Advisory Opinion No. 98-2

Re: Catherine Finney

QUESTION PRESENTED

The Petitioner, the Jamestown Zoning Board of Review Chairperson, a municipal appointed position, requests an advisory opinion as to whether she may appear before the Jamestown Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners on behalf of a client given that members of the Board of Water and Sewer also are Town Council members and that the Town Council appointed her to the Zoning Board of Review.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, the Jamestown Zoning Board of Review Chairperson, a municipal appointed position, may appear before the Jamestown Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners on behalf of a private client. This conclusion is consistent with previous advisory opinions which have found no prohibited conflicts of interest in situations where an public official has no ability to exact undue or improper influence on a governmental body.

Relevant provisions of the Code, focus on whether there is evidence of unfair advantage to the Petitioner in appearing before the municipal agencies or use of position for improper private gain. See R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 36-14-5(a) and 36-14-5(d). Here, although the members of the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners may also be members of her appointing authority, the Petitioner does not exercise any sort of fiscal or jurisdictional control over the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners as Zoning Board Chairperson. See Commission Regulation 36-14-5008. As such, her representation of a private client before the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners does not implicate any provisions of the Code of Ethics.

Code Citations:

36-14-5(a)

36-14-5(d)

Commission Regulation 5008

Related Advisory Opinions:

97-11

96-1

96-10

96-53

96-57

96-88

96-96

96-103

95-19

94-63

Keywords:

Appointing authority