Council committee sends Article 1-12 amendment on campaign finance reports to full council after 5-0 vote

Councilmember Michael Colon proposed amending Article 1-12 of the city code on campaign finance reporting to stop duplicative posting of campaign finance reports on the city website and instead link directly to the Northampton County Elections Office; the committee voted 5-0 to send the amendment to full council for consideration.

Colon told the committee the county now publishes campaign finance reports online and that transferring the county reports to a city landing page link would reduce clerks’ duplicate work without reducing transparency. "I just think it's a cleaner way of the clerks managing their time," Colon said during his presentation.

The proposed amendment would rename the ordinance from "campaign finance" to "statements of financial interest" and would limit the city's active posting duties to annual statements of financial interest for elected officials and certain city employees.…