CEO 84-19 -- March 8, 1984

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

CITY RESCUE UNIT FIREFIGHTER ENGINEER OR LIEUTENANT OWNING AMBULANCE SERVICE

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

SUMMARY:

A prohibited conflict of interest would be created were a firefighter engineer or a lieutenant employed by a city fire protection division as a member of a rescue unit to own a private ambulance service operating within the city. As the duties of these employees do not differ from the responsibilities of the employee in CEO 81-76, the rationale of that opinion is followed.

QUESTION:

Would a prohibited conflict of interest be created were a firefighter engineer or a lieutenant employed by a city fire protection division as a member of a rescue unit to own a private ambulance service operating within the city?

Your question is answered in the affirmative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that .... and .... currently are employed as firefighter engineers in a rescue unit of the City of Jacksonville Department of Public Safety, Fire Protection Division. Recently, you advise, these individuals were granted a certificate to operate a private ambulance service in the City. You question whether this activity would be permitted under the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees, in light of our opinion CEO 81-76.

In CEO 81-76, we found that a captain employed by the Jacksonville Fire Protection Division as a member of a rescue unit could not own and be an officer of a private ambulance service operating within the City. We concluded that his employment and contractual relationship with the ambulance service would present a continuing or frequently recurring conflict of interest and would impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties as an emergency medical technician, in violation of Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes. Our conclusion was based on the fact that as an employee in a rescue unit, the captain was in a position to make referrals to his private ambulance service on a frequently recurring basis and to obtain additional business for his company during the course of his duties in determining whether a patient was an emergency case or a non-emergency case.

You have advised that a Firefighter Engineer in a rescue unit has the same paramedic and emergency medical technician responsibilities as did the captain in CEO 81-76. Therefore, based on the rationale of that opinion, we conclude that firefighter engineers in a rescue unit also are prohibited from owning an ambulance service operating within the city. As you have advised that lieutenants in a rescue unit have the same emergency medical responsibilities, we see no reason to distinguish the situation of a lieutenant from that of a captain or a firefighter engineer.

Accordingly, we find that a prohibited conflict of interest would be created were a firefighter engineer or a lieutenant employed by the City Fire Protection Division as a member of a rescue unit to own a private ambulance service operating within the City.