CEO 83-34 -- June 16, 1983

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION EMPLOYEE SERVING ON CITY PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD

To: (Name withheld at the person's request.)

SUMMARY:

No prohibited conflict of interest exists where an engineer in a District Traffic Operations Office of the Department of Transportation serves on the planning and zoning board of a city located in another District of the Department. As the city is located outside of the District, it does not appear that his responsibilities with the Department would conflict with his duties on the planning and zoning board.

QUESTION:

Does a prohibited conflict of interest exist where an engineer in a District Traffic Operations Office of the Department of Transportation serves on the planning and zoning board of a city located in another District of the Department?

Your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that Mr. Thomas L. Thomson, an Engineer IV in the Miami District VI Traffic Operations Office of the Department of Transportation, has been appointed to serve on the City of Pembroke Pines Planning and Zoning Board. You also advise that the Department's District Six Office has jurisdiction in Dade and Monroe Counties and that the City is not located in either of these counties.

In addition, you advise that the Planning and Zoning Board is responsible for managing the existing and future uses of property within the City, which primarily involves review and action on building permits and development requests to ensure compliance with local ordinances and the City's comprehensive plan. As an Engineer with the Department, the subject employee's primary responsibilities are studying and solving traffic operations problems, which includes overseeing data collection in Dade and Monroe Counties, you advise. His position involves virtually no contact with the District Office which is responsible for the County within which the City is located.

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 public employee from having certain conflicting employment or contractual relationships; it does not prohibit an employee from holding an elective or appointive public office. However, this section does prohibit a public officer, such as a planning and zoning board member, from having conflicts of interest arising out of his employment. For this reason, we examine the situation you have referenced to determine whether the subject employee's employment with the Department would conflict with his service on the Planning and Zoning Board.

From the circumstances you have presented, it does not appear that the Department of Transportation is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, the City Planning and Zoning Board. Nor do we find that the subject employee's employment with the Department would present a continuing or frequently recurring conflict of interest, or would impede the full and faithful discharge of his duties as a Planning and Zoning Board member. In particular, as the City is located outside of the District within which the subject employee works, we do not perceive that his responsibilities with the Department would conflict with his duties on the Planning and Zoning Board.

Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest exists where the subject employee serves on the Pembroke Pines Planning and Zoning Board while being employed as an Engineer in the Miami District Six Traffic Operations Office of the Department of Transportation.