Advisory Opinion No. 95-112

Re: Susan Littlefield

A. QUESTION PRESENTED

Whether Susan Littlefield, a Rhode Island Public Health Veterinarian, may simultaneously serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Veterinary Medical Association (RIVMA).

B. SUMMARY

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner will not violate the Code of Ethics if she accepts a position on the Board of Directors of RIVMA.

C. DISCUSSION

1. Facts

The petitioner serves as a Public Health Veterinarian in the Department of Environmental Management, a position which requires her to work to control and eradicate livestock diseases. As a Public Health Veterinarian, the petitioner is also responsible for a) supervising meat inspection services; b) inspecting all domestic animals imported and exported; b) training inspectors; and c) administering a program for the sanitary inspection of the production of milk and milk products.

Recently, the petitioner has been asked to be a member of the Board of Directors of RIVMA, a voluntary non-profit association aimed at promoting and fostering the practice of quality Veterinary Medicine. The petitioner advises that, if she accepts a position on the Board, there may be two areas of conflict with her public employment: 1) Veterinarians who own boarding kennels (who may be members of RIVMA) must obtain a license from her division of the Department of Environmental Management; and 2) as a member of the Board of RIVMA, she may be asked to take a position as to proposed legislation which is contrary to the position advanced by the Department of Environmental Management.

2. Analysis

At issue in this advisory request is whether the petitioner, a Public Health Veterinarian for the Department of Environmental Management, may accept a position on the Board of Directors for RIVMA. Under the Code of Ethics, the petitioner is prohibited from engaging in any professional activity which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of her employment in the public interest. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(a). The petitioner is also prohibited from accepting other employment which will either impair her independence of judgment as to her employment or require her, or induce her, to disclose confidential information acquired by her in the course of and by reason of her public duties. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(b).

After considering the petitioner's employment responsibilities and the relevant provisions of the Code of Ethics, we conclude that the petitioner will not violate the Code if she serves on the Board of Directors of RIVMA. This conclusion is based on the petitioner's representation that, notwithstanding the two areas of potential conflict referenced above, the interests of the Department of Environmental Management and RIVMA do not conflict. This conclusion is also consistent with past advisory opinions which have permitted public employees to serve on non-profit organizations where the interests of the public employer and the outside organization generally do not conflict. See e.g., 90-48 (opining that a member of the Rhode Island State Board of Podiatry Examiners would not violate the Code of Ethics if he simultaneously served as an officer of the Rhode Island Podiatric Medical Association, a private professional organization); 89-81 (concluding that an assistant to the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management would not violate the Code if he served on the Board of Scenic Rhode Island, a non-profit organization aimed at promoting Rhode Island's scenic beauty).

We caution the petitioner, however, that, in the event that her duality of status impairs her independence of judgment or otherwise results in the disclosure of confidential information or privileged information, she should: a) notify her employer of the nature of her interest in such matter; and b) refrain from participating in any decisions relating to this matter.

Keywords

Non-profit Boards