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Advisory opinion request from Mr. Raymond Impastato regarding employment conducting oyster lease surveys following his retirement from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (DWF). |
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Mr. Impastato is currently employed as the IT GEO Manager for the Oyster Lease Section of the Louisiana DWF. In this capacity he manage the statewide oyster leasing program which has over eight thousand active oyster leases. The section maintains a Geographic Information System (GIS) for all oyster lease data. It is Mr. Impastato's responsibility to oversee the collection of annual rent and the oyster lease renewals. As IT GEO Manager he has direct supervision over two employees and indirect supervision over six employees. He does not have sole authority to make personnel decisions such as hiring, firing, and merit increase. However, he has authority to make recommendations as he is typically on the panel for new hires within his division.
As a Registered Professional Land Surveyor Mr. Impastato also own his own business where he conducts surveys on the weekends. Upon retirement, he would like to continue his surveying business and perform oyster lease surveys as Registered Professional Land Surveyor. He states that his job duties now for the DWF would in no way overlap with his business venture following his retirement from DWF. As a surveyor, Mr. Impastato would be hired by an oyster lease applicant to survey an area the applicant wishes to lease. The applicant will provide him with information for the area to be surveyed. According to Mr. Impastato's advisory opinion request he will not have any interaction with his former agency aside from having access to the Department's public GIS website for information.
If the Code of Ethics does not prohibit him from performing oyster lease surveys during retirement, his duties will be to mark the boundaries of an area the applicant wishes to lease and prepare a plat of survey for the applicant. Following his survey, his former department will ensure compliance of the survey. However, Mr. Impastato would not be performing any surveys on areas he dealt with or had familiarity with while at the DWF. Presently there are approximately eight thousand oyster leases along the coast of the state. The surveys Mr. Impastato would be conducting are in areas not leased, but adjacent and near other leases.
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Section 1121A of the Code of Ethics states that no former agency head shall, for a period of two years following the termination of his public service as the head of such agency, assist another person, for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction involving that agency.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Brent Durham |
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