The meeting included consideration of virtual meeting continuation, approval of prior meeting minutes, an enforcement referral, subcommittee updates, and information reports. Commissioners also addressed the departure of Executive Director Whitney Barazoto and two commissioner vacancies. The meeting adjourned after a closed session on personnel.
Are we ready to start, Michael? Are we recording? The webinar has started, and I believe K Top has started recording. Okay, thank you. Good evening, everyone. Um, welcome everyone to the I guess it's June, June 2022 meeting of the Oakland Public Equities Commission. We have a quorum. We'll start with roll call. Commissioner Mitchell. Commissioner Tooman. She is here. And Commissioner Perth, I am also here. So we do have a quorum, and all the members currently sitting on the commission are seated tonight. I'll start with commission announcements. Um, since our last regular commission meeting, we've had two vacancies, two resignations. Commissioner Levitt are resigned. So we do have two commission positions open. Um is um appointed by the city attorney, and the other is uh position that's selected by the commission. So we will discuss that later, things that we need to do or will be doing with respect to those openings. So those are the announcements for related to the commission. Are there any other commission announcements? Any staff announcements? No staff announcements. Okay, I'll let executive direct director Barrizona get away with that for the moment that there are no staff announcements. But um, we'll move to item number three, um, which is open form, open form is a time for a member of the public to comment on any matter within the jurisdiction of the PEC that is not otherwise included in tonight's agenda under the Sunshine Ordinance. The commission cannot discuss the substance of any public comment made that does not pertain to an item listed on the agenda. Is there any public comment? So I will look to see who we have. Um Mr. McDonald, Michael McDonald, we will give you three minutes for public comment. Hi there, colleagues. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, great. Well, thank you so much for the opportunity. I wanted to join the meeting tonight uh just to thank my colleagues again for for working with them. And you know, I apologize for my abrupt resignation. I had this opportunity down in Ventura County that I couldn't pass by, and I also couldn't pass by not attending tonight because I I really didn't have the opportunity to say thank you to staff. You know, I know I've said it in the past, uh, but you know, I've worked for three different public agencies, and I I've spent the past 10 years in in public service, and really this is the most dedicated staff that I've worked with. I think the commission is extremely lucky to have executive director Barrizotto for the little bit of time left. Uh, and I wanted to say thank you to you. It's been really a pleasure working with you, but I also wanted to thank the rest of the staff, Chief Johnson, Suzanne, uh, everyone, really. Um, it's it's it's been a really rewarding experience for me, and I I really look forward to being able to take some of the concepts that we worked on and some of the ideas that we worked on as a commission down to Ventura County. And so, you know, just again, I I wanted to just say thank you to everyone, and it's it was a really great experience, and I I truly enjoyed working with the staff. And in closing, I I wanted to just say as well, and I know this is a uh discussion item tonight, but you know, one of the most vital tools that we have to combat corrupting influence of outsized campaign spending and public financing, or excuse me, is public financing, and I think it's imperative that this commission continue to push the issue of public financing and working towards uh combating that corrupting influence of our outside money and our corporations, and I really look forward to watching the commission take this issue on. I'm here as a resource. I am a city clerk, so I continue to do this work in my professional capacity while I'm in a different jurisdiction. It's the the same work, and I'm happy to be here as a resource. I look forward to following along as the commission chooses their next executive director, and I hope that I can participate in some way. If there's an external panel of some sort, or if there's uh any, you know, type of way that I can contribute by reviewing uh questions or qualifications, I'm happy to do that as well.