- November 26, 2024
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With the mayorship and two seats on the Flagler Beach City Commission up for election in 2024, former commissioner Ken Bryan said he had considered running again.
“Some of the people in the community said can you, you know, would you please come back to service,” Bryan said.
The deadline to register as a candidate for the March 27 election was Jan. 12, and just days before, Bryan said he was considering filling out the paperwork. He didn’t even mind having to pay the $750 fee, he said.
The decision came down to the new financial disclosure requirements.
“I looked at [the form] and I said, you got to be kidding me,” he said. “I was like, you know, this is just a little too intrusive. And I just find this to be more than transparency, it’s a total invasion of privacy.”
In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 744, which requires municipal elected officials — like mayors and city council members and city commissioners — to file the Form 6 financial disclosure form with the Florida Commission on Ethics, disclosing an individual’s total net worth and personal assets that are over a fair market value of $1,000.
“I have tackle on my boat that cost over $1,000, each rod,” he said. “I’m not afraid to list stuff. But when you start getting into real personal items, over $1,000 … this is too intrusive.”
Previously, mayors and other municipal elected official were required to fill out Form 1, which only required the disclosure of assets over $10,000 and does not require an applicant to include his or her total net worth.
The bill went into effect on Jan. 1 and multiple city elected officials around the state resigned their positions. Flagler Beach City Attorney Drew Smith said in the Jan. 11 commission meeting that he had received a general letter circulated by a South Florida law firm to municipalities about the Form 6 changes.
“Apparently, some of [the firm’s] larger city clients are considering — and actually, I think, beyond the consideration point — filing a lawsuit to challenge the Form 6 requirements,” Smith said.
The Flagler Beach City Commission agreed to have Smith follow up with the firm, but did not make any other commitments. Commission Chair Eric Cooley said the new Form 6 requirements could put elected officials at risk of being robbed.
“Stating the contents of your household good items, one could argue that that is that it poses a potential risk to yourself,” Cooley said.
The risk is ultimately the reason Bryan said he, after discussing the issue with his wife, ultimately decided not to run for a commission seat.
“Mainly because of the exposure,” he said. “This is public information to anybody in the world, you know, and there are a lot of wackos out there.”
State elected officials and county commissioners are already required to disclose that information. Palm Coast Vice Mayor Ed Danko said he would have had to fill out the same form regardless, since he is running for Flagler County Commission in November.
“I don’t quite understand why anybody would be resigning unless they have something they’re hiding,” Danko said. “I don’t have anything to hide.”
In Ormond Beach, City Commissioners Susan Persis and Harold Briley both said they were fine with the new financial disclosure requirements, calling it a matter of transparency.
“I believe in full disclosure and transparency, but there’s some people that are more private and that bothers them,” Persis said. “So I think it’s just an individual decision, and if it’s something that you feel that strongly about, then you shouldn’t run because you don’t want to disclose any more information.”
County and state officials have been filling out the form for years, Briley said.
“It was probably just one of those things that eventually would get down to us,” he said.
Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin likewise said he did not have a problem filling out the new requirements, even though it does require more detailed clerical work.
Alfin said he will file his Form 6 after he files his reelection paperwork. Once the Department of Ethics is through processing the form, Alfin said he plans to include the link to his form on his candidacy website.
Alfin said he believes the Form 6 is similar in intent to performing background checks on elected officials, an idea he floated last year.
“I think Form 6 is really along those same lines,” he said.
Bryan likewise said the issue is not transparency for him, but the overreach of legislators in Tallahassee that also poses a safety concern for him and his wife.
“I don’t think this is really worth it,” Bryan said. “My wife and I both agree that this is totally too intrusive, an overreach by the legislators. And I’m not going to do it.”
Jarleene Almenas contributed to this story.
