PUBLIC SESSION
MEETING CONVENED
Chair Margot Botsford called the meeting to order at 9:35 a.m. Also in attendance were Vice Chair Josefina Martinez, Commissioner Wilbur P. Edwards, Jr., Commissioner Eron Hackshaw, and Commissioner Thomas A. Connors.
REMOTE PARTICIPATION
Chair Botsford announced that the meeting would take place in-person with remote access provided to the public pursuant to the law signed by Governor Healey on March 29, 2023. Chair Botsford noted that all votes at the meeting would be taken by roll call.
APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES
On the motion of Chair Botsford, seconded by Vice Chair Martinez, the Commission voted 4-0 to waive the reading and approve the public session minutes of the April 25, 2024 Commission meeting. Chair Botsford stated that she abstained from the vote as she had not attended the April 25th meeting.
| Chair Botsford | Abstain |
| Vice Chair Martinez | Yes |
| Commissioner Edwards | Yes |
| Commissioner Hackshaw | Yes |
| Commissioner Connors | Yes |
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Executive Director David A. Wilson presented his monthly report.
Personnel
Mr. Wilson reminded the Commission that the agency is participating as a host organization in the Professional Fellows Program sponsored by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through their Global Leaders Division. Mr. Wilson noted that the Commission’s hosting team for the fellowship is being led by Senior Assistant General Counsel T. Michael McDonald. At Mr. Wilson’s request, Mr. McDonald introduced and welcomed Professional Fellow Emily Flores, and noted that she has spent her career focused on governmental transparency and anti-corruption issues in Honduras. Mr. McDonald thanked the Legal Division for conducting conflict of interest law training for Ms. Flores, and thanked Senior Public Information Officer Gerry Tuoti for providing Ms. Flores with a general overview of the Public Education and Communications Division and helping her complete the conflict of interest law online training program. Mr. McDonald reported that Ms. Flores accompanied General Counsel/Legal Division Chief Eve Slattery to the MCLE Municipal Law Conference the previous day. Chair Botsford asked whether there are similar conflict of interest and financial disclosures laws in Honduras. Ms. Flores explained that, while public employees are regulated by some ethics laws, the government has very limited enforcement power to enforce those laws and does not have services like the Attorney of the Day to prevent conflicts of interest in the first place. She said that she hopes to learn more about the conflict of interest law from the Commission to help implement policy reforms to reduce corruption and promote transparency in Honduras.
Budget
Mr. Wilson provided an update on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget process. He stated that the Governor’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget recommendation only includes $3,634,121 in funding for the Commission. Mr. Wilson reported that the Senate Committee on Ways and Means released their budget recommendations with the same level of funding for the Commission as the Governor’s budget and the House budget. He said that, over the past few weeks, he and Government Affairs Officer Jennifer McCullough met with Senators Rodrigues, Tarr, Lewis, Moore, Keenan, and O’Connor and Representatives Barrett and Ferrante to further advocate for the Commission’s full Fiscal Year 2025 budget request of $3,942,219. Mr. Wilson reported that, as a result, Senator Moore filed an amendment to the budget recommendations released by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means to increase funding for the Commission to approximately $3,800,000, about a $169,000 increase over the House budget. Mr. Wilson further reported that, while there were several cosponsors to the amendment, the amendment was subsequently redrafted and approved to increase funding for the Commission by only the $30,000 required to fund the development of additional branched content in the Commission’s online conflict of interest law training program for legislative staffers.
Mr. Wilson noted that he and Ms. McCullough will soon meet with four additional legislators in advance of the convening of the legislative Conference Committee which will reconcile the differences between the House and Senate budget bills. He explained that, if the Commission does not receive its full budget request, it will likely not be able to fund a new Commission paid internship program and a new Public Education and Communications Division staff position to provide technical assistance and application support for the online learning management system, the legacy SFI system, and new legal case management system. Chair Botsford asked whether the Commission could seek a grant to provide funding for a new Commission paid internship program. Mr. Wilson said that he was uncertain whether the Commission could legally accept funding through grants and noted that a paid internship would allow interns to focus on gaining valuable work experience without compromising their financial stability. Commissioner Hackshaw said that the Boston Bar Association’s Summer Fellowship Program and the Boston College Law School’s Rappaport Fellows Program provide law school students with paid internship opportunities in the public sector. Chair Botsford said that the Northeastern University’s cooperative education program may provide students with paid opportunities in public interest settings as well. Mr. Wilson noted that two new workstations are on track to be installed in the Commission’s office before the end of this fiscal year and will be available for use by future Commission interns.
New Commissioner
Mr. Wilson stated that there is nothing new to report regarding the appointment of a new commissioner to succeed Vice Chair Martinez.
Next Meeting
Mr. Wilson reminded the Commission that the next Commission meeting is scheduled for June 20, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. Following discussion, the Commission scheduled subsequent meetings for July 18, 2024 at 9:30 a.m., August 22, 2024 at 9:30 a.m., and September 19, 2024 at 9:30 a.m.
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
General Counsel/Legal Division Chief Eve Slattery discussed the Commission’s evaluation process of the Executive Director, which was previously conducted by Commissioners Martinez and Hackshaw in June 2021. She recommended that two Commissioners volunteer to meet with Commission staff individually to solicit feedback regarding the job performance of the Executive Director. Ms. Slattery stated that they will also meet with the Executive Director separately to review his core competencies and major job responsibilities and would present their report to the Commission in public session at an upcoming Commission meeting. Commissioners Hackshaw and Connors volunteered to conduct the evaluation of the job performance of the Executive Director.
COMPENSATION OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mr. Wilson explained that the Commission had previously approved his request for a 4% salary increase effective July 2023, followed by a second salary increase of 4% effective January 2024, for the Commission’s “Non-Unit 6 employees,” other than himself, to maintain parity between their compensation and the compensation of Commission employees paid according to the NAGE Unit 6 Collective Bargaining Agreement salary schedule (referred to as “Unit 6 employees”). Mr. Wilson said he is now requesting that the Commission approve for him as Executive Director the same cost-of-living increases that the Commission’s “Unit 6” and “Non-Unit 6” employees have already received.
On the motion of Chair Botsford, seconded by Vice Chair Martinez, the Commission voted 5-0 to approve the same cost of living increases to the salary of the Executive Director, retroactive to the same extent as those previously approved for other “Non-Unit 6” employees.
| Chair Botsford | Yes |
| Vice Chair Martinez | Yes |
| Commissioner Edwards | Yes |
| Commissioner Hackshaw | Yes |
| Commissioner Connors | Yes |
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION MATTERS
Public Education and Communications Division Chief David Giannotti thanked Mr. Tuoti for presenting the Division report at the prior Commission meeting.
Mr. Giannotti reported that over 100 public employees had so far registered for the in-house seminar scheduled for May 30, 2024. He noted that Ms. Flores is planning to attend the seminar as well as travel with Mr. Giannotti to the State Police General Headquarters in Framingham to observe a conflict of interest law briefing at an Executive Office of Public Safety and Security training session for summer interns and then travel to Southbridge to observe a conflict of interest law seminar for Associate Court Officers at the Trial Court Officer Academy.
Mr. Giannotti reported that the Division and its online conflict of interest law training vendor, SkillBurst Interactive, provided a well-received live training session to 287 local administrators for over an hour yesterday about the administrative functions of the conflict of interest law online training learning management system, including generating compliance reports, managing user accounts, sending reminder messages, and accommodating employees who work for multiple municipalities or agencies. He noted that a recording of the live training session will be made available on YouTube for the local administrators. Mr. Giannotti thanked Senior Program Coordinator Arthur Xia for administering the videoconference and both Mr. Tuoti and Mr. Xia for managing the questions and answer component of the training session. He also expressed his gratitude to Steve Gluckman at Skillburst Interactive for donating his time to provide the instruction.
Mr. Giannotti provided an update on the replacement of the Commission’s legacy case management system, Ethos. He reported that he and Information Technology Specialist Tony Webb are working with the vendor, Arbola, on the data migration process. Mr. Giannotti explained that the vendor is building modules that will reflect the business workflows of the Commission. He noted that the launch of the new application is scheduled for June 25, 2024. Mr. Giannotti thanked Enforcement Division Chief Monica Brookman and Legal Division Staff Counsel Norah Mallam for reviewing and providing feedback on the modules to ensure that they accurately reflect the business workflows of the Commission. He noted that User Acceptance Testing will soon begin, which will require Commission staff to test and verify whether the modules meet the needs of the Commission. Chair Botsford asked whether other agencies will utilize the new case management system. Mr. Giannotti explained that the new system is an enterprise case management solution for multiple state agencies. He reported that, at present, five state agencies, including the Commission, will soon begin using the new system, with other state agencies soon to follow.
Mr. Giannotti reported that the work to provide a closed captioning of the online conflict of interest law training program and the summaries of the conflict of interest law into Haitian Creole has been completed by the vendor. He explained that the conflict of interest law training is in English with closed captioning available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese. Mr. Giannotti noted that Mr. Tuoti secured the services of a third-party translation service to review the initial translations completed by the vendor. He said that he expects that the Haitian Creole translations would be completed by the end of the fiscal year.
Mr. Giannotti reported that Mr. Webb will be conducting cybersecurity training for Commission staff later today.
LEGAL DIVISION MATTERS
General Counsel/Legal Division Chief Eve Slattery reported on the activities of the Legal Division.
Legal Division Metrics for April 2024
Ms. Slattery presented the following Legal Division metrics for April 2024.
- Written advice. The Legal Division answered by letter or e-mail 104 written requests for advisory opinions under G.L. c. 268A and c. 268B. Of these requests, 38 pertained to SFIs.
| April 2023 (same month prior year) (total/SFI): | 57/4 |
| March 2024 (previous month) (total/SFI): | 62/20 |
- Oral advice. The Legal Division attorneys provided advice by telephone in response to 673 requests for advice from state, county, and municipal officials. Of these requests, 104 pertained to SFIs.
| April 2023 (same month prior year) (total/SFI): | 519/17 |
| March 2024 (previous month) (total/SFI): | 478/134 |
- Review of municipal letters. Division staff reviewed 2 letters issued by city solicitors/town counsel pursuant to G.L. c. 268A, § 22 and 930 CMR 1.03.
| April 2023 (same month prior year): | 3 |
| March 2024 (previous month): | 2 |
- Backlog. As of May 9, 2024, the Division has 0 pending requests for written advice that is more than 30 days old. There are a total of 15 pending requests for written advice.
Adjudicatory Matters
Ms. Slattery presented the May/June calendar of conferences/hearings in pending Commission adjudicatory proceedings. She explained that, since there are many overlapping facts in the Daniel Galvis and Gilda Galvis matters, she would recommend that the same Commissioner is assigned to both matters as the presiding officer.
In the Matter of Daniel Galvis, Docket No. 24-0006 and In the Matter of Gilda Galvis, Docket No. 24-0007 (Orders to Show Cause issued April 25, 2024): Chair Botsford was assigned as the presiding officer. Assistant General Counsel Christopher N. Popov will serve as legal advisor.
In the Matter of Scott Callahan, Docket No. 24-0013 (Order to Show Cause issued May 9, 2024): Commissioner Connors was assigned as the presiding officer. Staff Counsel Amy Bressler Nee will serve as legal advisor.
Litigation Matters
Ms. Slattery reported that there are no updates on pending litigation matters.
Trainings
Ms. Slattery reported that Legal Division Deputy Chief/SFI Lauren Duca made a presentation on the conflict of interest law and financial disclosure law as part of the Judicial Ethics Program for new judges. She further reported that, she also made a presentation for the MCLE Municipal Law Conference about the conflict of interest law.
SFI Report
Ms. Duca provided an update on Statements of Financial Interests (SFI) for Calendar Year 2023. She said that the filing deadline for appointed public employees was May 1, 2024. Ms. Duca reported that, as of this date, only five of the approximately 3,800 people still needed to file, all of whom are former public employees. She stated that the SFI Team sent filing reminders to those who have not yet filed in addition to the automatic filing reminders sent by the SFI system. Ms. Duca noted that the SFI Team will continue to notify the former public employees who have not yet filed by phone, e-mail, and/or mail to get them filed. She further reported that the SFI Team responded to 566 phone and e-mail inquiries in April from filers seeking technical and legal assistance with their SFI filing. Ms. Duca reported that there are currently 45 elected public officials who still need to file an SFI for Calendar Year 2023 by the May 31, 2024 filing deadline.
Chair Botsford thanked Mr. Tuoti for assisting her last week to access the conflict of interest law online learning platform to acknowledge receipt of the summary of the law.
ENFORCEMENT DIVISION MATTERS
Enforcement Division Chief Monica Brookman presented the Enforcement Intake Metrics. Ms. Brookman reported that, while the Enforcement Division received more complaints in April and May, the intake backlog decreased from 20 to 15 last month. She said that she hopes that that the Division will further reduce the intake backlog to around 10 this month.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
At 10:39 a.m., on the motion of Chair Botsford, seconded by Vice Chair Martinez, the Commission voted 5-0 to enter executive session to discuss matters subject to the provisions of G.L. c. 30A, § 21, subparagraph (a)(7), and § 18, and G.L. c. 268B, §§ 3 and 4, including investigatory matters, preliminary inquiries, summons authorization requests, and adjudicatory matters.
| Chair Botsford | Yes |
| Vice Chair Martinez | Yes |
| Commissioner Edwards | Yes |
| Commissioner Hackshaw | Yes |
| Commissioner Connors | Yes |
Chair Botsford stated that the Commission would not reconvene in public session following the executive session.
LIST OF DOCUMENTS USED AT THIS MEETING
- Agenda for the Commission Meeting of May 23, 2024
- Minutes of the Commission Meeting of April 25, 2024 Public Session
- Memorandum dated May 16, 2024 from Public Education and Communications Division Chief David Giannotti to the Commission concerning Public Education and Communications Division activities in April 2024
- Memorandum dated May 9, 2024 from General Counsel/Legal Division Chief Eve Slattery to the Commission setting forth Legal Division matters for the meeting
- Calendar of hearing dates and pre-hearing conferences in pending Commission adjudicatory matters
- Enforcement Intake Metrics
Respectfully submitted,
Arthur Xia
Senior Program Coordinator