Advisory Opinion No. 97-92

Re: Lt. George D. Calise

QUESTION PRESENTED

The Petitioner, a Providence Fire Department plan-reviewer/fire inspector, a municipal employee position, requests an advisory opinion as to whether he may review plans or produce a fire code enforcement report concerning 209 Fountain Street, the building in which he works, which is owned by the City, and where the Petitioner has filed a complaint regarding the building for potential fire code violations.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, a Providence Fire Department plan-reviewer/fire inspector, a municipal employee position, should not review plans or produce a fire code enforcement report concerning 209 Fountain Street, the building in which he works and which is owned by the City. This opinion is based on the unique position of the Petitioner in this matter and the unique circumstances in which he finds himself.

Earlier this year the Petitioner filed a complaint in his official capacity alleging that the referenced building has fire code deficiencies. The standard process for enforcement of such a complaint requires that the Petitioner's direct superior officer and supervisor must approve the report. The Petitioner's superior officer is a mayoral appointment. Assuming the complaint were processed as described above, the next step would be, in the course of the Petitioner's official duties, for the Petitioner to investigate his own complaint and provide an inspection report on this building. Assuming that the Petitioner determined that his own complaint had merit and that his report required the owner, i.e., the city, to take remedial action, the Petitioner would have positioned himself to be required to pursue misdemeanor complaint charges against his employer and his immediate superior officers, and concerning the building where he and his colleagues work on a daily basis. Also, in order to do all that, the Petitioner first would have to receive permission from those same superiors. Given the process described above, the Petitioner is placed in an entirely untenable position and one which, under the Code of Ethics, constitutes a substantial conflict of interest.

Therefore, we conclude that in order to avoid the myriad potential conflicts of interest that almost certainly would present themselves to the Petitioner, and possibly to other public employees, the Petitioner may not review plans or produce a fire code enforcement report concerning 209 Fountain Street, the building in which he works, which is owned by the City, and where the Petitioner has filed a complaint regarding the building for potential fire code violations.

Code Citations:

36-14-5(a)

36-14-5(b)

36-14-5(d)

Keywords:

regulatory decisions