Does the Kalispell City Council need a local code of ethics? Council members considered that question at a work session last week and plan to consider it again in weeks to come.

Some council members question why such a code is needed when there’s already a statewide code of ethics in place, adopted by the Montana Legislature. “If we already have something in place, why are we adding upon that?” Jeff Zauner asked.

Council member Randy Kenyon has repeatedly pushed for Kalispell to adopt a local ethics code.

At one point, Kenyon asked for a show of hands from other council members who were familiar with that statewide code and what is in it before last week’s work session. One of them — Bob Hafferman — raised his hand.

The local ethics code could include relevant parts of the state ethics code. It also could be strengthened or added upon as desired and handed out to incoming city officials to make sure they are familiar with what’s expected of them, Kenyon said.

“Having one here, when people walk on the job, people will know exactly what the expectations of this city are, what our ideals are,” he said.

Council members spent about an hour considering a draft ethics code that City Manager Doug Russell had prepared. Meant to serve as a policies and procedures orientation manual if adopted, the 19-page draft has sections on proposed legal and ethical standards and also outlines Kalispell’s municipal powers, form of government, meeting procedures, budget matters and the duties of various city leaders.

AT THE WORK session, City Council members seemed ready to scrap a section that would require them to file annual financial disclosure statements with the city clerk.

Montana law requires business disclosure statements to be filed in even-numbered year by statewide and district office holders, appointees and candidates. Local codes can require disclosure by elected officials and decision makers in Montana cities.

Using an ethics code from Bozeman, Russell’s draft proposed council members be required to disclose:

v Their name, address and present employer.

v  Present or past employers from which they are receiving benefits.

v  Each business, firm, corporation, partnership or other professional entity in which they hold an equity interest of 10 percent or more.

v  Other entities for which they are an officer, director or registered agent.

v  All real property other than personal residence in which they hold an equity interest of 10 percent or more.

Mayor Tammi Fisher, an attorney, and council member Tim Kluesner opposed some of those requirements, even though some are already a matter of public record. Other council members seemed to agree, especially with Montana law already requiring officials to disclose conflicts of interest.

“I am the registered agent for a number of clients and their businesses. I don’t believe they would be particularly comfortable with a public disclosure statement on the Internet listing me as their registered agent,” Fisher said. “Even though a registered agent is public record, you have to search pretty hard to find the fact that I am that. So I would prefer that not be in there just in case there may be some other attorney who wishes to serve on the council.”

Fisher also opposed forced disclosure of property holdings, but said she fully supports required disclosure if those holdings would be impacted by a council decision.

“There are different ways you can purchase real property, sometimes on a contract for deed and things like that, then I have to disclose who I am purchasing it from because they are the titled owner,” she said. “They’ll be uninterested in that, because then their relationship with me becomes public.”

Kluesner supported cutting out the draft’s entire financial disclosure section, but council members Wayne Saverud and Kari Gabriel seemed to support disclosure of employers and any other organization affiliations a council member may have.

COUNCIL MEMBERS opposed creation of a three-member ethics committee that could be appointed to review alleged violations. They seemed to prefer to see complaints go to the county attorney, the Montana commissioner of political practices or be addressed by the City Council itself with things like public reprimand or censure.

Another section of the draft deals with ex-parte communications. It says council members should not privately discuss the merit of “adjudicatory issues” such as conditional-use permits, variances, bid awards and creation of special improvement districts with the parties involved. If they do, the draft says, they must report the substance of their talks on the record to the rest of the council at a public meeting.

Other sections govern council communications with city staff and with each other, the handling of confidential information and litigation and council members’ ability to represent official positions of the city.

Council members are expected to resume their discussion of the ethics proposals in coming weeks.

“I think there’s some good common practice reminders in here, but definitely not everything in here needs to be. Parts go way overboard,” Kluesner said about the draft.

Fisher said whatever is developed through work sessions should be put to a formal vote. “Let’s work on this draft, then whatever it ends up being, that’s what we’ll vote on,” she said.

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