CEO 75-158 -- July 29, 1975
RECONSIDERATION OF THE APPLICABILITY OF THE DISCLOSURE LAW TO COUNTY ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
To: David E. Bruner, Collier County Attorney, Naples
Prepared by: Bonnie Johnson
SUMMARY:
CEO 74-68 and CEO 75-65 are reversed insofar as they apply to the Collier County Water Management Board, the Collier County Environmental Advisory Council, and the Collier County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Based on the language previously submitted describing the duties and functions of these boards, they were ruled to exercise planning and zoning jurisdiction. Upon receipt of additional information, however, it is clear that county planning and zoning matters are handled solely by the Coastal Area Planning and Zoning Commission and the Immokalee Area Planning and Zoning Commission. The three previously mentioned boards serve only to advise the county commission in the more limited fields of water management, environmental concerns, and the development of recreational areas within the county. Members of these three boards therefore meet the exclusion of advisory body members pursuant to s. 112.312(7)(b), F. S. (1974 Supp.); they are not deemed to be public officers and therefore are not subject to financial disclosure requirements.
Upon a second review of our opinion CEO 74-68 issued to you in November of 1974, we have determined that three Collier County advisory boards are, in fact, solely advisory in nature and do not exercise jurisdiction with respect to planning and zoning matters.
It is our understanding that the Coastal Area Planning and Zoning Commission and the Immokalee Area Planning and Zoning Commission directly advise the county commission on planning and zoning matters. Their duties include the preparation of comprehensive land use plans as well as recommendations for zoning district boundaries and regulations. The members of these two boards are therefore "public officers" pursuant to s. 112.312(7)(j), F. S. (1974 Supp.), as we ruled in CEO 74-68.
In that opinion we also ruled that the Water Management Board, the Environmental Advisory Council, and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board exercised jurisdiction with respect to planning and zoning matters. In reconsideration of these three boards, however, we determined at our commission meeting of July 23, 1975, that these three boards are, in fact, solely advisory and that their duties are, at best, only peripherally related to planning and zoning. It appears, after having received additional information from you concerning the functions of these three boards, that only the two commissions mentioned in the preceding paragraph are responsible for planning and zoning recommendations while the three advisory boards in question are merely ad hoc committees whose duties are limited to advising the county commission in the more specific areas of water management, environmental concerns, and the development of recreational areas within the county. These advisory boards are not responsible for the appropriation or zoning of land nor with the regulation of boundaries but, rather, with recommendations for programs and plans within their designated fields of concern.
We hereby reverse our stand as to the status of the Water Management Board, the Environmental Advisory Council, and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board set forth in the answer to question 1 of CEO 74-68, and we revoke CEO 75-65 so far as it applies to these boards. These three boards are now determined to be solely advisory; their members, therefore, are not deemed to be public officers subject to financial disclosure.