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Confirmation of an emergency advisory opinion regarding whether Denver Ballard may be employed with the Denham Springs City Fire Department at a time when his father serves as the Deputy Fire Chief. |
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Denver Ballard has applied for employment as a classified firefighter with the Denham Springs City Fire Department. He stated that the local Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board denied his application claiming that his employment is prohibited by nepotism. He stated that his father is the Deputy Fire Chief for the Denham Springs City Fire Department. He also stated that Fire Chief, Melvin Wheat, is the head of the Denham Springs Fire Department. According to an organizational chart of the Denham Springs Fire Department submitted by Mr. Ballard, the Fire Chief appears to be the head of the Fire Department, with the Deputy Fire Chief under his authority and the Assistant Fire Chiefs and Captains underneath the Deputy Fire Chief. Mr. Ballard stated that an Assistant Fire Chief and Captain would be his shift supervisors. He stated that it is the Fire Chief and the Mayor for the City of Denham Springs that control the hiring, firing and discipline of employees of the Fire Department.
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This opinion was issued on an emergency basis on October 5, 2012 by the Ethics Administrator after review by the Chairman of the Board.
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La. R.S. 42:1119A states that no member of the immediate family of an agency head shall be employed in his agency.
La. R.S. 42:1112B(1) states 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. 42:1112C allows a disqualification plan to be developed in accordance with rules adopted by the Board to remove a public servant from participating in transactions that would otherwise present violations of Section 1112 of the Code.
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Confirm emergency opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Tracy Barker |
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