Minutes
of the Work Session
Denali
Borough Assembly
February
10, 2002
ROLL CALL Assembly members present were: Sid Michaels, Jim
Caswell, Jerry Mueller, David Talerico, Teresa Usibelli, Jim Payne, Gerald
Pollock, Carol Shields, and Mayor Gonzales.
Assembly member Teresa Hall was absent.
1.) Ordinance 01-07, Version A, an
ordinance amending the Denali Borough Code of Ordinances, adding Chapter 22,
pertaining to business licenses.
CASWELL asked why the application asks for a person’s social
security number.
PAYNE also questioned this requirement.
Discussion followed regarding whether or not the
above-mentioned number is needed on the application.
MICHAELS asked if a sole proprietorship type business has a
tax ID number. USIBELLI said that
number is the person’s social security number.
CASWELL asked why the Borough would need to know the
person’s State business license number.
He said their social security number is not the business of the Borough.
MICHAELS asked if there is a case where the Borough would
require a borough license and the State would not require them to have a
license.
Mayor Gonzales said the Revenue Development Task Force was
interested in finding out what businesses operate in the Borough.
MICHAELS said if this license requirement goes into effect,
then people might assume a tax will follow shortly thereafter. He spoke in favor of considering this
ordinance after the voters vote in a new tax.
MICHAELS said he would like to see this postponed until that time.
SHIELDS agreed with MICHAELS.
CASWELL said he would like to see the social security and
business license number requirements taken off the application. He said he would like this license to be
renewable every five years.
TALERICO stated that one of his concerns is that at some
point in the future the Borough will need this information to see where
businesses are in the Borough.
Discussion followed and USIBELLI said she would like to see
this application renewed every two years, and have it renewable on-line. She said she does not know if the Borough
could give someone a Borough business license if they did not have a State
business license.
Minimal discussion followed.
2.) Ordinance 02-01, Version A, an
ordinance amending the Denali Borough Enabling Code, Title I, Chapter 4, Public
Records.
There was do discussion.
3.) Discussion regarding a proposed
ordinance that provides for an ethics commission and provides for disposition
of alleged violations.
USIBELLI said lately there have been a lot of complaints
coming through the office and she thinks it would be advantageous to the
Borough to have a group that reviews complaints. She said that way the person would feel like he or she were
getting a response to their complaint.
She said the packet of information has she provided has an example of an
ethics ordinance and other information provided through her AML training.
CASWELL stated that he is not aware of any complaints that
state an unethical act has occurred. He
said he does not see the need for an ethics commission.
MICHAELS said there might be a problem getting nine people
who have the time to make a commitment to serve on this commission. He said that this commission might not have
anything to do for two or three years.
He would rather have it where an individual could put the occurrence of
the alleged violation in writing and that would trigger the selection of a
commission to hear the complaint. He
said he has not seen anything in writing that denotes an ethical violation has
occurred.
PAYNE said these alleged violations should be handled
in-house.
USIBELLI stated that she agrees with MICHAELS. She thinks that setting up an ethics
committee is a good idea. She said
stated that she has seen three or four things that have come up that could have
been put to rest by an ethics committee.
Discussion followed.
CASWELL stated that if something isn’t broke don’t fix
it! He said He said he has not seen any
ethical violations.
MICHAELS suggested possibly expanding the personnel
committee so they could deal with these alleged violations. MICHAELS asked the Administration how many
ethical violations they have received.
Mayor Gonzales stated that he does not know of any ethical
violations complaints received by the office.
He reminded the assembly that they need to be careful not to mix
legislative and administrative matters!
USIBELLI said there has not been any formal complaints
because there is not a formal process in place if someone wants to lodge a
formal complaint.
CASWELL said he would like to see a letter from the
individual suffice as a complaint form.
MUELLER spoke in favor of utilizing a complaint form.
PAYNE agreed with CASWELL.
CASWELL said some Village View residents had a complaint and
it was a letter.
TALERICO stated that he likes the idea of a form, and the
idea of involving the Personnel Committee.
He said he has received phone calls from members of the public regarding
this issue.
MICHAELS reminded the Assembly that someone could be falsely
accused regarding an ethical violation, and the person that submitted that
complaint could be opening himself up for a lawsuit.
Mayor Gonzales said the process for complaints right now is
the written complaint is submitted to the Mayor, then the assembly, then on to
the court system if necessary. He
reminded the Assembly that they only have one employee: The Borough Clerk. He said the rest of the employees are under his administration.
Discussion followed and USIBELLI spoke in favor of having an
ethics committee to show the public that the Assembly has made a good faith
effort to resolve a complaint.
MUELLER stated that one of the things that he would hate to
do is form a committee like this based on a phone call.
PAYNE stated that the Assembly has a Code of Ethics in place
already and that needs to be adhered to.
USIBELLI stated that the Assembly is a voluntary group of
people that are not formally trained regarding how to handle these types of
situations. She said this committee
would help the Assembly and the Staff learn how to handle complaints from the
public better.
ADJOURNMENT MUELLER declared the work session
adjourned at 2:55 pm.
Attest: Approved:
Date
Approved: