Gerald Breazeale, Irrigon City Manager

Many cities have been affected by the state’s new ethics law that requires elected and appointed officials to disclose more personal information than many of them are comfortable disclosing. Irrigon is one city particularly hard hit by resignations as a result of the new law. City Manager Gerald Breazeale described the situation in a recent interview.

How has Oregon’s new ethics law affected the city of Irrigon?

We lost one member off our City Council and we lost three from the Planning Commission. Because of the filing requirements, we have been unable to recruit members to fill the vacant positions, two on City Council and four on the Planning Commission.

How has this hampered conducting city business as usual?

Since we don’t have a quorum of our Planning Commission, we cannot hold Planning Commission meetings or do proper planning reviews. The City Council is hampered if we have two people not able to attend a meeting, we will not have a quorum and we will be unable to conduct business.

Are any others in the community willing to step up and fill the vacancies?

No. At least not any that we can find.

Have you any advice for the 2009 Legislature for revising this law?

Spend the time and effort in providing training to ensure that public officials know what the laws are and then enforcement if the law is violated. Our people want to do the right thing, they just need to know what that is. The current ethics law makes it look like they are already guilty. If they don’t complete their forms correctly they are committing a crime. What incentive is there for running for public office with this cloud hanging over your head?