Ethics board wants disclosure forms from council members, city officials

The city's Board of Ethics is asking the City Council to require council members, five top city officials and appointed members of city boards and commissions to file a public financial disclosure form and update it as needed.

According to the board's recommendation, city officials covered in the proposal should name in the written financial disclosure any entity having or seeking a city contract on which the official's performance or non-performance may have an impact if the official or an immediate family member has a private interest in the entity or receives private gain from it.

The city's ethics board, the creation and operation of which is required by the city's Home Rule Charter approved by voters in 2005, is the state's only such local board of ethics.

Board members this week said they wanted the financial disclosure forms to be made available to the public.

Judi Whetstine, the board's chairwoman, said the language in the Home Rule Charter related to the ethics board calls for a board to enforce ordinances on conflicts of interest and financial disclosure. The proposed disclosure form is in keeping with that directive, Whetstine said.

The board's vice chairwoman, Sister Susan O'Connor, said the disclosure form will allow the affected public officials to identify potential conflicts of interest upfront.

"It's all out there," O'Connor said. "Whenever we can do that, then they can do the work they've signed on to do."

The new disclosure rule would apply to the city manager, city clerk, city attorney, police chief and fire chief in addition to the nine-member City Council and members of the city's boards and commissions.