HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 02 City Council Training
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 1/2/2024
Meeting Type: Work Session
Staff Contact/Dept.: Mary Bridget Smith/CAO
Staff Phone No: 541-744-4061
Estimated Time: 30 Minutes
S P R I N G F I E L D
C I T Y C O U N C I L
Council Goals: Mandate
ITEM TITLE: CITY COUNCIL TRAINING
ACTION
REQUESTED:
Participate in City Council training discussion about Public Meetings and the
Oregon Tort Claims Act.
ISSUE
STATEMENT:
As public officials, City Councilors are subject to various laws and City
Administrative Regulations that could subject the City or individual Councilors to
liability. Trainings can help minimize those risks and build the Council’s knowledge
base and effectiveness.
ATTACHMENTS: 1: Council Briefing Memorandum
2: Ethics, Public Meeting and Records Training Highlights
3: City Council Training Resources
4: PowerPoint Presentation
DISCUSSION/
FINANCIAL
IMPACT:
Consistent training is an effective method for building the Council’s knowledge base
and minimizing liability. This work session will focus on public meetings and the
Oregon Tort Claims Act.
Attachment 1 is a Council Briefing Memorandum that summarizes the topics
discussed in this work session. Attachments 2 and 3 are updated reference
documents from previous trainings and contain information about public official
ethics, public meetings and records laws, and training resources available from
organizations like the League of Oregon Cities.
M E M O R A N D U M City of Springfield
Date: 1/2/2024
To: Nancy Newton, City Manager COUNCIL
From: Mary Bridget Smith, City Attorney BRIEFING
Subject: Council Training 2024 MEMORANDUM
ISSUE: As public officials, City Councilors are subject to various laws and City Administrative
Regulations that could subject the City or individual Councilors to liability. Trainings can help
to minimize those risks and build the Council’s knowledge base and effectiveness.
COUNCIL GOALS/MANDATE:
Council Goals: Mandate
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this memorandum is to provide the Council with information
about the topics discussed in the January 2, 2024, work session.
Public Meeting Law Changes
HB 2805 modified several aspects of public meetings including new definitions, expanded
enforcement and an additional training requirement.
New Definitions. ORS 192.610 was amended to codify pre-existing case law to add definitions
for the terms ‘convene’ and ‘deliberation.’ Convene means either gathering in a physical
location, using technology to communicate contemporaneously among participants (virtual
meeting), serial electronic written communication (email/texts) or using an intermediary to
communicate among participants. This would occur when a person talks and passes information
between at least a quorum of council or board members.
HB 2805 further clarifies that the public meeting requirements do not apply to communications
between nor among members of a governing body that are:
1) purely factual or educational in nature and that convey no deliberation or decision on
any matter that might reasonably come before the governing body;
2) do not relate to any matter that, at any time, could reasonably be foreseen to come
before the governing body for deliberation and decision; or
3) non-substantive in nature such as scheduling, leaves of absences and other similar
matters.
Expanded Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) Public Meeting Enforcement. Prior
to HB 2805, OGEC’s public meeting violation enforcement was limited to executive sessions.
Now it has the authority to oversee all public meeting violations. Persons must first file their
grievance with the public body who will then have 21 days to respond to the person and OGEC
in writing. The public body can respond, rescind the decision or cure by holding a properly
noticed and conducted public meeting within 45 days of the original decision. The subsequent
public meeting must state that the original decision was made in violation of Oregon public
meetings law, good cause exists for the public body to not rescind the decision, and the public
body’s practices will be modified to avoid future violations. Finally, a governing body may be
subject to civil penalties if OGEC finds a violation.
New OGEC Public Meeting Training. Every member of a governing body of a public body with
total expenditures for a fiscal year of $1 million or more shall attend or view training on public
meetings prepared by OGEC at least once per term. OGEC’s website states that coordination
Attachment 1, Page 1 of 2
MEMORANDUM 1/2/2024 Page 2
and trainings will start in January 2024. Members who miss the training could be subject to a
civil penalty if they are later found to violate public law.
Oregon Tort Claim Act
The Oregon Tort Claims Act (OTCA) is a series of statutes that creates a partial waiver of the
sovereign immunity of the government, subject to certain procedural constraints and limits on
damages. Sovereign immunity is the concept that the government cannot be sued without its
consent and was derived from British common law doctrine based on the idea that the King
could do no wrong. The OTCA is the sole cause of action for a tort committed by officers,
employees or agents of a public body acting within the scope of their employment or duties and
eligible for representation and indemnification…” ORS 30.265.
Tort is defined as the breach of a legal duty that is imposed by law, other than a duty arising
from contract or quasi-contract, the breach of which results in injury to a specific person or
persons for which the law provides a civil right of action for damages or for a protective remedy.
Acting beyond the scope of their employment or duties means acting with “malfeasance” or with
“willful or wanton neglect of duty.” ORS 30.285. Finally, the OTCA states that employees and
officers will be represented and indemnified by the public body. In the case of the City of
Springfield, it is represented by City County Insurance Services (CIS) who will hire litigation
counsel to represent the City and any named employees.
The OTCA provides that persons must provide a notice to public bodies or their officers,
employees, or agents to preserve the right to file a tort claim. ORS 30.275(1). Specifically, a
plaintiff must provide a notice of claim for wrongful death within one year of the loss or injury
and within 180 days for any other claim. ORS 30.275(2). Usually, the notice is a letter or
completion of the City’s claim form that puts the City on notice that it may be subject to a claim.
This notice gives the City and CIS the opportunity to investigate the claim before a lawsuit is
filed.
In addition to the above notice requirements, the OTCA imposes damage limitations on claims.
The Office of the State Court Administrator calculates the annual adjustment to the limitations
on claims as per statute. The adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers, West Region (All Items), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the
United States Department of Labor and may not exceed three percent for any year.
Oregon Tort Claim Liability Limits July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024:
Public Body Claimant(s) Claim Adjusted Limit
state single injury or death $ 2,490,600
state multiple injury or death $ 4,981,300
local single injury or death $ 830,300
local Multiple injury or death $ 1,660,400
state or local single property damage or destruction $ 136,200
state or local multiple property damage or destruction $ 680,900
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Participate in Council training work session and provide
direction about future training topics and opportunities.
Attachment 1, Page 2 of 2
Springfield City Council
Ethics/Public Meeting and Records Training Highlights
Updated December 2023
1
1. The Oregon Government Ethics Law
Scope of the Oregon Government Ethics Law
• Applies to all elected and appointed officials, employees, and volunteers at all
levels of state and local government in all three branches.
• Prohibits use of public office for financial gain.
• Requires public disclosure of financial conflicts of interest.
• Requires designated elected and appointed officials to file an annual disclosure of
sources of economic interest.
• Limits gifts that an official may receive per calendar year.
• Found in Oregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 244. See the attached Ethics and
Standards of Conduct document for more complete information.
No Financial Gain from serving as a Public Official
Oregon’s ethics laws prohibit every public official from gaining a financial benefit or
avoiding a financial cost due to his or her position, with very few exceptions. Public
employees and volunteers are public officials.
Some financial benefits are legally exempt from the rule against financial gain. In brief,
the exceptions include:
• A benefit in an official compensation package;
• An “honorarium” in connection with a public duty that is valued less than $50 or
is related to the official’s private profession or expertise;
• Reimbursement for expenses;
• An unsolicited professional achievement award; and
• Gifts that meet certain limitations described in ORS 244.020.
Conflicts of Interest
A conflict exists whenever a decision or recommendation by a public official could or
would financially impact that public official or their relative. An elected official (and
appointed board and commission members) with an actual conflict of interest must
publicly announce the nature of the conflict at each public meeting where the conflict
arises and may NOT vote or participate in the discussion or debate. An official with a
potential conflict of interest must publicly announce the nature of the conflict at each
meeting where the conflict arises but may vote and participate in the discussion.
The difference between an actual conflict of interest and a potential conflict of interest is
determined by the words “would” and “could”: an actual conflict would affect a financial
interest of the official or official’s relative; a potential conflict could affect a financial
interest of the official or official’s relative.
Gifts
A gift is something of economic value that is offered to a public official (or their
relative/household member) without cost or at a discount and not made available to
members of the general public.
Attachment 2, Page 1 of 4
2
When a public official receives a gift:
• Determine the value of the gift (including the value of other gifts from the same
source during the calendar year).
• Determine if the source of the gift has a legislative or administrative interest in
the public officials’ decisions.
• If the source does not have a legislative or administrative interest in the public
officials’ decisions, then accepting unlimited gifts is ok.
• If the source does have a legislative or administrative interest in the public
officials’ decisions, then the $50 limit from one source in the calendar year
applies.
Annual Verified Statement of Economic Interest
Planning Commissioners must file an Annual Verified Statements of Economic Interest
(SEI) online. Notifications and instructions for e-filing will primarily be sent to SEI filers
electronically via email. OGEC requires the contact person for each jurisdiction to
maintain and provide email addresses for each SEI filer in addition to the other relevant
contact information.
2. Public Meetings & Public Records Law
Public Meetings Must Be Public
Oregon’s public meetings law requires all meetings of the governing body of a public
body to be open to the public, unless the meeting is held in executive session.
A “meeting” is any convening of a governing body of a public body for which a quorum
is required to make a decision or deliberate toward a decision on any matter. In other
words, it is a “meeting” any time a majority of the Council are gathering information for
or deliberating toward a decision on any matter and must be open to the public under
the public meeting law.
There are some exceptions that apply to the Springfield City Council. For example,
public meeting requirements do not apply to:
1. purely factual or educational in nature and that convey no deliberation or
decision on any matter that might reasonably come before the governing body;
2. do not relate to any matter that, at any time, could reasonably be foreseen to
come before the governing body for deliberation and decision; or
3. non-substantive in nature such as scheduling, leaves of absences and other
similar matters.
The term ‘convene’ means traditional in person meetings and also includes the virtual
meeting format, serial electronic written communication (email/texts/DM’s) or using an
intermediary to communicate among participants.
Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) Public Meeting has the authority to
oversee all public meeting violations and a governing body may be subject to civil
penalties if OGEC finds a violation. The process includes the complaining party to file
Attachment 2, Page 2 of 4
3
their grievance with the public body who will then response and potentially cure the
violation.
Springfield City Councilors will be required to attend OGEC training on public meetings at
least once per term.
Public Records Overview
Generally, every person in Oregon has a right to inspect any public record for any
reason. A “public record” is any writing that contains information related to the conduct
of the public’s business, that is prepared, used, owned, or retained by a public body
(which includes the Council), regardless of the physical form of the writing. For
example, an email on a private email server (like Gmail) is a public record if it relates to
the conduct of the public’s business.
The public records law requires public bodies to retain a record or copy of the record
and make it reasonably available for public inspection. Most public records can only be
destroyed or disposed of based on a schedule set by the State Archivist. A public body
may charge a reasonable fee for public records requests to cover the actual cost of
making the record available to the public.
Public Records Exempt from Disclosure
There is a long list of specific public records that are exempt from disclosure. Most
exempt public records may be disclosed if the public interest requires disclosure. The
most common types of exempt public records include records related to employees,
litigation, trade secrets, personnel discipline actions, operational plans to respond to
public safety threats and records that would reveal weaknesses in security measures,
social security numbers, and some records related to law enforcement. A full list of
exemptions can be found in ORS 192.345 to 355.
If only part of a public record is exempt from disclosure, that part must be redacted or
separated, and the rest of the record made public.
3. Duty to Act as an Impartial Tribunal
Parties that appear in front of the City Council when it is acting in its quasi-judicial land
use capacity have a right to an impartial tribunal. An impartial tribunal is one free of
actual bias and actual conflicts of interest, and free of undisclosed ex-parte conflicts.
Bias/Conflict of Interest
There are two types of bias: prejudgment and personal interest (also called a “conflict of
interest”). Bias requires an actual, not just apparent, prejudgment or personal interest
in the outcome. 1000 Friends of Oregon v. Wasco County Court, 304 Or 76, 83, 742 P2d
39 (1987). Actual bias due to prejudgment is established by explicit statements,
pledges, or commitments that the elected local official has prejudged the specific matter
before the tribunal. Columbia Riverkeeper v. Clatsop Cty., 267 Or. App. 578, 609–10
(2014). Actual bias due to personal interest occurs when the decision-maker would
benefit financially from a particular outcome. See also “Conflicts of Interest” above.
Attachment 2, Page 3 of 4
4
Ex-Parte Communications
An ex-parte communication is any communication with a decision-maker outside a public
hearing regarding a matter that is relevant to the decision. When there has been an ex-
parte contact, disclose the substance of the contact on the record and offer the parties
the right for rebuttal. ORS 227.180(3).
Questions?
Contact legal counsel at any time if you have questions.
Springfield City Attorney’s Office
225 Fifth Street, Suite 510
Springfield, OR 97477
Main Line: 541-744-4061
springfieldcao@springfield-or.gov
City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith: mbsmith@springfield-or.gov
Assistant City Attorney Kristina Kraaz: kskraaz@springfield-or.gov
Attachment 2, Page 4 of 4
CITY COUNCIL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
FROM THE LEAGUE OF OREGON CITIES, OGEC AND CIS
Updated December 2023
1
League of Oregon Cities (LOC): The League has several options for elected officials to
access training such as written materials, webinars, and recorded training opportunities.
Elected Essentials Training:
The LOC’s Elected Essentials program provides newly elected officials, experienced elected
officials, and City staff with free training on the basics of municipal governance in Oregon. Held
live in December 2020, the recordings include live Q&A sessions. The recordings include five
separate sessions on the following topics:
• Roles & Authority of a High Functioning Council
• Public Meetings in Oregon – Legal Requirements & Best Practices
• Ethics Awareness – Understanding Your Legal Obligations
• Public Records in Oregon – What City Officials Need to Know
• Legal Powers & Impediments Affecting Elected Officials
Online Materials: LOC also provides some helpful resources for elected officials.
• League of Oregon Cities Training: League of Oregon Cities Training Webpage.
• Oregon Municipal Handbook: A comprehensive resource providing city officials an
understanding of the purpose, structure, authority and nuances of municipal governance
in Oregon.
• Local Government Basics: A written resource on 10 essential topics for elected officials.
Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC): Oregon Public Official Guide is a
comprehensive guide on government ethics for public officials.
OGEC Training:
OGEC offers free online training. Training modules are short, focused, and convenient. There
are no-cost trainings on several topics, including conflicts of interest, gifts, and executive
sessions.
Annual Verified Statement of Economic Interest:
The Electronic Filing System website to register a new account or sign into an existing account
is available here: https://apps.oregon.gov/OGEC/EFS. OGEC has created a helpful instructional
video that walks you through how to use the Electronic Filing System and the online SEI form.
That video is available on the OGEC website:https://www.oregon.gov/ogec/training/Pages/SEI-
Filer-Training.aspx.
CIS:
CIS Learning Center:
(Note this link takes you to the same login page you access for discrimination/harassment
trainings. Please contact CAO if you have questions about the CIS Learning Center or about the
discrimination/harassment training). In-person, free online training and resources that include
instructor-led training, webinars, regional trainings, risk management library with over 400
courses.
Attachment 3, Page 1 of 2
CITY COUNCIL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
FROM THE LEAGUE OF OREGON CITIES, OGEC AND CIS
Updated December 2023
2
Some popular courses for elected officials include:
• Politics Here, Politics There, Politics Everywhere! What Local Governments can do to
Address Politics in their Workplaces
• Progressive Discipline: Does it Really Matter?
• Insight to Oregon Government Ethics Laws
• Unconscious Bias
• Sexual Harassment and Abusive Conduct Prevention – Employee Course
• Harassment, Equal Employment and Other Laws that Matter to You
• Cyber Security Basics
• Ethics and Code of Conduct
Attachment 3, Page 2 of 2
Springfield City Council
Annual Training
Presented by the Springfield City Attorney’s Office January 2, 2024
Attachment 4, Page 1 of 7
Purpose
Attachment 4, Page 2 of 7
Topics
Attachment 4, Page 3 of 7
Public
Meeting
Law
Changes
Attachment 4, Page 4 of 7
Oregon Tort
Claims Act
Attachment 4, Page 5 of 7
Oregon Tort
Claims Act
Attachment 4, Page 6 of 7
Conclusion
Attachment 4, Page 7 of 7