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MINUTES
Town of Greenburgh Board of Ethics
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
  MINUTES
Town of Greenburgh Board of Ethics
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Town Hall, Lee F. Jackson Conference Room
 
Board Members Present:  Doris Friedman, Esq.; David Schwartz; Tim Hays; Trudy Holand:   Blase J. Spinozzi
Volunteer Counsel:  Joseph Malara, Esq.
  1.  The meeting was convened at 7:07 p.m.  A quorum of the Board of Ethics was present.
 
  1.  Adopted motion to amend agenda to include election of officers.
Election Results:
Blase J. Spinozzi, Chairperson
Trudy Holand, Secretary
Motion to adopt amended agenda and election was unanimous.
 
  1. Adopted the minutes of 8/22/19 meeting.  (Four affirmative, one abstention.)
 
  1. Ethics Training Update:
 
As per email from David Fried of 1/05/20, “All elected officials, except newly elected councilwomen, is up to date.”David’s email includes comments that training is supposed to be performed every three years.Those employees who file Financial Disclosure Forms are due to receive training in 2020. David will look to schedule training once the Town starts its Department Head meetings for 2020.David will look to schedule training as part of those meetings.
 
  1. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE FORMS: 
As per email from David Fried dated 12/6/19, all but four individuals have not filed their Financial Disclosure Form.Mr. Fried said, “The people who are left have ignored repeated attempts by the Town staff to provide their information.”
 
  1. No new correspondence.
 
  1. Citizen Complaints against Councilman Jones.  
(Deliberations to be held in Executive Session)
 
  1.  Request for Advisory Opinion 2019-2.
This opinion was adopted at the last meeting of the board.Since that time the opinion has been put into writing and presented to the BOE.The BOE accepted the opinion as written and consented to have it posted on the Town’s website. (Motion carried three in favor, two abstentions.)
 
 
  1. Expanding BOE and addressing diversity.  Discussion was had as to expanding the board to seven members and waiving the political balance of the board.  The BOE agreed to continue discussion on these topics until next meeting.
 
The BOE also discussed ways we might become more diverse to better reflect the demographics of the community we serve.
 
  1. Clarification on who is required to fill out Financial Disclosure Forms.  Members of advisory boards are not required to file Financial Disclosure Forms; all officers and other boards are obligated by law to file Financial Disclosure Forms.
 
  1.  Public Comments:
 
Hal Samis reiterated his objection to the BOE deliberating on the Jones Complaints in Executive Session.Mr. Samis emphasized the importance of open government and reiterated the history of how the Board of Ethics originated.The BOE thanked Mr. Samis for his very informative and enlightening historical information.
 
  1. The Board moved into Executive Session to discuss the Ken Jones Complaints.  Motion to move into Executive Session was unanimously approved nunc pro tunc. (Motion carried unanimously.)
 
Discussion was had during Executive Session re the aforementioned complaints.The Board has questions regarding the complaints.At this time the board will formulate interrogatories which will be sent to various parties in an effort to answer these

 
  1.  Date for next meeting 6:30 p.m., February 18, 2020.
 
  1.  Meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

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