Advisory Opinion No. 97-118

Re: Scott Mueller

QUESTION PRESENTED

The Petitioner, South Kingstown School Committee Member, a municipal elected position, requests an advisory opinion as to whether (1) he may participate in negotiations with the teachers as a "Committee of the Whole" to develop a new contract given that his spouse is an elementary teacher; (2) he may vote as a member of the Committee of the Whole on the final agreement; and (3) he may participate in a variety of committees responsible for doing work in preparation for meetings of the Committee of the Whole.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, South Kingstown School Committee Member, a municipal elected position, may participate in negotiations and vote as a member of the Committee of the Whole provided that his spouse's employment or her subgroup of teachers are not specifically affected by those actions. Additionally, the Petitioner may participate in other committees with the above parameters. This opinion is based on and limited by Section 7(b) of the Code which provides that the Petitioner may participate in such actions so long as it will not affect himself or his family to any greater extent than any other similarly situated member of a significant and definable class.

The Ethics Commission has concluded in past advisory opinions that School Committee members with family members in the school system could participate in negotiations and voting on the contract so long as the family members were part of a significant and definable class, i.e., all teachers. Correspondingly, the Commission has concluded that School Committee members with family members in the school system cannot participate in negotiations or voting when a matter concerning a family member's subset of teachers, e.g. nurses or teachers aides, or the family member individually came before them. See A.O. 97-65 and A.O. 95-23. Although the negotiations will be less adversarial given the Committee of the Whole approach, the conflict of interest issue remains the same, since a member of the School Committee may be able to affect teachers' raises or other economic issues including their own family members. If the Petitioner must recuse given the above discussion, he should follow the dictates of Section 6 of the Code and complete a recusal form, filing a copy with the Ethics Commission.

Code Citations:

36-14-5(a)

36-14-7(b)

Related Advisory Opinions:

97-86

97-65

97-52

95-23

94-44

94-29

94-27

92-53

 Keywords:

 Contracts

 Family: public employment