CEO 92-41 -- September 3, 1992

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

APPLICABILITY OF DISCLOSURE LAW TO CITY ADMINISTRATIVE

COORDINATOR OF INSPECTIONS AND ENGINEERING

To: Mr. Vincent A. Finizio, Administrative Coordinator of Inspections and Engineering, City of Boynton Beach

SUMMARY:

The Boynton Beach Administrative Coordinator of Inspections and Engineering is not a "local officer" subject to the requirement of filing a statement of financial interests under Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes, as he does not have the authority to grant or deny land development permits.

QUESTION:

Are you, the City's Administrative Coordinator of Inspections and Engineering, a "local officer" subject to the requirement of filing a statement of financial interests annually?

Your question is answered in the negative.

The financial disclosure law requires each "local officer" to file a statement of financial interests no later than July 1 of each year. Section 112.3145(2)(b), Florida Statutes (1991). The term "local officer" is defined to include

[a]ny person holding one or more of the following positions: ... chief county or municipal building inspector; ... county or municipal administrator, with power to grant or deny a land development permit ... . [Section 112.3145(1)(a)3, Florida Statutes (1991).]

Through your letter of inquiry and in subsequent information provided to our staff, we are advised that in 1990 at your insistence the City of Boyton Beach included you within the list of local officers required to file financial disclosure. It was the City Clerk's position then that you were a "municipaladministrator, with power to grant or deny a land development permit" even though your position description did not clearly indicate that you held this authority. Although you concurred in that decision at the time and filed financial disclosure for 1990, you now seek to have your name removed from the list of local officers required to file financial disclosure for 1991.

Our staff contacted the City's consulting engineer and he advised that as of June 25, 1991, pursuant to an understanding reached between yourself, the City Manager, and the consulting engineer, you would no longer sign-off on land development permits. Therefore, based upon these representations, it does not appear that you possessed the authority to grant or deny land development permits after June 25, 1991, even though your title and position description remain the same as when it was first determined that you should file financial disclosure.

Accordingly, we find that your responsibilities as the City's Administrative Coordinator of Inspections and Engineering do not place you within the category of municipal administrators described in Section 112.3145(1)(a)3, Florida Statutes, and therefore you are not subject to the requirement of filing a statement of financial interests.