Advisory Opinion No. 98-96

Re: Raymond Joubert

QUESTION PRESENTED

The Petitioner, the former Manager of Treatment at the Narragansett Bay Commission's Bucklin Point Wastewater Treatment Facility (BPWWTF), a state employee position, requests an advisory opinion as to whether he may perform services for his new employer, a private engineering firm, on a contract between the Narragansett Bay Commission and that employer to design improvements ad prepare a utility plan for the BPWWTF.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Code of Ethics does not prohibit the Petitioner, the former Manager of Treatment at the Narragansett Bay Commission's Bucklin Point Wastewater Treatment Facility (BPWWTF), a state employee position, from performing certain services for his new employer, a private engineering firm. The Petitioner may not appear before the Narragansett Bay Commission (NCB) on behalf of his new employer, however, for a period of one year from the date of his official severance from the NBC, April 25, 1998, except as to ministerial activities such as submitting or retrieving information. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(e)(1) and (4).

Until April 25, 1998, the Petitioner served as the Manager of Treatment at the Bucklin Point Wastewater Treatment Facility, which is operated and maintained by the NBC. The NBC has contracted with the firm of Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. (CDM) to design improvements to the Bucklin Point Wastewater Treatment Facility and prepare a computerized utility plan to show all buried utilities on the treatment facility site. CDM has requested the Petitioner to assist with the development of the utility plan for compensation.

The Code of Ethics provides that the Petitioner may not represent himself or any other person before any state agency by which he is or was employed for a period of one year after he has officially severed his position with that agency. R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 36-14-5(e)(1), (2), (4). While imposing Section 5(e)’s restrictions for substantive actions and/or appearances, previous opinions of the Commission have allowed former state employees to perform ministerial activities on behalf of their new employers, such as submission of materials for approval, retrieving papers and routine follow-ups. See A.O. 98-11 (opining that a former Department of Environmental Management (DEM) employee could not appear before his former division within the DEM for a period of one year from the date of his official severance with DEM except as to ministerial activities, such as submitting or retrieving information); A.O. 97-1 (concluding that a DEM Engineer could not appear before the division in which he had been employed until one year from the termination of his employment, but could submit materials to the division including routine follow-ups to those submission); A.O. 97-46 (opining that a DEM engineer working in the Office of Waste Management could submit materials for approval to his office as a private engineer so long as it was ministerial in nature); A.O. 98-5 (advising that a DHS Casework Supervisor in the East Providence Long Term Care Unit could accept private employment that may involve contact with DHS so long as the contact with her former unit is ministerial in nature for a period of one-year from the date of separation).

Here, pursuant to the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(e), the Petitioner, as a former employee of the Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC), may not appear before the Commission on behalf of his new employer on any matter, including the contract to design improvements and develop a comprehensive utility plan, except for ministerial activities such as submitting or retrieving papers until one year from his official date of severance from public employment. The Petitioner should be aware that "ministerial" activities do not include substantive action or action that involves discretion. For instance, the Petitioner may retrieve plans and other materials from the NBC. He may not, however, within a year of the date of his severance, make substantive presentations or appearances before the NBC on behalf of his employer. We also caution the Petitioner that he cannot use any confidential information that he gained while working for the NBC in his employment with CDM. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(c).

Code Citations:

36-14-5(c)

36-14-5(e)

Related Advisory Opinions:

97-1

97-2

97-46

98-5

98-11

Keywords:

Post-employment

Private employment

Revolving door