As the filing period to run for election to the Bethel City Council approaches, the council has changed the eligibility requirements for who can serve. In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the council passed an ordinance to allow school board members and former municipal employees to run for city council seats.
Mayor Richard Robb proposed the changes.
“The school board and the City of Bethel actually have very little interaction," Robb explained. "There would not necessarily be a conflict of interest as an employee unless it was something to do beyond the employment. The prohibition against serving on council, I believe, is taking away the constitutional rights of the employee to run for office.”
Under the previous code, current school board members could not serve on the council, nor could anyone who had worked as a municipal employee during the prior year. The ordinance lifts those restrictions while adding a restriction that prohibits council members from working for the city within 12 months after their service on council.
“Being on council," explained city council member Leif Albertson, who proposed the amendment, "you have a specific role for the city and specific responsibilities for the city, and I think it creates a conflict of interest if you can then turn around and work for the city."
An example of that conflict, Albertson said, was a council member creating a city position and then applying to work in that position.
The ordinance maintains the standard prohibiting anyone who currently works for the city from serving on the city council.
