Sunday, March 16, 2003 City request rankles CVB   By Don Jergler, Staff writer Council: New financial disclosure requirement surprises convention bureau board members. LONG BEACH A request for financial disclosure may pit city officials against Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau board members, leaving in question a $3.7 million contract between the two agencies. The City Council last week voted to require all people who serve on city commissions to file economic interest statements detailing any potential conflicts of interest. Ninth District Councilman Val Lerch, who represents North Long Beach, made the request, which will require members of up to 15 committees who don't already file the reports to begin filing them. The city has roughly 35 commissions including the Harbor Commission, the Airport Advisory Commission and the Public Safety Advisory Commission each with between five and 12 members. But the most contentious debate will likely come from CVB board members, who, even city officials acknowledge, are not legally required to file the disclosure forms. But since the CVB serves the City Council in an advisory capacity, its members will fall under the council mandate, which will be issued to the CVB when its con tract comes up for renewal in October, said Heather Mahood, the assistant city attorney. "They are a nonprofit, and they are an advisory body to the council,' Mahood said. "We will include this requirement in their next contract.' And if the board declines to file the forms? "If they refused to, that means they would not be getting their contract, and they wouldn't be getting any city money,' Mahood said. The city pays the CVB $3.7million annually to help market the Long Beach area. CVB board members say the requirement comes as a surprise, and that the matter should have been publicly debated before any decisions were made. "There should have been more public discussion on it so people could react to it,' said Joseph Prevratil, CVB chairman, and president and chief executive officer of the Queen Mary. "I was surprised that the council would even pass that request of the CVB.' And if the board were forced to file, "We could lose a lot of board members who decide they don't want to file this form,' Prevratil said. "You would lose great leadership for the CVB.' It's an issue the board plans to take up during its meeting on Thursday, said Steve Goodling, CVB president and CEO. "Right now we want to have a board discussion,' he said. "We were not aware of this (council) discussion.' Hundreds of people, from commissioners to many among the city's management, are currently required to fill out the forms. Some 20 commissions are already required to file. Under the law, "advisory commissions are legally required to file when they've set a pattern of having their recommendations followed by the City Council,' Mahood said. Some who have served on commissions and filled out the forms say it would not dissuade them from serving again. "I have no problem filling it out, it just takes time, that's all,' said Dave Shlemmer, owner of Shlemmer Investments, which owns and operates several beachfront properties in Long Beach and Belmont Shore. Shlemmer was a longtime member of two commissions the Cultural Heritage Commission, which already requires members to fill out the form, and the Belmont Shore Parking Commission, whose members would now be required to complete the forms. "I don't think for any good, honest businessman, a form like that should bother him,' he said. Councilman Lerch defended his actions as a move toward equity for all the city's commissioners. "I am a person who hates inconsistencies and hypocrisy,' Lerch said. "Half of them were filling out a form and the other half weren't.' Lerch said his intent was also to ensure the commissioners were serving for the right reasons. "If you're doing a service as a volunteer on a committee, that should be the driving factor,' Lerch said. "I and the city want to know why you're there.'