05.31.2023 - City Council MinutesCity of Clermont
MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL ETHICS TRAINING
May 31, 2023
The City Council met in a noticed training on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. City Attorney Mantzaris called
the meeting to order at 1:30pm with the following Council Members present: Council Members Pines,
Purvis, Entsuah, Gonzalez and Mayor Murry.
Other City officials present were City Attorney Mantzaris and Records Administrator Price.
PRESENTATION
City Attorney Mantzaris introduced the presentation and explained annual ethics training is a state
mandated requirement for all of Florida's municipal elected officials. The presentation was given via
PowerPoint, and covered the following topics:
• Ethics in Government
• Open Meetings Law at the State versus Local Government
• Rights of the Public to Participate to be Heard
• Resolution 2021-003R, Council Rules of Conduct
• Chapter 112, Section 112.3142 Conduct of Elected Officials
• Voting Conflicts
• Financial Disclosures
• Commission on Ethics
• What is a Public Record
• Responding to Public Records
• Sunshine Law
Council discussed the Ethics Commission, what constitutes an ethical violation and who can report a
violation. They went on to discuss public comments at public hearings and the use of speaker cards.
City Attorney Mantzaris informed the Council that if they feel they have a conflict of interest prior to voting
on an item, to contact the Clerk's office preferably prior to the meeting to complete the correct form.
City Attorney Mantzaris spoke on the importance of submitting Financial Disclosures on time and talked
about the new law that passed where in 2024 elected officials will be required to file a Form 6 and all filing
will be completed online.
Discussion ensued regarding public records requests and how to respond to a request, records exemptions
and having to site an exemption when redacting. Council discussed the retention of records, storage of
records and the city's records disposal procedures.
The last topic Council discussed was regarding the Sunshine Law. The discussion included the rules of
having open meetings, what can be discussed at closed litigation sessions and noticing meetings.
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City of Clermont
MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL ETHICS TRAINING
May 31, 2023
With no further comments or questions, the training ended at 4:59pm.
ATTEST:
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Tracy Ackroyd hove, MMC
City Clerk
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APPROVED:
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Tim Murry, y