Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council will write a letter to legislators protesting new reporting requirements to the Oregon Ethics Commission.
Councilor Rich Rowley said he had noticed that Adair Village has gone on record opposing the new reporting requirements. City Manager Craig Martin said that planning commissions in some small communities are resigning. The entire Planning Commission of the eastern Oregon town of Elgin has resigned over the issue, as have commissioners in Harrisburg, Rogue River, Enterprise, Maupin and Carlton.
In Sweet Home, a less stringent annual reporting requirement was already in place, but some public officials in smaller communities, who did not have to fill out the form, are no longer exempt from it.
For Sweet Home city councilors, planning commissioners and the city manager, changes include the addition of a quarterly filing requirement, with an expansion of the information required, primarily listing adult relatives and spouses along with adults living in the official’s household.
Officeholders must list businesses in which they have an interest, sources of income (though not specific amounts), names of relatives over 18 and property held in their jurisdictions. The forms do not ask for information about mortgages, personal bank accounts or credit cards.
What changed is primarily how much and what sources of income — the top five in a household — officials are required to disclose, Martin said. It hasn’t really changed other ethics rules. Officials with financial interest in a proceeding, had to and still must excuse themselves from the dais.
The Legislature passed the new requirements in 2007 after some legislators accepted gifts – including trips to Hawaii – from lobbyists for the Oregon beer and wine industry.
For Rowley, the questionnaire is simple, he said. He just writes “N/A” on most questions.
“The bureaucracy seems excessive for any benefit around the state,” Rowley said. It may be of benefit in the “state of Multnomah,” where such oversight may be needed, but “it’s a sledgehammer approach to a non-issue that’s been raised.”
The cost and demands of making sure forms are sent out “are just beyond the pale of reasonableness,” Rowley said. It is an imposition on communities, like Sweet Home, which rely on volunteers to serve on such commissioners.
“It just stops citizen involvement, which is completely contrary to the whole intent of our government.”
Councilor Jim Gourley said he isn’t against the old process, which required less information and was required only annually, but he doesn’t care for the new process.
Mayor Craig Fentiman said the new form isn’t much different from the old one, except that it adds questions about relatives.
Most opposition to the new form is to listing those relatives, Rowley said. Officials say it’s an invasion of privacy.
Harrisburg businessman Scott Brooke, who resigned from that city’s Planning Commission because of the requirements, told the Eugene Register-Guard that he is concerned that business information required on the form would expose him to identity thieves and competitors. He also objected to “invading the privacy” of family members whose incomes, under the new law, must be included on the form.
If there is a problem somewhere, the fact that some officials, such as school board members, are already exempted, suggests that the state could base the requirement on budget size or some other criteria, allowing smaller communities to opt out of the filing requirement, Rowley said.
It’s election year, Rowley said. “It sure looks good to voters when you can say, ‘I supported ethics.'”
“There is a lot of chatter out there,” Fentiman said, and he has been reading e-mails from among other public officials around the state.
And based on that chatter, Martin expects the Legislature may take a look at it next year when it convenes, he said.
In the meantime, Fentiman suggested drafting a letter to send to lawmakers, registering opposition. The council will consider the letter and make a decision about it at its next meeting, April 22.
Present at the regular meeting on April 8 were councilors Rowley, Gourley, Jim Bean, Eric Markell, Greg Mahler, Scott McKee Jr. and Fentiman.
In other business, the council:
– The council adopted formal financial policies, consolidating many policies and procedures that the city of Sweet Home has already been using with some new ones to help the city manage its financial operation and budgetary affairs.