| Advisory opinion regarding a newly elected member of the Jefferson Parish Council, Paul Johnston, and his son being employed by a company, Guillot's Sanitary Supplies, Inc. while Guillot's has a business relationship with the Parish. |
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Mr. Johnston states that he has been elected to the position of Councilman for District 2 for the Parish of Jefferson, to take office in January of 2012. He is currently employed with Guillot's Sanitary Supply, Inc. Guillot's sells sanitary supplies to various entities, including the Parish of Jefferson and/or its departments. Mr.Johnston is a salaried employee of Guillot's and has been employed by them for seven years. His son is also a salaried employee of Guillot's and has been so employed for 13 years. Mr.Johnston nor his son serve as officers, directors, trustees or partners in the company. Additionally, Jefferson Parish is not a client that Mr.Johnston serves.
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Section 1112 of the Code prohibits a public servant from participating in transactions with his governmental entity in which an immediate family member or his employer has a substantial economic interest. Section 1120 of the Code allows an elected official to participate in the discussion of a matter in violation of Section 1112 of the Code. However, the public servant must recuse himself from voting on the matter. Section 1113 of the Code prohibits a public servant from entering into a transaction that is under the supervision of the agency of the public servant. Section 1111C(2)(d) generally prohibits a public servant from receiving any thing of economic value from a person who has a contractual relationship with the public servant's agency. However, 82-02D provides an exception to 1111C(2)(d) if four elements are satisfied. The criteria required to meet 82-02D are: (1) the employee must be a salaried or wage-earning employee; (2) the employee's salary must remain substantially unaffected by the contractual relationship; (3) the public servant must own less than a "controlling interest" in the company; and (4) the public servant must be neither an officer, director, trustee, nor partner in the company. Section 1114 of the Code requires a public servant or a member of her immediate family, who derives a thing of economic value, of which, the immediate family member may be reasonably expected to know has bid on or entered into or is in anyway financially interested in any contract or any other transaction under the supervision of the public servant's agency to file a disclosure statement with the Board of Ethics stating the: 1) amount of income, 2)nature of the business, 3)name and address and relationship to the public servant, and 3)the name of the legal entity to which she is employed.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Aneatra Boykin |
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