MEA Newsletter August 2015

1. 1st Quarter General Membership Meeting 15-16 Set for September 14th
2. Form 700 Changes Sought by Ethics Commission on Hold
3. Member MCCP B&C Requests Come Pouring In
4. 2015 MEA Membership Outreach a Great Success – and the Winners Are…
5. MEA Website Gets a Facelift – Coming Soon!!!

1. MEA 1st Quarter General Membership Meeting for 15-16 Monday, September 14, 2015

6-6:30pm

Agenda Includes

Update on MCCP B&C Submissions MEA 14-15 Year-End Financial Report

MEA 2015 Political Action Committee (PAC) Meeting Monday, September 14, 2015

6:30-8:00pm

Presentations on Select SF Ballot Measures: A – Affordable Housing Bond

B – Paid Parental Leave for City Employees C – Expenditure Lobbyists

E – Requirements for Public Meetings K – Surplus Public Lands

– Food and Beverages Provided for Both Meetings –

The meeting will be held at San Francisco Main Library Latino/Hispanic Rooms A&B, 100 Larkin Street at Grove. The Library is closed on Monday nights, so please plan to arrive before 6:00

p.m. If you arrive after 6:00 p.m., you can enter at the far right door of the Grove Street entrance by calling the security office at 415-557-4357. Please remember to RSPV by emailing

staff@sfmea.com or calling 415-989-7244. Refreshments are available starting at 5:30pm.

1. Form 700 Discussions Result in Delay in Implementation of Changes

As a result of MEA’s and the Public Employee Committee’s intervention, plans to expand online filing of Form 700s to thousands of city employees have been postponed. The changes – including centralized online filing for all Form 700 filers and fines for failure to file online – were the subject of meetings between DHR, the Ethics Department, the City Attorney and a number of unions including MEA. A number of concerns were raised about the new protocol which will make the personal information of all filers easily accessible via the Ethics Department website. Foremost was the concern that some departments are currently requiring many more employees to file than are actually required to do so under the state regulations. A secondary concern was that even those employees who likely must file were being required to disclose more information than was required. The regulations clearly state that

a requirement to file must 1) adequately differentiate between designated employees with different powers and responsibilities and 2) relate disclosure to the specific duties of the employee. Therefore, MEA believes prior to any change in filing and posting protocol a department that currently requires filing by all managers should perform a more precise analysis.

Simultaneous with analysis about who must file are discussions about how much detail should be included on the website, what the appropriate enforcement mechanisms are and how those enforcement mechanisms intersect with civil service and other due process rights. MEA and the PEC will continue to work on this but employees should anticipate changes to filing protocol in 2017 as centralized online filing is a priority for the State and the SF Ethics Commission.

1. Member MCCP B&C Requests Come Pouring In

A key element of the revamped MCCP B&C process in 15-16 was the ability of members to self-submit applications for MCCP B&C allocations. That process was concluded in August for most departments, and it appears that nearly 150 MEA represented managers submitted on their own behalf. MEA will be reporting the aggregated data on those submissions at the September 14th meeting and, ultimately, the percentage that resulted in allocations being requested by the departments. As with all experiments, it is too soon to tell if this change will have a substantive impact but if it does, it will move us toward our goal of increased access.

1. 2015 MEA Membership Outreach a Great Success – And  the  W inne rs Are …

When the MEA Board and staff launched a membership outreach campaign in March, we would have considered it a great success to recruit 25 new members. The outcome of our effort, which ended in mid-June far exceeded that modest goal with over 65 new and veteran CCSF, MTA, Court and SFHA managers making a decision to become MEA members. The campaign included meetings at City Hall, 1 South Van Ness, and SFO with each meeting including a drawing among the new members for a

$100 gift card. At the July MEA Board meeting, the final drawings were held and the following MEA members received gift cards valued between $100 and $250. The lucky winners were: Martha Huettl,

Amy Lilly, Janet Martinson, Catherine Miller, Yunice Kim, Kate Breen, Janie White and Stephanie Fisher.  Although MEA Board members were ineligible to participate in the contest, it is worth noting

that all of them brought in new MEA members, with PUC manager Crispin Hollings leading the pack by convincing twelve (12) of his colleagues to join. Our thanks to all who participated in this effort!

1. MEA Website Gets a Facelift – Coming Soon!!!

If you’ve tried to access our website in the last week or so, you were probably greeted with a generic “under construction” note. That’s because our website is undergoing a facelift. We hope the improved website will facilitate more effective two-way communication between MEA and its members, provide you with easier access to information and, ultimately, extend and enhance MEA’s value and image.

SAVE THE DATE: MEA 2015 Holiday Party On Wednesday, December 9 at City Hall

MEA Mission Statement: To enhance the quality of life for all San Franciscans and visitors by promoting sound government practices, supporting professional excellence for our City’s managers, and maintaining the highest ethical standards in the delivery of service to the public.

Municipal Executives’ Association at 870 Market Street, Suite 840, San Francisco, CA 94102 Phone: (415) 989-7244 Fax: (415) 989-7077 Email: staff@sfmea.com. Website: http://www.sfmea.com