MEMORANDUM

TO: Pete Sprague, Assembly President

Members, Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly

FROM: Betty Glick, Assembly Member

DATE: January 23, 2003

SUBJECT: Resolution 2003-017, implementing a policy concerning external communications by borough boards and commissions and their members

Members of borough boards and commissions occasionally communicate with external organizations, such as state and federal legislators and departments, regarding matters in which the assembly has an interest. In order to avoid confusion regarding the official or unofficial nature of this communication, this policy is proposed. It would require the board member to state that the communication is made purely as an individual rather than as an official action of the board or commission or borough.

Similarly, many of the borough's boards and commissions consider issues that will eventually come before the assembly and for which there may be widely differing views among different assembly members, boards, and commissions within the borough. Conveying conflicting messages to external organizations from different borough boards and commissions is self-defeating. Accordingly, this policy proposes that such matters be approved by the assembly prior to dissemination to external officials or organizations when coming as formal statements from a borough board or commission regarding policy matters.