| Advisory opinion request regarding whether Penny Harville, an Alderwoman for the Village of Rodessa, may be employed with a company that has a contract with the Village of Rodessa. |
|
|
Penny Harville was elected as an Alderwoman for the Village of Rodessa in November, 2012. She also works as an Administrative Assistant for BALAR Associates, Inc. (BALAR), a civil engineering firm. Ms. Harville earns a wage at BALAR, receives no bonuses or commissions, and receives no financial compensation from any contract between BALAR and the Village of Rodessa. Ms. Harville holds no ownership interest in BALAR, and she is not an officer, director, trustee or partner of BALAR. The Village of Rodessa has utilized BALAR for various engineering services on past projects. Some of these projects have occurred prior to and during Ms. Harville's employment with BALAR. BALAR is currently being considered by the Village of Rodessa for the 2014-2015 LCDBG Request for Proposal.
|
|
Section 1111C(2)(d) of the Code prohibits a public servant or his spouse from receiving any thing of economic value from a person that has a contractual or other business or financial relationship with the public servant's agency or that may be supervised under the agency of the public servant.
BD 82-02D allows a public servant to maintain her employment, which is otherwise prohibited by Section 1111C(2)(d), if the following conditions are met: (1) the employee is a salaried or wage-earning employee; (2) the employee's salary is substantially unaffected by the contractual relationship; (3) the employee owns less than a "controlling interest" in the company; and (4) the employee is neither an officer, director, trustee, nor partner in the company.
Section 1112 of the Code prohibits a public servant from participating in transactions with his agency in which he has a substantial economic interest.
Section 1120 of the Code provides that any elected official, who is required to vote on a matter in violation of Section 1112 of the Code, must recuse himself from voting. The elected official is not prohibited from participating in discussion and debate concerning the matter provided that he verbally discloses the nature of the conflict or potential conflict during his participation in the discussion or debate prior to any vote being taken.
Section 1114 of the Code provides that each public servant and each member of his immediate family who derives anything of economic value of which he may be reasonably expected to know through a person which has bid on or entered into or is in any way financially interested in any contract, subcontract, or any transaction under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant shall disclose certain information as set forth in Section 1114.
|
|
|
Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
|
|
| Assigned Attorney: |
Jennifer Land |
|
|