Council to vote Monday on ethics, policy manual

The Kalispell City Council last week took one last look at a “policies and procedures” manual intended to serve its members as an orientation guide and ethics policy.

They plan to vote Monday to adopt the 10-page document. It covers everything from city budgeting and powers to the roles of various city leaders, legal and ethical standards, communications and meeting and voting procedures.

Council members have shied away from trying to regulate local ethics more tightly with far-reaching disclosure requirements, a direction some of them have said could cause more problems than it fixes.

But questions have remained over how or when part-time council members should disclose personal or professional connections that could color or be perceived as coloring their public decisions.

State law says council members must not vote if they have a conflict of interest.

But how should they handle situations where there’s not an actual conflict, only a possible appearance of impropriety?

A proposed manual amendment says council members “should resolve any such judgment calls or questions in favor of disclosure” so others can make their own independent assessments about the appropriateness of an action taken.

Asked for guidance on the issue, City Attorney Charlie Harball said council members should consider the appearance of their actions. One example used was if a council member wanted to vote on a matter involving a former employer.

“I would advise you to disclose that,” Harball said. “If for no reason other than someone else might before you do and that doesn’t look good.”

ANOTHER NOT-so-hypothetical example emerged from public comments at the Feb. 25 work session.

Local bankruptcy attorney Jim Cossitt asked if Mayor Tammi Fisher should have disclosed that Applied Water Consulting was a client of her law firm before she voted along with other council members to award Applied Water and CTA Industrial Hygiene & Environmental a contract for up to $170,000 at the last regular City Council meeting.

Fisher did not attend the work session. When reached for comment the next day, she defended her decision to vote and not disclose anything.

Fisher said her partner in Fisher and Bodman Law Firm represented Applied Water Consulting in a subdivision foreclosure, that the case closed months ago and that she derived no financial benefit from the work.

She added that she did not serve on the city selection committee that recommended the business for the contract, the business did lots of good work for the city before she was elected mayor and she stands to gain nothing from the business getting the contract.

“I guess it would have been nice if he [Cossitt] was going to lambaste me or a good company if I would at least be present for it,” Fisher said.

If Cossitt wants a policy that requires working attorneys on the council to disclose every client for whom they work, that’s something he can push for, but it would probably prevent any other lawyer from running for office again, Fisher said. “If that’s what he wants, that’s fine. And if that’s what the council thinks is appropriate and the council adopts such a policy, that’s fine. But I’ve complied in all respects with the laws I’m beholden to.”

Cossitt acknowledged the litigation has been wrapping up, Fisher’s partner handled the case and the litigation is completely unrelated to the city contract in question.

But her law firm still is listed as counsel of record and the general public doesn’t know how her firm splits up work or profits, he said.

“The whole idea that a current client of her firm is seeking the benefit of a city contract and she’s  not disclosing that connection, to me is just not acceptable. That is not the sort of ethical sensitivity that some of us in this community are looking for in our elected officials,” Cossitt said. “If nobody did anything wrong, why not disclose it?”

COSSITT HAS praised and criticized the City Council ethics initiative.

Council members tabled the document several weeks ago to consider possible changes after Cossitt delivered some sharp criticism and said the document was well-intentioned but would prove ineffective.

“Gutted” disclosure requirements for City Council members “eviscerate or undermine” the document’s lofty stated goals of transparency and accountability and take away the disclosure machinery that’s needed for the public to determine if officials are acting appropriately, he said.

If the manual is adopted as drafted, council members must file annual forms listing their names, home addresses, current employer and any boards on which they serve.

Removed portions would have required them to disclose other property they hold an ownership interest in; businesses, firms, corporations, partnerships and other professional entities they hold an interest in; past or present employers they are receiving benefits from; and entities for which they are officers, directors or registered agents.

COUNCIL MEMBER Randy Kenyon initially pushed for Kalispell to adopt a local ethics code. Others agreed to explore the idea and said whatever emerged should be put to a vote.

At last week’s work session, Kenyon said he “felt pretty comfortable with the policy as a whole.” He briefly questioned if too much was cut from the forced disclosure section. But other council members seemed unwilling to put back any of the “disclosure machinery” they took out.

Council members Jeff Zauner and Phil Guiffrida III said they like the policies and procedures manual as an orientation document for newly elected council members and a guide for people in office. State law already covers how conflicts of interest must be handled. And cranking things tighter locally might only serve to scare qualified people away from public service.

“I’m very fearful that if we add disclosure statements, we will lose a lot of candidates willing to run for this position,” Zauner said.

Council member Bob Hafferman agreed.

“I don’t want to change this into some sort of regulatory document. It has a lot of information in it. The proposed changes to me were more of a fishing expedition than anything else,” Hafferman said. “Leave it alone. It’s good enough. Very good, as a matter of fact.”

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