The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly is expected to take action Monday on a proposal to ask voters to eliminate state financial disclosures for elected officials and others who serve the city.
The proposal will put up a ballot question in the fall that, if passed, would allow the city to not report individual elected officials’ financial information to Alaska Public Office of Commissions. Instead, the city plans on adopting its own set of financial disclosure rules. It can change who has to report and what information is reported. It can modify its own plan to the extent of state law prior to 2007 amendments.
The proposal was initiated by Mayor Bruce Botelho, who has concerns about keeping that information offline, but still available to the public. APOC has proposed putting that information online, making it widely and publicly accessible.
The change also includes a stipulation of who may bring enforcement action. This will limit action against Juneau’s elected officials by private persons to qualified Juneau voters.
The Assembly is also slated to take action on a zoning change for the area around the Breakwater Inn.
The Breakwater is requesting a zoning change from D-5 Residential to Waterfront Commercial. It was built in 1966 in a commercial zone, but in 1969 it was rezoned to residential. The business now wants to expand, but under current zoning requirements it can’t do so. The recommendation to the Assembly is to approve the zoning change for the parcel, but require any new or expanded use to obtain a conditional use permit.
In other business, Assemblyman Jonathan Anderson will be ending his term Monday. Appointee Katherine Eldemar is scheduled to be sworn in.
For a full agenda and related documents, see: http://bit.ly/jEmg2p.
• Contact reporter Sarah Day at 523-2279 or at sarah.day@juneauempire.com.
Comments (3)
Add commentPublic has a rignt to know
The public has a right to know.
Full disclosure laws are part of the deal when you are a public official.
The spirit of these laws, is to keep those who "choose" to work in public service, honest.
I will be voting against the attempt to keep information from the public.
I would also like to see the assembly start to focus on things that make Juneau a "pleasant place" to live and not just focus on economic opportunity. We need both.
Like I said last time
If this passes I'll request my copies as a Juneau voter and post them online myself.
Let me get this straight
As a regular citizen, if I donate above a certain amount, I am required to fill out a form claiming how much and who to. But for some reason, the City doesnt feel that elected officials should have to do the same? And am I misunderstanding something but I thought that info was already on-line. The way I view this is perhaps APOC ought not to be putting personal information such as home addresses, etc on-line but having the name of someone, who donated to them, who they donated to, and the amount should be public information for anyone regardless if they are an individual or an elected official.