| Advisory Opinion request from Kevin Belanger, Chief Executive Officer of the South Central Planning & Development Commission (SCPDC), regarding board member and employee participation in a federal grant program administered by the agency. |
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SCPDC is a public non-profit, authorized by state legislation and created by a multi-parish region to assist in a variety of public services including but not limited to grant writing, code enforcement, and serve as a liaison and implementer of state and federal programs within and beyond the legislatively defined region. In December 2018, SCPDC contracted with the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary Foundation (BTEF) to implement a federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant that provides up to $1,000 of reimbursement for improvements to the sewer systems of qualified residential property owners. SPCDC conducted a public awareness campaign for the grant by having employees from the Planning Department and Information Technology Department place door hangers on residences in the program area.
Eligibility is determined based on programmatic boundaries, appropriate inspections conducted by SPCDC, and a follow-up assessment after the completion of the repairs. The amount of reimbursement awarded to eligible property owners is determined after a follow-up inspection conducted after the repairs have been completed and is calculated based on the cost of the repairs or replacement. Qualified property owners are eligible to receive reimbursement for fifty percent of their costs up to a maximum total award of $1,000. SPCDC provides a list of approved contractors for property owners to choose from after they elect to participate in the program. These contractors were selected after SPCDC advertised in The Daily Comet and mailed correspondence to every properly licensed contractor in the area. Although the funding for the grant is limited, response thus far has been less than anticipated and three SPCDC employees that own property within the designated area wish to avail themselves of the program. The employees seeking to participate are chief technology officer Ryan Hutchinson, accounting specialist Charlene Wallis-LeBlanc, and board member Mark Atzenhoffer. Mr. Hutchinson did not participate in placing door hangers, and Ms. LeBlance is not involved in the disbursement of checks.
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La. R.S. 42:1102(2)(a)(i) defines "agency" to mean a department, office, division, agency, commission, board, committee, or other organizational unit of a governmental entity. "Agency of the public servant" and "his agency" when used in reference to the agency of a public servant shall mean for public servants in the twenty principal departments of the executive branch of state government, the office in which such public servant carries out his primary responsibilities.
La. R.S. 42:1112A states that no public servant, except as provided in R.S. 42:1120, shall participate in a transaction in which he has a personal substantial economic interest of which he may be reasonably expected to know involving the governmental entity.
La. R.S. 42:1113A(1)(a) states no public servant, excluding any legislator and any appointed member of any board of commission and any member of a governing authority of a parish with a population of ten thousand or less, or member of such a public servant's immediate family, or legal entity in which he has a controlling interest shall bid on or enter into any contract, subcontract, or other transaction that is under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant.
La. R.S. 42:1113B prohibits an appointed member of any board or commission, member of his immediate family, or a legal entity in which he has a substantial economic interest, from bidding on or entering into or being in any way interested in any contract, subcontract, or other transaction which is under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such appointed member.
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Adopt the proposed opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Matthew DeVille |
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