CEO 86-79 -- October 29, 1986

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

COUNTY WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATORS EMPLOYED TO OPERATE PRIVATE TREATMENT PLANTS

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

SUMMARY:

No prohibited conflict of interest exists where county wastewater treatment plant operators also are employed part-time by a private service company to operate privately owned treatment plants within the county. Section 112.313(7), Florida Statutes, would not be violated because the company is not regulated by or doing business with the county and because no other conflict of interest between the responsibilities of the employees' public and private positions is apparent.

QUESTION:

Does a prohibited conflict of interest exist where county wastewater treatment plant operators also are employed part-time by a private service company to operate privately owned treatment plants within the county?

Your question is answered in the negative.

Through your letter of inquiry and a telephone conversation with our staff, you have advised that ...., ...., and .... are employed by Pasco County as certified wastewater treatment plant operators. In that position they are employed by the Utilities Division of the County Public Works and Utilities Department to operate treatment plants which are owned and operated by the County. They have been certified as operators by the Department of Environmental Regulation pursuant to Chapter 17-16, Florida Administrative Code.

You also have advised that the operators are employed part-time by an independent service company which provides services to private utility owners, including the owners of several small wastewater treatment plants in the County. The company has agreed that the part-time operators make their rounds in civilian clothing in their own vehicles and that they use equipment and supplies provided for them by the company. The company is not regulated by or doing business with the County.

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), Florida Statutes (1985).]

The first part of this provision prohibits a public employee from having any employment with a business entity which is subject to the regulation of or doing business with his agency. As you have advised that the company which employs the subject operators on a part-time basis is neither regulated by nor doing business with the County, this provision would not prohibit their employment.

The second portion of Section 112.313(7)(a) prohibits a public employee from having any employment that would create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict of interest or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties. Under the circumstances you have presented, we see no basis to conclude that the subject employees' part-time employment with the company as wastewater treatment plant operators would present a conflict of interest or impede the discharge of their public duties as plant operators for the County.

Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest exists where the subject wastewater treatment plant operators also are employed part-time by a private service company to operate privately owned treatment plants within the County.