Show me the money:

At the polls on Oct. 6, Wrangell voters will be determining whether or not local public officials should be exempt from state financial disclosure requirements. Now Petersburg is considering a similar exemption, with an ordinance to put the exemption on the ballot being passed on its first of three readings at the Assembly meeting on Monday.

Prior to the Petersburg Borough incorporation, public officials were exempt from the financial disclosure requirements. However, after incorporation, in the 2014 municipal election, the exemption was put back up for a vote and narrowly rejected by voters (52 percent opposed; 48 percent in favor).

The financial disclosure law is in place “to discourage public officials from acting upon a private or business interest in the performance of a public duty,” according to the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) website. However, municipalities have the option to opt out of the requirement. As of Nov. 2012, APOC reports that 122 of Alaska’s 353 municipalities have done just that. Public officials in the neighboring towns of Haines, Sitka, Ketchikan, Kake and Kupreanof are exempt from the filing requirements.

At Monday’s meeting, Petersburg Borough Assembly member John Havrilek said that the financial disclosure requirement keeps qualified individuals from running for positions on the Assembly and other committees.

“It’s keeping very, very high quality people away from getting involved in the Assembly and some of these other committees that we would really benefit to have their involvement and their expertise and their knowledge,” he said. Havrilek added that privacy is very important to some members of the community. When candidates fill out financial disclosure forms, that information becomes available for public review.

Member Bob Lynn described the process of filling out the financial disclosure forms as “daunting” and said that it does not meet Petersburg’s needs.

“I really do not believe…that this really meets our needs here in this community,” Lynn said. “I feel strongly that we have at least four or five different procedures in place that really meets the needs of this.”

Those procedures include the expectation that Assembly members will recuse themselves of any vote on a matter that they have a financial interest in, a recall procedure for public officials and a clause in the charter that prohibits public officials from holding paid positions with the Borough during their tenure of service and for one year afterward.

If the ordinance is passed on a second and third reading, voters will see it as a proposition on the fall ballot.