Advisory Opinion No. 97-72

Re: Leonard R. Wood

QUESTION PRESENTED

The Petitioner, the Charlestown Harbormaster, a municipal employee position, who also owns and operates a private business that sells and services diving equipment, requests an advisory opinion as to whether 1) his business may bid on a contract with the Charlestown's Police Department and 2) whether members of the Charlestown Dive Team or any Town Department may purchase equipment from his private business.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, the Charlestown Harbormaster, a municipal employee position, who also owns and operates a private business that sells and services diving equipment, may bid on a contract with the Charlestown's Police Department provided that he did not play a role in setting up bid specifications for the contract in question. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(h). However, this decision is solely based on the Rhode Island Code of Ethics and does not consider whether this practice would be violative of the Town of Charlestown's Purchasing Manual.

As to the second question, whether members of the Charlestown Dive Team or any Town Department may purchase equipment from the Petitioner's private business depends on whether the purchases would 1) go through an open and public process, bidding and or contracting and contracts and 2) constitute a contract so that provisions of the Code of Ethics regarding bidding would even be implicated. Charlestown's purchasing procedures are as follows: anything above $5,000 must go through an open and public bidding process; $1,500-$5,000 requires three quotes; over $500 requires Town Administrator approval; and, under $500 requires a requisition from the Town of Charlestown. Whether and how the Petitioner adheres to these purchasing procedures is beyond the jurisdiction of the Ethics Commission. Under Section 5(h) of the Code of Ethics, however, the Petitioner may contract with the Town only if it is subject to an open and public process. This Commission has interpreted "contract" as doing business with the municipality or state. However, we do not believe the intent of this Section is to prohibit even incidental and nominal purchases that a Town may require in isolated instances.

Code Citations:

36-14-5(h)

Related Advisory Opinions:

97-35

97-24

97-15

96-41

95-60

95-41

95-24

94-51

94-5

Keywords:

contracts