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Assembly debates compensation, conflict-of-interest ordinance; staff to clarify thresholds and process
Summary
Assembly members reviewed ordinance 2023-09 to formalize compensation and require disclosures for officials or relatives doing borough business; debate centered on $10,000 vs $2,500 thresholds, emergency procurement timing and mechanisms to simplify recurring vendor approvals.
Bristol Bay Borough assembly members spent substantial time on Nov. 3 discussing ordinance 2023-09, a draft measure to formalize assembly compensation and prescribe how elected officials and immediate family members may contract with the borough.
James (borough manager) said the proposal is intended to increase transparency and require disclosure of possible conflicts. Borough attorney Joe Levesque pointed to a state statutory exception that permits elected officials to receive compensation for municipal services if an ordinance allows it, but emphasized the assembly would retain control through disclosure and recusal procedures. "Elected officials cannot work for a municipality...this language says an elected official may not receive compensation for service to the municipality in addition to the salary received as an elected official unless otherwise provided by ordinance," Levesque said.
Members debated dollar thresholds for automatic disclosure or waivers. Some argued a $2,500 disclosure level is too low for this borough and favored $10,000; others worried about how recurring purchases (fuel, routine supplies) would be treated if cumulative vendor amounts exceed a threshold. Options discussed included defining the threshold "per occurrence" or "per fiscal year," maintaining emergency procurement exceptions, and creating an annually reviewed vendor master list for routine suppliers.
Assembly members also discussed operational details: whether compensation amounts should be tied to the annual budget adoption (so changes do not require a separate ordinance), how workshops count toward per-meeting compensation, and how to implement a simple online declaration form. Staff and the attorney agreed to draft clarifying language and return the ordinance as an introduction at a future meeting.
