Advisory Opinion No. 2007-27 Advisory Opinion No. 2007-27 Re: Amy-Lynn Breault Zolt QUESTION PRESENTED The petitioner, a member of the City of Pawtucket School Committee, a municipal elected position, requests an advisory opinion as to whether she may continue to serve as an independent contractor providing bookkeeping services to the City of Pawtucket Parks and Recreation Department’s Summer Lunch Program. RESPONSE It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, a member of the City of Pawtucket School Committee, a municipal elected position, may continue to serve as an independent contractor providing bookkeeping services to the City of Pawtucket Parks and Recreation Department’s Summer Lunch Program. The petitioner advises that she was recently elected to the City of Pawtucket School Committee (“School Committee”). The petitioner informs that prior to her election as a member of the School Committee she served as an independent contractor providing bookkeeping services to the City of Pawtucket Parks and Recreation Department’s (“Parks and Recreation Department”) Summer Lunch Program. The petitioner represents that she receives a 1099 form at the end of each year and does not receive any benefits from the City of Pawtucket for the services she renders to the Parks and Recreation Department. Finally, the petitioner represents that the School Committee and the Parks and Recreation Department are completely separate and independent of each other. Given these representations, the petitioner seeks guidance from the Commission as to whether she may continue to serve as an independent contractor providing bookkeeping services to the Parks and Recreation Department given that she is a member of the School Committee. Under the Code of Ethics, a public official may not accept other employment which would impair her independence of judgment or require her to disclose confidential information acquired in the course of her official duties. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(b). Additionally, the Code prohibits her from using her public position or confidential information received through her position to obtain financial gain, other than that provided by law, for herself, a family member, a business associate or employer. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(d). Moreover, the petitioner 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. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(a). An official will have an interest in substantial conflict with her official duties if she has a reason to believe or expect that a "direct monetary gain" or a "direct monetary loss" will accrue, by virtue of the public official's activity, to the official, a family member, a business associate, an employer, or any business which the public official represents. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(a). The aforementioned provisions of the Code of Ethics do not create an absolute bar to simultaneous service as both an independent contractor to the Parks and Recreation Department and as an elected member of the School Committee. Rather, those provisions require a matter by matter evaluation and determination as to whether substantial conflicts of interest exist with respect to carrying out an official’s duties in the public interest. Here, while both are municipal positions within the City of Pawtucket, the areas of her responsibilities in each position do not overlap. Since the petitioner’s duties as an independent contractor to the Parks and Recreation Department are separate and distinct from her duties as a member the School Committee, there is no indication that serving in both capacities would impair the petitioner's independence of judgment as to her public responsibilities. Nor is there any indication that the simultaneous service in and of itself creates a substantial conflict with respect to carrying out her duties in the public interest. Accordingly, the Commission opines that the petitioner may continue to serve as an independent contractor providing bookkeeping services to the City of Pawtucket Parks and Recreation Department’s Summer Lunch Program, notwithstanding that she is a member of the City of Pawtucket School Committee. Code Citations: 36-14-5(a) 36-14-5(b) 36-14-5(d) 36-14-7(a) Related Advisory Opinions: 2003-48 2003-46 2000-22 97-43 Keywords: Dual public roles