CEO 76-80 -- April 16, 1976

ADVISORY BODIES

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS

To: Eddie L. Mills, Chairman, Community Improvement Projects Committee, St. Petersburg

Prepared by: Gene Rhodes

SUMMARY:

A municipal community improvement projects committee which is solely advisory, has no budget, and exercises no responsibilities in the areas of land planning, zoning, or natural resources, is deemed to be an advisory body pursuant to Florida Statutes ss. 112.3145(1)(a)2. and 112.312(1)(1975). Accordingly, members of this committee do not constitute local officers for purposes of disclosure. However, a city relocation grievance committee which hears and decides appeals of complaints relating to the 1974 Community Development Block Grant Program is not solely advisory but exercises authority as to the final determination or adjudication of personal and/or property rights. This committee therefore does not fall within the definition of an "advisory body" for purposes of the Code of Ethics, and its members are deemed to be local officers subject to the disclosure requirements of s. 112.3145.

QUESTIONS:

1. Am I, as chairman of the city's community improvement projects committee (CIPC), required to file annually a statement of financial disclosure?

2. Am I, as a member of the city's relocation grievance committee (RGC), required to annually file a financial disclosure statement?

Question 1 is answered in the negative.

An examination of the ordinance creating the community improvement projects committee (St. Petersburg Code, No. 74-159) reveals that the various functions of that body are solely advisory. The director of the department of housing and redevelopment has advised us that the committee does not have responsibilities involving land planning, zoning, or natural resources. The planning commission and the zoning commission are responsible for land planning and zoning, respectively, and it is clear that the committee does not have responsibilities in the natural resources area.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees requires that each "local officer" annually file a statement of financial interests. Fla. Stat. s. 112.3145(2)(b)(1975). The term "local officer" is defined by the Code of Ethics to include:

Any appointed member of a board, commission, authority, community college district board of trustees, or council of any political subdivision of the state, excluding any member of an advisory body. A governmental body with land-planning, zoning, or natural resources responsibilities shall not be considered an advisory body. [Fla. Stat. s. 112.3145(1)(a)2.(1975).]

The Code of Ethics defines the term "advisory body" as follows:

"Advisory body" means any board, commission, committee, council, or authority, however selected, whose total budget, appropriations, or authorized expenditures constitute less than 1 percent of the budget of each agency it serves or $100,000, whichever is less, and whose powers, jurisdiction, and authority are solely advisory and do not include the final determination or adjudication of any personal or property rights, duties, or obligations, other than those relating to its internal operations. [Fla. Stat. s. 112.312(1)(1975).]

A public body, therefore, must meet three requirements before it is deemed to be an advisory body for purposes of the Code of Ethics. First, the body must be other than one with land planning, zoning, or natural resources responsibilities. The CIPC has no responsibilities in the above areas and therefore meets this requirement.

Secondly, the public body's total budget, appropriations, or authorized expenditures must constitute less than 1 percent of the budget of each agency it serves or less than $100,000, whichever is less. The CIPC has no budget, thereby meeting this requirement.

Finally, an advisory body's powers, jurisdiction, and authority must be solely advisory, which means in part that those powers, jurisdiction, and authority exercised by the body do not include the final determination or adjudication of any personal or property rights, duties, or obligations, other than those relating to internal operations. It is clear from the ordinance which created the CIPC (cited above) that the committee's powers, jurisdiction, and authority are solely advisory and in no way determine personal or property rights. Therefore this final requirement of an advisory body is satisfied, and the CIPC accordingly is deemed to be an advisory body for purposes of the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees.

Consequently, as chairman of the CIPC, you are not required to annually file a statement of financial disclosure by virtue of being a member of that committee.

Question 2 is answered in the affirmative.

Your letter of inquiry advises us that the relocation grievance committee hears and decides appeals of complaints relating to the 1974 Community Development Block Grant Program, a federally assisted plan which the city is implementing. This committee does not receive a budget.

As stated in question 1 above, for purposes of the Code of Ethics, an advisory body must perform solely advisory functions which cannot include powers, jurisdiction, or authority involving the final determination or adjudication of any personal or property rights, duties, or obligations, other than those relating to its internal operations. The RGC performs functions of this nature. The St. Petersburg Code, No. 75-331, states that the relocation grievance committee is created "to hear and decide appeals stemming from displacement actions of the City under the Community Development Program."

Consequently, this committee is not an advisory body for purposes of the Code of Ethics and, by virtue of your membership thereon, you are required to file annually a Statement of Financial Disclosure, CE Form 1.