FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

ATTORNEY WORKING FOR MULTIPLE MUNICIPALITIES
IN VARIOUS CAPACITIES

To: Lonnie N. Groot, Esq. (Daytona Beach Shores)

SUMMARY:

An attorney associated with a firm that has been hired to provide legal services to a city is not required to file CE Form 1, "Statement of Financial Interests," unless he is the person regarded as the municipal attorney for that city. A local hearing officer is not required to file CE Form 1. Referenced are CEO 75-101, CEO 77-138, CEO 08-27, and CEO 19-15.

QUESTION 1:

Will an attorney associated with a firm that has been hired to provide legal services to a city who performs legal services for the city be required to file CE Form 1, "Statement of Financial Interests," if he is not the person regarded to be the municipal attorney for that city?

This question is answered in the negative.

You are an attorney who performs legal services for three cities in Florida. You perform legal services for the City of Sanford and the Town of Lady Lake through your business relationship with Stenstrom, McIntosh, Colbert, and Whigham, P.A. ("Stenstrom") and for the City of DeLand through your business relationship with Paul, Elkind, Branz and Paul, P.A. ("Paul"). You work as an independent contractor for both firms.

You state that the Stenstrom law firm has been retained by the cities of Sanford, Oviedo and Webster¹ to handle their legal work and that a member of the firm, other than you, is the attorney who is regarded as the "city attorney" for those cities. You state that you only attend Sanford City Commission meetings if the person regarded as the City Attorney is ill or has a conflict. You attend most of Sanford's Planning and Zoning Commission and Historic Preservation Board meetings, but someone else covers its other boards and Sanford's non-land use litigation. Sanford hires special counsel for some matters, as well. You state that you handle most of the routine tasks related to the City of Sanford's matters, such as drafting documents. You also serve as legal counsel to the Town of Lady Lake's Disciplinary Arbitration Panel through your relationship with Stenstrom.

You have performed legal services for the City of DeLand through the Paul firm and have not done any work for the firm or the City of DeLand in approximately a year, but you remain under contract. You state that you have covered city commission meetings in the absence of the person regarded as the City Attorney and that you have handled some ad hoc projects. You state that Paul has been retained as the City Attorney for DeLand (in an independent contractor relationship) and that a member of the firm, other than you, is regarded as DeLand's City Attorney. You state that this person has always performed the bulk of the work with regard to DeLand. You note that you are not considered the "city attorney" for any of the above-referenced cities or towns.

In addition, you serve as a special magistrate (hearing officer) for the City of Cocoa Beach, a position for which you have submitted a resignation effective the end of March, and you are seeking a special magistrate (hearing officer) position with Flagler County.

Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes, sets forth the list of persons required to file a CE Form 1, Statement of Financial Interests ("Form 1"), with the Commission. Among those persons are "[e]ach state or local officer . . . and each specified state employee." § 112.3145(2)(b), Fla. Stat. Each of these three categories is defined with a list of positions or public responsibilities. Included in the list of "local officers" required to file are "municipal attorney[s]."² § 112.3145(1)(a)3., Fla. Stat.

When it comes to the requirement that city attorneys have to file financial disclosure, Section 112.3145(1)(a)3., Florida Statutes, does not differentiate between:

. . . an enumerated city attorney who is a city officer, a city attorney who is a city employee, an attorney retained via a contract directly with the attorney in his or her individual capacity, or an attorney whose firm was hired via contract when that attorney does the majority of the City’s work for the firm.

See CEO 08-027.

There is also no distinction, exemption, or exception in the statute for persons who serve as city attorneys on an independent contractor basis. In CEO 75-101, we said that city attorneys who are hired as independent contractors are required to file an annual statement of financial interests. In CEO 77-138, we also found that an attorney engaged in the private practice of law was, nevertheless, a "public officer" required to file financial disclosure by virtue of having been retained as the city attorney. In CEO 19-15, we said that a private attorney who routinely provides legal services to a town and who renders more legal services to the town than any other attorney is a "local officer" for purposes of Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes, and, thus, required to file an annual statement of financial interests even though he had no ongoing contractual obligation to serve as the town's attorney. In summary, the requirement to file an annual statement of financial interests applies to anyone who holds the position of municipal attorney or who "routinely serves as the attorney" for a city or town, renders more legal services to the city than any other attorney and is recognized to be the city attorney, regardless of whether they are employed by or an independent contractor of a municipality or a firm hired by a municipality. See § 112.313(16)(a), Fla. Stat.; CEO 08-027.

Turning to your situation, your duties with regard to Sanford include attending its City Commission meetings when the person in the firm who is recognized as Sanford's City Attorney is ill or has a conflict. You attend most of the City's Planning and Zoning Commission and Historic Preservation Board meetings and other people cover its other boards and handle the litigation. You state that the work you do on behalf of the City consists of handling routine tasks, such as the drafting of documents. You neither do the majority of Sanford's work at Stenstrom nor are you considered to be Sanford's City Attorney. As a result, you would not be considered a "municipal attorney" with regard to Sanford for purposes of Section 112.3145(1)(a)3., Florida Statutes, and, thus, you would not be found to be a "local officer" required to file CE Form 1 for purposes of Section 112.3145(1)(a) and (2)(b), Florida Statutes. As such, you would not be required to file a CE Form 1 as a result of your relationship to the City of Sanford.

In that your legal services for the Town of Lady Lake only involve your being legal counsel to its Disciplinary Arbitration Panel, you would not be considered Lady Lake's municipal attorney (and, thus, not be found to be a "local officer" under Section 112.3145(1)(a), Florida Statutes). As such, there would be no requirement to file a CE Form 1 pursuant to Section 112.3145(2)(b), Florida Statutes, as a result of the work you perform on behalf of Lady Lake.

You have not performed any legal services for DeLand in approximately a year. When you were performing legal services for DeLand, you state that you covered city commission meetings in the absence of the member of your firm recognized as the City Attorney and handled some ad hoc projects. You state that the attorney at Paul who is regarded as DeLand's City Attorney has always handled the majority of the City's legal work. Given the nature of the duties you performed on behalf of DeLand and the fact that you were never regarded as its city attorney, you would not be considered a municipal attorney (or a local officer) for purposes of Section 112.3145(1)(a), Florida Statutes, and you would not have been required to file a CE Form 1.

QUESTION 2:

Will a local hearing officer be required to file CE Form 1, "Statement of Financial Interests?"

This question is answered in the negative.

You state that you serve as a special magistrate for the City of Cocoa Beach, a position for which you have tendered your resignation effective the end of March, and that you are seeking a special magistrate position with Flagler County. You also interchange the words "hearing officer" for "special magistrate." The only "hearing officers" included in the list of persons required to file a CE Form 1, Statement of Financial Interests, in Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes, are those who are "state employees." See § 112.3145(1)(b)1., Florida Statutes.³ Section 112.3145(2)(b), Florida Statutes, provides that "[e]ach state or local officer and each specified state employee shall file a statement of financial interests . . ." but the only hearing officers listed that are required to file a statement of financial interests, i.e., a CE Form 1, are those who are specified state employees. The special magistrate/hearing officer position you currently hold is with a municipality, Cocoa Beach, and the special magistrate/hearing officer position you are seeking is a county position. Since these positions are not listed as "local officers," they do not create a requirement for you to file a CE Form 1, Statement of Financial Interests.

Your question is answered accordingly.

ORDERED by the State of Florida Commission on Ethics meeting in public session on March 8, 2024, and RENDERED this 13th day of March, 2024.

____________________________________

Ashley Lukis, Chair

^[1]Although Stenstrom continues to perform work for Oviedo and Webster, you state you have not done work for those municipalities recently. Therefore, we do not address your relationship to those municipalities any further.