CEO 80-48 -- June 18, 1980

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

CLERK OF COURTS SERVING ON COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH BOARD

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

Prepared by: Phil Claypool

SUMMARY:

Reference is made to CEO's 77-16 and 77-21, in which it was found that noncompensated service on the board of directors of a nonprofit corporation does not constitute an employment or contractual relationship with that corporation. Accordingly, s. 112.313(7)(a), F. S., prohibiting a public officer's or employee's having a conflicting employment or contractual relationship, does not prohibit a clerk of the circuit and county courts from being a member of the local county mental health board.

QUESTION:

Does a prohibited conflict of interest exist when I, a clerk of the circuit and county courts, have been appointed as a member of the local county mental health board?

Your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that you are the Clerk of the Circuit and County Courts for Broward County and that recently you were appointed as a member of the Broward County Mental Health Board. In a telephone conversation with our staff, you advised that the mental health board is a nonprofit corporation and that you receive no compensation for serving on that board. You also advised that the various mental health boards within the state function under the Community Mental Health Act, part IV, ch. 394, F. S.; that they are responsible for reviewing and evaluating the mental health needs and services of their respective areas; and further that they receive and disburse funds for local mental health programs.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides:

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), F. S.]

This provision prohibits a public officer from having an employment or contractual relationship with a business entity or an agency which is regulated by or doing business with his agency; it also prohibits a public officer from having any employment or contractual relationship that would create a frequently recurring conflict between his private interests and the performance of his public duties. However, in previous opinions we have advised that noncompensated service on the board of directors of a nonprofit corporation does not constitute an employment or contractual relationship with the nonprofit corporation. See, for example, CEO's 77-16 and 77-21.

Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest is created under the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees when you serve as clerk of court and as a member of the county mental health board. Please be advised that we have no jurisdiction to interpret in an advisory opinion the provisions of ch. 99, F. S., or s. 5, Art. II, State Const., which contains a dual-officeholding prohibition. Such questions may be addressed to the Attorney General.