Advisory Opinion No. 2001-15

Re: Kevin D. McGee

QUESTION PRESENTED

The petitioner, a Coventry Town Councilor, a municipal elected position, requests an advisory opinion as to whether he may continue to serve on the Coventry School Building Committee, a municipal appointed position, given that his private employer recently was hired to perform work in the City of Warwick by the same firm that the Building Committee hired for a school construction project in Coventry.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, a Coventry Town Councilor, a municipal elected position, may continue to serve on the Coventry School Building Committee, a municipal appointed position, despite the fact that a firm hired by the School Building Committee recently contracted with his private employer on an unrelated project. The petitioner’s relationship with his employer’s business associate is too remote to implicate the prohibitions set forth in R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 36-14-5(a) and 5(d).

The petitioner is the Coventry Town Council President and serves on the Coventry School Building Committee. He advises that he is employed as a general manager for the R.T. Nunes & Sons, Inc. construction company. He represents that the School Building Committee hired a design/build construction firm to construct a new school and for additions to existing schools in Coventry. He represents that said firm recently hired R.T. Nunes & Sons to perform work in the City of Warwick.

Pursuant to the Code of Ethics, the petitioner may not participate in any matter in which he has an interest, financial or otherwise, which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties in the public interest. A substantial conflict of interest occurs if the petitioner has reason to believe or expect that he or any family member or business associate, or any business by which he is employed, will derive a direct monetary gain or suffer a direct monetary loss by reason of his official activity. See R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 36-14-5(a), 7(a). He may not accept employment that will impair his judgment as to his official duties. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(b). Further, he is prohibited from using his public position or confidential information received through his position to obtain financial gain, other than that provided by law, for himself, a business associate or a family member. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(d). “Business associate” is defined as any individual or entity joined with a public official or employee “to achieve a common financial objective.” R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-2(3). Finally, Commission Regulation 36-14-5002 requires an official to recuse himself whenever his employer or the interest of his employer comes before his board or agency

Here, the firm hired by the Coventry School Building Committee for a school construction project subsequently hired the petitioner’s private employer for unrelated work in the City of Warwick. The petitioner is a salaried employee of R.T. Nunes & Sons, and there is no indication that he shares any common financial objective with that firm. In light of these factors, the relationship between the petitioner and the firm under contract to the Town of Coventry does not rise to the level of a business association as that term is defined in § 36-14-2(3). The construction firm at issue is a business associate of R.T. Nunes & Sons, rather than of the petitioner. As such, the connection between the petitioner’s actions as a School Building Committee member and his employer’s business associate is too remote to trigger the prohibitions set forth in R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 36-14-5(a) and 5(d). See A.O. 98-17 (concluding that the Code of Ethics did not prohibit the petitioner, an alternate member of the Cranston Board of Review, from participating in matters where a party's attorney is the same lawyer who provides legal services to the petitioner's private employer). Accordingly, the petitioner may continue to serve on the School Building Committee, as there is no opportunity for any of his private financial interests, or those of his employer, to impair his independence of judgment with respect to his public duties. See R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 36-14-5(a), (b) and (d).

Code Citations:

36-14-5(a)

36-14-5(b)

36-14-5(d)

36-14-7(a)

36-14-5002

Related Advisory Opinions:

2000-79

2000-65

99-27

99-26

98-17

96-73

96-6

93-21

Keywords:

Business associate

Contracts

Private employment