| An advisory opinion request, submitted by Jessica G. Richardson, regarding whether the Code would prohibit her from working as a historic preservation consultant while maintaining her employment at the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development ("LaDOTD"). |
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From December 2009 through January 2019, Ms. Richardson was employed by the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development. For the last five (5) years, Ms. Richardson served as the National Register Coordinator for the Division of Historic Preservation/State Historic Preservation Office ("SHPO"). While at SHPO, Ms. Richardson oversaw the National Register of Historic Places program, which lists historic properties on the National Register (the nation's official list of significant historic properties for historic architectural or archaeological significance). Her job duties included: assisting constituents with determining if their property was eligible; shepherding constituents through the nomination process (often with heavy technical and content editing); and, helping constituents officially list their properties.
In January 2019, she left the employ of the SHPO and commenced employment with LaDOTD as an Environmental Impact Specialist. In this position, Ms. Richardson is the historic structures expert, who performs environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. As an Environmental Impact Specialist with the LaDOTD, she is not involved in the National Register nomination process anymore and the LaDOTD does not get involved in the National Register nomination process. Currently, her only National Register program involvement stems from determining whether a historic structure may be impacted by the LaDOTD's work and making a recommendation based on her determination.
Ms. Richardson stated that she is interested in working as a historic preservation consultant, which would involve writing National Register nominations. In this potential consultation position, she would be compensated for this work by private property owners and/or developers who retained her to assist in the production of a National Register nomination. Job duties associated with this type of consultation would include research, map making, and the drafting/writing of the nomination material.
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La. R.S. 42:1121B provides no former public employee shall, for a period of two years following the termination of his public employment, assist another person, for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction in which such former public employee participated at any time during his public employment and involving the governmental entity by which he was formerly employed, or for a period of two years following the termination of his public employment, render, any service which such former public employee had rendered to the agency during the term of his public employment on a contractual basis, regardless of the parties to the contract, to, for, or on behalf of the agency with which he was formerly employed.
La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d) provides that no public servant and no legal entity in which the public servant exercises control or owns an interest in excess of twenty-five percent, shall receive any thing of economic value for or in consideration of services rendered, or to be rendered, to or for any person during his public service unless such services are: (d) Neither performed for nor compensated by 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 obtain contractual or other business or financial relationships with the public servant's agency; conducts operations or activities which are regulated by the public employee's agency; or has substantial economic interests which may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the public employee's official duty.
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Adopt the proposed opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
LaToya D. Jordan |
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