02/28/1979 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regarding the calendar for scheduled events, Manager said the League of Oregon Cities Congressional breakfast was scheduled Tuesday morning from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. He will determine individual appointments with the Congressional delegation and include that in the packet for Council. It was noted the League of Oregon Cities usually set up meetings with individual congressmen. However, this year they were not doing so. Mayor Keller suggested Councilors inquire at the League of Oregon Cities break- fast to see why that service has been disbanded. e v. Conflict of Interest Determination of Community Develo ment Committee CDC Member--Memo and materials distributed. Manager said a CDC member, Alan Garten, had applied for a rehabilitation grant. Subsequently, he was appointed to the CDC. He has not received approval of the grant as yet, and has been advised there may be a conflict of interest. Don Laird, City Attorney, did a legal review and concluded there was not a legal conflict of interest because the CDC advises on policy, but does not pass on individual loans. Manager said there was a serious question regarding having a member of such an advisory committee participate in a program, or during his tenure as a member, be awarded a loan or grant under a program on which policy guidelines are set by the same committee. He said it becomes a City Council policy matter for decision. In Manager's opinion, it would set an undesirable precedent for a committee member, while serving on the committee, to be awarded a grant or low-interest loan as opposed to obtaining such before or after leaving the committee. The legal opinion states, until Council makes a determination, Mr. Garten may participate in discussions of the committee but may not vote on issues ~ before the CDC. Paul Osborn, HCC, indicated in addition to Mr. Garten, Jan Newton, also may have a conflict of interest. She had applied for a rehab loan before joining the committee. She has already assumed a position on the committee and has been voting. She was informed by staff there would be a conflict of interest, and thus, she never pursued it after that point. Therefore, determination regarding conflict of interest would be made for both individuals. Don Laird, City Attorney, said in his review of HUD regulations, there is a blanket prohibition against anyone who has policy-making or recommending authority to a City government partaking in any of their programs. However, an exceptions procedure was set forth, at outlined in the memo. Council should decide whether it wants to set guidelines as to whether certain people can or cannot receive loans from the City because of membership on the committees. Basically, the loan would be legal, but Council should carefully consider possible repercussions on future loans. He said a disadvantage to not allow the loans would be the City's penalizing people serving on advisory groups. An advantage for granting the loans stated was that a person who had gone through the loan process might be more useful to the committee. He said issues to be considered were: 1) Even though a person would not have influence on the loan, could they ~ 2/28/79--8 /30