| Advisory Opinion Request regarding whether the Code of Governmental Ethics prohibits the son of the EMS Supervisor at Station 19 with the Shreveport Fire Department from working at a Station at which his father serves as the EMS Supervisor. |
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Captain Terrance Davis
Sr. has been employed by the Shreveport Fire Department ("SFD") since February
14, 2000 and currently serves as an EMS Supervisor at Station 19. Mr. Davis
directly reports to Assistant Chief, Tommy Carpenter, and Chief of EMS, Chief
Alamand. Mr. Davis' son, Terrance T. Davis, Jr., has been employed with SFD
since October 1, 2022 and serves as firefighter-paramedic at Station 14. Paramedics
and firefighters are assigned to specific stations and report to the House Captains
of that station. The House Captain of Station 19 is Captain Vaughn Tonsman. For
disciplinary matters, a House Captain would be the immediate Supervisor and
thereafter the next chain of command would be the Battalion Chief assigned to
that station.
If a complaint is filed
against an employee at SFD, the complaint is submitted online then sent in the
following order: Chief of EMS, Deputy Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, and
then to the Battalion Fire Chief or Fire Captain if it is a behavioral issue,
or an EMS Supervisor if it is an EMS issue. While an EMS Supervisor does not
have the ability to discipline an employee, their role may involve
investigating a complaint that occurred.
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La. R.S.
42:1102(18)(a) defines "public
employee" to mean anyone, whether compensated or not, who is:
(i) An administrative officer or official of a governmental entity
who is not filling an elective office.
(ii) Appointed by any elected official when acting in an official
capacity, and the appointment is to a post or position wherein the appointee is
to serve the governmental entity or an agency thereof, either as a member of an
agency, or as an employee thereof.
(iii) Engaged in the performance of a governmental function.
(iv) Under the supervision or authority of an elected official or
another employee of the governmental entity.
La. R.S. 42:1102(19) defines "public servant" means
a public employee or an elected official.
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. 42:1102(12) defines "governmental entity" to mean the
state or any political subdivision which employs the public employee or
employed the former public employee or to which the elected official is
elected, as the case may be.
La.
R.S. 42:1102(17) defines "political
subdivision" to mean any unit of local government, including a special
district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions.
La. R.S. 42:1102(3) defines
"agency head" to mean the chief executive or administrative officer of an
agency or any member of a board or commission who exercises supervision over
the agency.
La.
R.S. 42:1119A provides 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, except as provided in R.S.
42:1120, 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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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Kathryn Calmes |
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