| Advisory opinion on behalf of Opelousas General Hospital Authority d/b/a Opelousas General Health System ("OGHS") as to whether Robert L. Wolfe, Jr., or his company, Morgan Goudeau & Associates, Inc., would be prohibited from performing engineering and land surveying services for OGHS projects. |
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Hospital Service District No. 2 of St. Landry Parish ("Hospital Service District") is a political subdivision of the St. Landry Parish Government, created by ordinance in 1953 by virtue of the authority of La. R.S. 46:1051, et seq., to provide health services to St. Landry Parish. To accomplish this purpose, the Opelousas General Health Authority d/b/a Opelousas General Health System ("OGHS") was created as a trust for the benefit of the Hospital Service District, which appoints nine members to the OGHS Board of Trustees. On May 29, 2019, the Hospital Service District appointed Robert L. Wolfe, Jr. to the OGHS Board of Trustees.
Mr. Wolfe holds a fifty percent (50%) ownership interest in, and serves as the President of, Morgan Goudeau & Associates, Inc., an engineering and land survey firm located in Opelousas. Prior to Mr. Wolfe's appointment to the OGHS Board of Trustees, Morgan Goudeau & Associates, Inc. performed surveying and civil design work for OGHS since its inception.
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La. R.S. 42:1113B provides that no appointed member of any board or commission, member of his immediate family, or legal entity in which he has a substantial economic interest shall bid on or enter into or be 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.
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 rend ered, 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.
La. R.S. 42:1111E(1) provides that no public servant, and no legal entity of which such public servant is an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee, or in which such public servant has a substantial economic interest, shall receive or agree to receive any thing of economic value for assisting a person in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction, with the agency of such public servant.
La. R.S. 42:1121A(2) provides that no former member of a board or commission shall, for a period of two years following the termination of his public service on such board or commission, contract with, be employed in any capacity by, or be appointed to any position by that board or commission.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
David Bordelon |
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