Advisory Opinion No. 2018-60 Rhode Island Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion No. 2018-60 Approved: December 11, 2018 Re: Amanda Gingell QUESTION PRESENTED: The Petitioner, a member of the Burrillville Town Council, a municipal elected position, requests an advisory opinion regarding what limitations, if any, the Code of Ethics imposes upon her in carrying out her public duties, given that her private employer appears annually before the Burrillville Budget Board and Town Council to seek funding. RESPONSE: It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, a member of the Burrillville Town Council, a municipal elected position, is prohibited by the Code of Ethics from participating in any matters that involve or financially impact her or her private employer. The Petitioner was recently elected to the Burrillville Town Council (“Town Council”). In her private capacity, the Petitioner is a clinical supervisor who has been employed for the past 13 years by WellOne Primary and Dental Care (“WellOne”), a private, non-profit community health center. The Petitioner represents that WellOne is funded through federal, state, and municipal grants. Thus, WellOne appears annually before the Burrillville Budget Board and the Town Council to request funding for its health center. The Petitioner states that she will recuse herself from voting relative to WellOne’s requests for funding. Based on the foregoing, the Petitioner requests an advisory opinion regarding what limitations the Code of Ethics imposes upon her in carrying out her public duties. Under the Code of Ethics, a public official may not participate in any matter in which she has an interest, financial or otherwise, that is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of her duties or employment in the public interest. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(a). A substantial conflict of interest exists if an official has reason to believe or expect that she, any person within her family, a business associate or an employer will derive a direct monetary gain or suffer a direct monetary loss by reason of her official activity. Section 36-14-7(a). The Code of Ethics also prohibits a public official from using her public office or confidential information received through her public office to obtain financial gain for herself, her family, her business associate, or any business by which she is employed or which she represents. Section 36-14-5(d). Finally, a public official must recuse herself from participation when her business associate or employer, or a person authorized by her business associate or employer, appears or presents evidence or arguments before her municipal agency. Commission Regulation 36-14-5002(a)(2) & (3)[1] (“Regulation 5002”); section 36-14-5(f). The Ethics Commission has previously advised public officials to recuse from participation in any matters before their agencies in which their employers appear, or which involve the interests of their employers. See A.O. 2011-47 (opining that a member of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education must recuse from discussion and voting relative to contract negotiations involving his employer); A.O. 2009-1 (opining that a member of the Scituate Town Council must recuse from matters before the Town Council concerning school related issues involving the interests of his employer which provides busing services to the Scituate School Department). Based upon the above representations and consistent with prior advisory opinions, it is the opinion of the Ethics Commission that the Petitioner must recuse from any Town Council matters that involve or financially impact herself or her employer or when her employer, or a person authorized by her employer, appears or presents evidence or arguments before the Town Council. Such matters include, but are not limited to, individual budgetary line items relative to WellOne’s funding. Notice of recusal must be filed in accordance with section 36-14-6. The Petitioner is encouraged to seek further guidance from the Ethics Commission concerning her ability to participate in discussions and votes on specific Town Council matters as they arise, such as the Town of Burrillville’s budget as a whole when such budget includes funding for WellOne. This Advisory Opinion is strictly limited to the facts stated herein and relates only to the application of the Rhode Island Code of Ethics. Under the Code of Ethics, advisory opinions are based on the representations made by, or on behalf of, a public official or employee and are not adversarial or investigative proceedings. Finally, this Commission offers no opinion on the effect that any other statute, regulation, ordinance, constitutional provision, charter provision, or canon of professional ethics may have on this situation. Code Citations: § 36-14-5(a) § 36-14-5(d) § 36-14-5(f) § 36-14-6 § 36-14-7(a) Commission Regulation 36-14-5002 Related Advisory Opinions: A.O. 2011-47 A.O. 2009-1 Keywords: Private Employment Recusal [1] In May 2018, the Ethics Commission codified the Code of Ethics into the Rhode Island Code of Regulations (“RICR”), a uniform state code containing the rules and regulations of the various Rhode Island agencies. In order to do so, the Ethics Commission reformatted and renumbered the Code of Ethics. As a result, Regulation 36-14-5002 now corresponds to Regulation 520-RICR-00-00-1.2.1 Additional Circumstances Warranting Recusal (36-14-5002).