| Advisory opinion request regarding whether the Code of Governmental Ethics permits the immediate family members of the Pointe Coupee Fire District No. 3 Fire Chief and Officers to serve as volunteers or contract firefighters for the Fire District. |
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Phil Larimore is the part-time paid Fire Chief of Pointe Coupee Fire District No. 3 ("PCFD3"). PCFD3 is primarily staffed by volunteers who receive a nominal expense reimbursement of $10.00 for each emergency call responded to. Like many other rural fire departments, PCFD3 also uses part-time paid contract firefighters on an hourly basis when the budget and their availability permit. These contract firefighters work sporadically and are typically full-time professional firefighters in larger departments, with training and experience greater than most of the volunteer firefighters.
Chief Larimore asks whether the immediate family members of the PCFD3 Fire Chief or Officers are permitted to work for PCFD3 as volunteers or part-time paid contract firefighters, and whether it makes a difference if the immediate family members were already serving as volunteers or contract firefighters before the Fire Chief or Officers were promoted or appointed to their current positions?
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La. R.S. 42:1119A: No member of the immediate family of an agency head shall be employed in his agency.
La. R.S. 42:1119B states that no member of the immediate family of a member of a governing authority or the chief executive of a governmental entity shall be employed by the governmental entity.
La. R.S. 42:1119C(2) provides that the provisions of this Section shall not prohibit the continued employment of any public employee nor shall it be construed to hinder, alter, or in any way affect normal promotional advancements for such public employee where a member of public employee's immediate family becomes the agency head of such public employee's agency, provided that such public employee has been employed in the agency for a period of at least one year prior to the member of the public employee's immediate family becoming the agency head.
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. 42:1113A(1)(a) states no public servant...or member of such a public servant's immediate family...shall bid on or enter into any contract, subcontract, or other transaction that is under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant.
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Decline to render an advisory opinion request.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Jessica Meiners |
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