| Advisory opinion request from Church Point Alderman, Errol "Slu" Comeaux, regarding whether the Ethics Code would prohibit his part time employment with Vautrot's Auto and Truck Parts. |
|
|
Church Point Alderman, Errol "Slu" Comeaux has been employed part time with Vautrot's Auto and Truck Parts for the past two years. Mr. Comeaux receives a weekly salary and is not paid commission. Mr. Comeaux was elected Church Point Alderman for District 5 in the November 4, 2015 election. Alderman Comeaux provided that the Town purchases merchandise from the store. Mr. Comeaux stated that, while there is no contract, the Town purchased approximately $1,500 in supplies from Vautrot's last year.
|
|
La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d) prohibits a public servant or legal entity in which the public servant exercises control or owns an interest in excess of twenty five percent, from receiving any thing of economic value for services rendered to or for any person during his public service unless such services are neither performed for nor compensated by any person from whom such public servant would be prohibited by La. R.S. 42:1115(A)(1) or (B) from receiving a gift.
La. R.S. 42:1115A(1) prohibits a public servant from soliciting or accepting, directly or indirectly, any thing of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or from any officer, director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public servant knows or reasonably should know that such person has or is seeking to have a contractual, business or financial relationship with the public servant's agency.
La. R.S. 42:1112B(3) states that no public , except as provided in R.S. 42:1120,servant shall participate in a transaction involving the governmental entity in which, to his actual knowledge, any person of which he is an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee has a substantial economic interest.
Advisory Opinion 82-02-D provides a limited exception to the prohibition contained in La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d). That opinion makes La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)d) inapplicable to public servants who meet all of the following criteria: 1) the public servant must be regularly compensated by the non-governmental employer pursuant to a uniform standard (i.e., a salaried or wage-earning employee), 2) the salary of the public servant is unaffected by the business relationship between the non-governmental employer and the agency of the public servant, 3) the public servant owns less than a controlling interest in the non-governmental employer, and 4) the public servant is neither an officer, director, trustee or partner in the non-governmental employer.
La. R.S. 42:1120 provides that any elected official, who is required to vote on a matter in violation of La. R.S. 42:1112, 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.
|
|
|
Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
|
|
| Assigned Attorney: |
Suzanne Mooney |
|
|