CEO 82-54 -- July 29, 1982

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

COUNTY COMMISSIONER'S CORPORATION CONTRACTING WITH BUSINESS ENTITY DOING BUSINESS WITH COUNTY

To: Mr. T. Hank Bruning, Member, Clay County Board of County Commissioners

SUMMARY:

No prohibited conflict of interest would be created under Section 112.313(7), Florida Statutes, were a construction company of which a county commissioner is an officer and owner to contract with a road paving contractor which is doing business with the county. Although Section 112.313(7) prohibits a county commissioner from having a contractual relationship with a business entity which is doing business with the county, here it would be the corporation which had a contractual relationship with the road paving contractor, and not the county commissioner. However, the county commissioner may not personally contract with a road paving contractor which is doing business with the county in order to pave his private driveway.

QUESTION 1:

Would a prohibited conflict of interest be created were a construction company of which you are an officer and owner to contract with a road paving contractor which is doing business with the county which you serve as county commissioner?

This question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that you are a member of the Clay County Commission and that you are president and owner of a corporation which engages in construction work such as land clearing, site preparation, excavations, and materials hauling. You also advise that your corporation builds private driveways and roads, some of which are surfaced with clay and others of which are surfaced with asphalt. While you do have the equipment and staff to build the roads and driveways, you do not have the equipment to lay asphalt. You question whether you may subcontract with a road paving contractor who currently has or formerly had a State or local government contract to lay asphalt on a road bed which you have constructed as a private road or driveway.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides in relevant part:

CONFLICTING EMPLOYMENT OR CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP. -- No public officer or employee of an agency shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he is an officer or employee . . . ; nor shall an officer or employee of an agency have or hold any employment or contractual relationship that will create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between his private interests and the performance of his public duties or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties. [Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes (1981).]

This provision prohibits a county commissioner from having a contractual relationship with a business entity which is doing business with the county. The statute does not prohibit your contracting with businesses which are doing business with State or local governmental entities other than the County which you serve. Nor does the statute prohibit your contracting with businesses which are not doing business with the County during the time you are doing business with them.

However, under the circumstances you have presented, it appears that it is the construction corporation, and not you, personally, which would have a contractual relationship with a paving company which is doing business with the County. While you have an employment or contractual relationship with your contracting company, it is not your company which is doing business with the County, but rather the paving contractor.

Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest would be created were your corporation to contract with a road paving contractor doing business with the County to lay asphalt on a road bed constructed by your company as a private road or driveway.

QUESTION 2:

Would a prohibited conflict of interest be created were you, a county commissioner, to contract with a road paving contractor which is doing business with the County to pave your driveway?

This question is answered in the affirmative.

As we have indicated in our response to your first question, above, Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes, would prohibit you from having a contractual relationship with a business entity which is doing business with the County. Accordingly, we find that a prohibited conflict of interest would be created were you to contract with a paving contractor which is doing business with the County in order to pave your driveway.