| Advisory opinion request as to whether St. Bernard Parish Government may acquire a vacant lot owned by Joyce Geeck Hunnicut. |
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Joyce Geeck Hunnicut's husband, Michael D. Hunnicut, is the head of St. Bernard Parish Government's Hazard Mitigation Department. Since 2006, St. Bernard Parish Government has acquired over 90 properties that were substantially destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in the Village Square subdivision through the use of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds for the purpose of recreating the area for a future public use.
However, there are still four vacant lots in the Village Square subdivision that St. Bernard Parish Government needs to acquire for a holistic development of the area including the vacant lot owned by Ms. Hunnicut located at 516 Oak Tree Lane. Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds cannot be used to purchase these remaining lots.
If St. Bernard Parish Government purchases the vacant lot from Ms. Hunnicut, it would be purchased at the appraised current fair market value and Mike Bayham, a Grants Specialist in the Hazard Mitigation Department, would handle all aspects of the transfer of the property.
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La. R.S. 42:1113 prohibits public servants, their immediate family members, or legal entities in which they have a controlling interest, from entering into any contract, subcontract, or other transaction that is under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant.
La. R.S. 42:1112B(1) provides that no public servant shall participate in a transaction involving the governmental entity in which, to his actual knowledge, any member of his immediate family has a substantial economic interest.
La. R.S. 42:1114 provides that each public servant and each member of his immediate family who derives anything of economic value, directly, through any transaction involving the agency of such public servant or who derives any thing of economic value of which he may be reasonably expected to know through a person which (1) is regulated by the agency of such public servant, or (2) 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.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Jennifer Land |
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