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Record of Proceedings

Ethical Practices Board Meeting - April 21, 2026

Boards and Commissions — Tuesday, April 21, 2026
BodyRochester, Minnesota
SessionBoards and Commissions
DateTuesday, April 21, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 36:34

Original source
Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it
0:03

So we find out at the end of the year.

0:07

We are sorry.

0:07

Okay.

0:13

Thanks everybody for being here.

0:14

Looks like we have a full contingent.

0:18

First thing is to approve the minutes from the last meeting.

0:22

Do you have any comments or the motion to approve?

0:26

Make a motion to approve.

0:27

Okay.

0:28

All second.

0:28

All right.

0:29

Those in favor of approving the minutes from February meeting.

0:34

All right.

0:35

Perfect.

0:37

Next up, any changes to the order of the agenda that you all should have.

0:43

Okay.

0:44

Sounds good.

0:45

Hearing no changes, then we'll go ahead and move on to any reports or increase to report from the city attending office.

0:53

Thank you, Mr.

0:54

Chair.

0:54

Nothing to report on each one.

0:56

Okay.

0:58

All right.

0:59

I do see a couple folks here.

1:02

We have an open commentary.

1:03

Does anybody want to make a comment?

1:05

Okay.

1:06

If not, then we can we can go ahead and skip through that.

1:10

All right.

1:11

Moving on.

1:11

It looks like our first item of our only item of unfinished business relates to the um updates we had suggested to City Code uh section two-16.

1:23

And I will again hand it over to the city attorney to present this item.

1:29

Yes, and if Jody has anything to add, um she can do that.

1:33

I think just the summary is that the process went smoothly uh through the standard RCA uh for the city council.

1:41

Um I was not aware of any specific questions or inquiries or concerns from city council members or from administration and um uh process and approval is going smoothly.

1:55

Great.

1:56

Joey might need to remind me of um where we're at with the first or second reading.

2:02

First reading was held April 6th, so now the second and final meeting will happen May 4th.

2:08

Plus that first council meeting.

2:10

Yeah, and then if it's read twice, then it becomes adopted automatically.

2:14

Okay.

2:16

Great.

2:16

That's that's exciting.

2:18

Great to know that we made a little contribution to keeping these up to date there.

2:23

Super.

2:24

Okay.

2:25

Um looks like our item of new business today is an update um on the 311 system.

2:32

So I see we have some nice notes and a plantation.

2:35

Um and this is just a follow-up on some conversations we had back in 2024 when uh free one was kind of new.

2:43

We were hoping it would help us um direct people the right way if they had complaints that were maybe not necessarily ethics complaints that had been coming in on our forum.

2:52

Um so yeah, we uh invited George it sounds like back to talk about this, and I'll go ahead and turn it over for uh whatever you'd like to share about how it's been going since then.

3:05

Uh thank you.

3:07

So uh um my name is George Lynch.

3:09

I'm uh the 311 customer service supervisor.

3:12

Um so uh last year, 2025 was our first full year in operation.

3:16

Um so in the first year we were able to gather quite a uh a bit of data as far as uh what our uh residents wanted from us, uh what the usage would be like.

3:26

Um of the things that we found out early on was that uh inspection services was going to be our number one uh service to uh the city.

3:35

So uh special services account for about 2025 of our call volume, and so we have a lot of construction as you know, downtown.

3:44

Uh a lot of contractors uh rather uh call us and have us stable inspections rather than uh then having to log on and you know they're walking around downtown, especially in the subway, you know, they don't get very good service, so they just rather call us and uh uh for us to uh send those inspections.

4:00

Um if you see uh the chart, right?

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Technology and Innovation█████████████████████████████████████████████54%
Pending Litigation████████████████19%
Procedural███████████13%
Public Engagement███████8%
Personnel Matters███4%
Accessibility and Inclusion██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Ethical Practices Board Meeting - April 21, 2026

Note: The agenda and minutes indicate the meeting was originally scheduled for April 16, 2026, but the provided instruction states the meeting took place on April 21, 2026. This summary uses the date from the instruction.

The Ethical Practices Board of Rochester, Minnesota met on April 21, 2026, at City Hall, Room 104. All seven members were present. The meeting covered approval of previous minutes, an update on amendments to the city ethics code, a presentation on the 311 system, review of a complaint, and recognition of departing members.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Minutes (February 19, 2026): Approved unanimously by a vote of 7 ayes. Motion by Faye Harris, seconded by Timothy Hornseth.

Reports

  • Reports/Inquiries: No reports or inquiries to report.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Open Comment Period: No members of the public wished to speak; the period was closed.

Discussion Items

  • Update on Amendment to City Code 2-16 (Public Ethics): The city attorney reported that the amendment process through the city council was proceeding smoothly with no questions or concerns. The first reading was held on April 6, 2026, and the second and final reading is scheduled for May 4, 2026, after which the amendment will be adopted automatically. Board members expressed satisfaction with their contribution to updating the code.
  • 311 System Update: George Lynch, 311 Customer Service Supervisor, presented data from 2025, the first full year of operation. Key statistics: call volume averages 140–150 per day in winter and 240 per day in summer. Knowledge Base Articles (KBA) accounted for 80% of interactions, with 61,397 views in the first quarter of 2026. Year-over-year, KBA usage increased by 328%, chat interactions by 75%, call volume by 2%, and service requests by 3%. The most submitted service request in Q1 2026 was inspection services (2,247). The chatbot supports 7–8 languages. Board members asked about chatbot satisfaction rates, accessibility standards (the knowledge base article for ethics complaints is temporarily sunset due to accessibility issues), and the availability of live operators. Lynch confirmed that callers always reach a live person and that the chatbot is monitored for unusual reports (e.g., animal abuse) which are then forwarded to appropriate departments.
  • Review of Complaint/Inquiry: A complaint submitted on April 7, 2026, was reviewed. The complaint was difficult to follow, referencing federal agencies, the Nuremberg judgment, and a court case number. The city attorney investigated: the court file number was not real, but the complainant had a mental health history including a civil commitment and a finding of incompetence. The named respondent had no knowledge of the complainant. The board determined the complaint did not allege a violation falling under its jurisdiction. A motion to dismiss was made by Faye Harris, seconded by Timothy Hornseth, and passed unanimously.

Other Business

  • Term Expirations: Two members—Gloria DeBusman and Daniel Borup—have terms expiring at the end of April. Six candidates will be presented to the city council for public comment on April 20, 2026, and the appointing committee will meet on April 30 to make final appointments. The board thanked both members for their service.
  • New City Website: The city launched a new website on April 20, 2026. Going forward, full agenda packets will no longer be published as PDFs to ensure ADA compliance; agendas will contain more links. Board members acknowledged the increased workload for staff.

Key Outcomes

  • Minutes approved (unanimous).
  • Complaint dismissed (unanimous).
  • Next meeting scheduled for May 21, 2026.

Meeting Transcript

So we find out at the end of the year. We are sorry. Okay. Thanks everybody for being here. Looks like we have a full contingent. First thing is to approve the minutes from the last meeting. Do you have any comments or the motion to approve? Make a motion to approve. Okay. All second. All right. Those in favor of approving the minutes from February meeting. All right. Perfect. Next up, any changes to the order of the agenda that you all should have. Okay. Sounds good. Hearing no changes, then we'll go ahead and move on to any reports or increase to report from the city attending office. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing to report on each one. Okay. All right. I do see a couple folks here. We have an open commentary. Does anybody want to make a comment? Okay. If not, then we can we can go ahead and skip through that. All right. Moving on. It looks like our first item of our only item of unfinished business relates to the um updates we had suggested to City Code uh section two-16. And I will again hand it over to the city attorney to present this item. Yes, and if Jody has anything to add, um she can do that. I think just the summary is that the process went smoothly uh through the standard RCA uh for the city council. Um I was not aware of any specific questions or inquiries or concerns from city council members or from administration and um uh process and approval is going smoothly. Great. Joey might need to remind me of um where we're at with the first or second reading. First reading was held April 6th, so now the second and final meeting will happen May 4th. Plus that first council meeting. Yeah, and then if it's read twice, then it becomes adopted automatically. Okay. Great. That's that's exciting. Great to know that we made a little contribution to keeping these up to date there. Super. Okay. Um looks like our item of new business today is an update um on the 311 system. So I see we have some nice notes and a plantation. Um and this is just a follow-up on some conversations we had back in 2024 when uh free one was kind of new. We were hoping it would help us um direct people the right way if they had complaints that were maybe not necessarily ethics complaints that had been coming in on our forum.

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