Kodiak ordinance would narrow borough contract ban for mayor and Assembly members

Two Kodiak Island Borough Assembly members have proposed narrowing the rule that bars the mayor and Assembly members from holding borough contracts, the rule the borough's attorneys say bars an election winner from being seated.

Right now, the mayor and Assembly members can't hold any borough contract for "personal services," meaning any deal whose main purpose is doing work or tasks for the borough. Kodiak voters added that ban in 2013, 948 to 537.

The ordinance from Scott Arndt and Jeremiah Gardner would limit the ban to "professional services": professional, technical or consulting work that's "predominantly intellectual in character," such as analysis, planning or recommendations.

The rule is at the center of a dispute over an Assembly seat. Jeremy Williamson won an Assembly seat by 15 votes in October but hasn't been sworn in. AIM Maintenance LLC, a company state records list him as a member of, holds borough service contracts, and the borough's attorneys concluded that someone in that position can't be seated. Their opinion says snow removal and road maintenance contracts count as personal services under the current rule.

Williamson has argued the borough is reading the code too literally. "The administration is attempting to enforce a hyper-literal definition of the code," he said at an Oct. 29 work session. Under that reading, he said, even an Assembly member's stipend would count as a service contract.

Mayor Jared Griffin has declined to fast-track a rule change while Williamson's eligibility is pending. He said the Assembly can rethink the rule but shouldn't change it mid-qualification to affect one person.

The ordinance says a conflict of interest arises when an official gets a borough contract "without undergoing a transparent, competitive bidding process." A borough staff report says the new definition matches the one the borough already uses to exempt professional work from standard bidding.

Some things wouldn't change. The mayor and Assembly members still couldn't hold borough jobs, including part-time or temporary work. A business at least half owned by an official or their spouse would still count as the official's. And breaking the rule would still be grounds for removal from office and canceling the contract.

The Assembly will consider introducing the ordinance at a special meeting Thursday. If it does, public hearings are set for Nov. 19 and Dec. 3.