Council cautioned to disclose potential conflicts

The Kalispell City Council discussed ethics and public perception at Monday’s work session, after allegations were made against two council members for their votes to repeal transportation impact fees.

In a letter to the editor Sunday, four volunteers who resigned from the city’s Impact Fee Advisory Committee argued that public confidence in the vote was diminished by Mayor Tammi Fisher’s work for Kalispell Regional Medical Center and council member Phil Guiffrida’s work for Fed Ex.

Both council members voted to repeal the fees, a move that passed 5-3 with council member Wayne Saverud absent at a Feb. 6 meeting.

That outcome means Kalispell Regional Medical Center will not have to pay about $80,000 of transportation impact fees for its ongoing $42 million expansion.

The four, former volunteers — Roxanne Brothers, Sharon DeMeester, Karlene Khor and Brenda Talbert — also raised the possibility that Guiffrida voted for an action that might refund fees to the company he works for, but that is apparently not the case.

Charles Harball, city attorney and interim city manager, said Monday he believes there were no ethical violations as a result of the vote, but cautioned council members to disclose their potential conflicts and be mindful of public perception.

Harball discussed legislative actions which affect the entire city, such as the repeal of transportation impact fees, as well as executive and judicial actions that do not.

“I was going to throw some hypothetical situations out there, but I think we have enough hypotheticals that aren’t so hypothetical,” Harball said.

As a lawyer, Fisher said she works on physician contracts for Kalispell Regional Medical Center and has nothing to do with its construction projects or contracts.

Fisher disclosed that client relationship before voting to repeal the fees, both to the council and to the Commissioner of Political Practices. She said Tuesday she has not heard back from that state body.

Guiffrida did not disclose his relationship with Fed Ex before voting to repeal the fees, but does not actually work for the company. He is actually a subcontractor to a contractor.

Further, Fed Ex does not own the building where it operates and will not receive any refund through the repeal of the transportation impact fees.

Kalispell has no code of ethics, so such issues are covered by the code of ethics the state Legislature adopted in 1972. It applies to all state and local government employees and officials, Harball said.

Some Montana cities have their own codes of ethics. Council member Randy Kenyon said he would support Kalispell developing one, largely to help educate council members about the state code of ethics and to stress the importance of public perception.

“I can honestly say in the 12 years I’ve been on council I have not come across one incident that was even close to an ethical violation. I want to make that clear,” Kenyon said.

Fisher said she would not be opposed to developing a local code of ethics for Kalispell government. But other council members questioned the need.

“I will agree with Randy. I haven’t seen anything where you could pin it down as being an unethical situation,” council member Jim Atkinson said. “I guess I would feel it would be an exercise not in futility, but we have other things we need to do more than what this is.”

Having missed the vote to repeal transportation impact fees because of a scheduling conflict, Saverud asked that City Council wait until all members are present to vote on substantive issues.

He said he was upset a motion to table the vote failed.

“If someone is gone and there is reason to think that person wants to have input, and it’s not a time-sensitive matter, I think it would be very appropriate to support a motion to table,” he said.

“I think there was a sense of a steamroller in the works. I would flatter myself if I thought I could have changed one or two votes. I’m not suggesting that. But it’s a matter of perception and basic right. So in the future I would encourage you to consider that.”

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.