Travis County Commissioners Court
November 1, 2005
Item 34
34. Consider and take appropriate action on proposed amendents to the Travis County hospital district's ethics policy.
>> good morning. [inaudible - no mic] a couple of weeks ago. Part of our proposed changes were approved by the court. Part were not. There were suggestions made by the court to incorporate an alternative version of what we had originally proposed. This deals with section 015, which is on page 11 of the ethics policy. It's on the last page. And the question was whether or not we could substitute a conflict of interest affidavit for the personal financial disclosure form. The court wasn't enamored with that particular suggestion and suggested that we go back and revisit this with the board members. We did that at our last meeting, the red line language that you see there is what the board has approved in conformance with the Commissioners court suggestions. So the way this is written now, when a board member is applying for a county appointed position or when the president and ceo position is vacant or up for renewal, that candidate will file with the court or with the county clerk a personal financial disclosure form that is in compliance with the ethics code. And then if in fact there is a substantial change to that, that person will notify the chairperson of the board, the board will then -- the board chair will then decide whether or not it's so substantial that it need to be brought to the attention of the Commissioners court. If so, the chairperson will notify the member that they are going to do that and then we will notify the court. That's what this language reflects. The court had asked that we bring it back, so we are bringing it back to you for approval.
>> questions or issues?
>> stacy, when you and trish and I discussed this, there was also an issue related to dr. [indiscernible] working for brackenridge hospital. Because there are some kind of I will call them master contracts with brack, that we may unnecessarily hold up things simply because you have to go through certain time requirements to say hello for the 14th time he works for this. He of course is not participating in those kinds of discussions. But because your schedule is not the same as the Commissioners court schedule, if we meet every Tuesday, it's something that could -- could hinder the work of the -- the hospital board when everybody is being extraordinarily up front again about who he works for. What was the resolution of those discussions?
>> the resolution at the previous Commissioners court, the court approved our suggested changes, which exclude from the definition of certain discretionary contracts and certain key contracting persons, for example, folks that were spouses of board members prior to the creation of the district.
>> got it.
>> or people that were spouses of board members prior to their appointment as board members. People that were employed by -- I think the discretionary contract exemption was for -- it was very limited. It was only for an entity that would either be operating or providing in patient or outpatient hospital services. So it was very limited.
>> it's all been fixed.
>> yes, ma'am.
>> thanks.
>> any other questions or comments? Move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, November 1, 2005 8:22 AM