CEO 82-4 -- January 25, 1982

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

CITY MAYOR SERVING AS PRESIDENT OF NONPROFIT CORPORATION

To: Armando A. Penedo, Mayor, Sweetwater

SUMMARY:

No prohibited conflict of interest exists where a city mayor is president of a nonprofit corporation which has applied for a grant from the State Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, and where the city has applied for a similar grant. In CEO 80-46, the Commission advised that noncompensated service as an officer of a nonprofit corporation does not constitute an employment or contractual relationship. Therefore, Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes, which prohibits certain conflicting employment or contractual relationships would not apply. In addition, there is no provision in the Code of Ethics which would prohibit the spouse of a city mayor from being employed by a nonprofit corporation which has applied for a grant from the State Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, where the city has applied for a similar grant.

QUESTION 1:

Does a prohibited conflict of interest exist where you, a city mayor, are president of a nonprofit corporation which has applied for a grant from the State Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, where the city has applied for a similar grant?

This question also is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry and in a telephone conversation with our staff you advise that in addition to serving as Mayor of the City of Sweetwater you serve as president of a local nonprofit corporation, for which services you receive no compensation. The corporation, you advised, has received a grant from the State Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services to provide to Cuban and Haitian immigrants in the area served by the corporation such services as counseling, job referrals, English language classes, and assistance in preparing immigration papers. The corporation has applied to the Department for additional grant monies to provide the services. You also have advised that the City has received a grant from the Department to provide similar services to refugees, rather than immigrants, residing within the City. Recently, the City Council has voted to apply for a grant to assist both refugees and immigrants within the City. The nonprofit corporation is located outside of the City, you advise, and would not be providing services to residents of the City under its grant.

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), F.S. (1981).]

This provision prohibits you from having any employment or contractual relationship with a business entity which is doing business with, or which is subject to the regulation of, the City. In addition, it prohibits you from having other employment or contractual relationships which would present a continuing or frequently recurring conflict of interest or which would impede the full and faithful discharge of your public duties. Clearly, the nonprofit corporation of which you are president is not doing business with the City and is not subject to the regulation of the City. Nor does it appear that your service as an officer of the corporation would impede the full and faithful discharge of your duties as Mayor or would present a continuing or frequently recurring conflict with those duties. We particularly note that the corporation does not propose to provide services to the same group of persons as the City, which proposes to provide services only to persons residing within the City. In this respect, there is no direct competition between the corporation and the City for the grant.

Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest exists where you are president of a nonprofit corporation which has applied for a grant from the State Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, and where the City has applied for a similar grant.

QUESTION 2:

Does a prohibited conflict of interest exist where the spouse of a city mayor is employed by a nonprofit corporation which has applied for a grant from the State Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, and where the City has applied for a similar grant?

This question also is answered in the negative.

In a telephone conversation with our staff, you advised that your wife is employed as a counselor by the nonprofit corporation which you serve as president.

We have examined the provisions of the Code of Ethics and find that there is no provision which would prohibit the situation which you have described. Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest exists where your wife is employed by a nonprofit corporation which has applied for a grant from the State Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, and where the City has applied for a similar grant.