Ketchikan Gateway Borough offices are in the White Cliff building.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Board of Ethics meets Thursday to establish the process for investigating two ethics complaints filed against Assembly Member Alan Bailey, who is running for re-election.
The complaints were filed by two other Assembly members, Mike Painter and Agnes Moran. The first complaint claims that Bailey failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest regarding the issue of borough funding for City of Ketchikan dispatch services.
The issue of funding has been resolved, but before that the borough and city were debating how much the borough should contribute to that service. Bailey’s son is a dispatcher for the city. However, city dispatchers are represented by a union, and their salaries are negotiated between union and city officials.
The second complaint claims that Bailey failed to disclose that he was not representing the Assembly when he recently spoke during the public comment portion of a Ketchikan City Council meeting.
When reached by telephone Monday, Bailey declined to comment on the allegations. He says he doesn’t want to escalate this debate before the local election. Bailey says he will give his side of the story at the proper time during the Board of Ethics investigation process.
According to the borough clerk, the Board of Ethics on Thursday will discuss the procedure and will set a date for an investigative meeting. That meeting will take place no earlier than 10 days after Thursday’s meeting. That means the issue will not be resolved before the local election, which is Oct. 1.
The Board of Ethics meets at noon on Thursday in Borough Assembly chambers.
