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EC-COI-07-1 - The lease of a slip or berth in a public marina operated by the Town of Barnstable is a contract for purposes of G. L. c. 268A. A municipal employee must qualify for an exemption under § 20 in order to lease a slip or berth. A mooring permit is not a contract for the purposes of G.L. c. 268A and does not require a municipal employee to qualify for an exemption under § 20.

EC-COI-07-2       Based on the Commission’s reconsideration of the meaning of the term business organization in G. L. c. 268A, §§ 6, 13 and 19, neither the common and ordinary meaning of business organization nor the legislative history and intent of the statute require or support the inclusion of charitable, non-profit organizations that do not substantially engage in business activities within the scope of the term. Accordingly, the Commission will not treat charitable, non-profit organizations that do not substantially engage in business activities as business organizations for conflict of interest law purposes.

EC-COI-06-1       In order to serve as a foster/pre-adoptive parent, adoptive parent or guardian and receive the corresponding payments for those programs, a state employee will need to qualify for an exemption under § 7 of G.L. c. 268A. Many state employees are eligible for one of the available exemptions. Full-time DSS employees and part-time DSS employees who are not special state employees, however, do not qualify for any exemption under § 7. Thus, in order for these employees to participate in the DSS programs the creation of an additional exemption in § 7 is necessary. All special state employees employed by DSS may use the § 7(e) exemption. All other full-time and part-time state employees who are not special state employees, are generally eligible for the § 7(b) exemption. However, under § 7(b), those state employees may receive compensation from DSS, other than reimbursement, for not more than 500 hours during a calendar year. Compensation for more than 500 hours will require the creation of an additional exemption in § 7. Special state employees not employed by DSS may use the § 7(d) exemption. The Commission is concerned about the impact that the application of the conflict of interest law would have on these children and their foster/adoptive parents or guardians in these circumstances. Therefore, in accordance with its power to prescribe and publish regulations providing for reasonable exemptions from the conflict of interest law, the Commission intends to issue a regulation that will allow DSS employees for whom no statutory exemption applies, to serve as foster/pre-adoptive parents, adoptive parents and guardians and to receive the applicable payments for such service.

EC-COI-06-2       The Hampshire Council of Governments is a "county agency" for purposes of G. L. c. 268A and a "governmental body" as defined in G. L. c. 268B. The Franklin Regional Council of Governments is a "municipal agency" for the purposes of G. L. c. 268A.

EC-COI-06-3       Where a state board member is also a municipal employee, the municipality’s financial interest in a particular matter before the state board will not, in and of itself, bar the state board member from participating as such in the particular matter, because a municipality is not a business organization within the meaning of G. L. c. 268A. In the current opinion, the Commission reversed its prior rulings, to the extent that they hold otherwise, that a municipality is a business organization, which had followed Conflict Opinion No. 613, Attorney General Quinn (1974). The Commission also concluded that counties are not business organizations.

EC-COI-06-4       The conflict of interest law permits a private nonprofit organization to give, and a public employee who does not regulate or otherwise exercise official power over the giver to accept, an unsolicited, "no strings attached" award of substantial value in bona fide recognition of the public employee’s outstanding public service, leadership, dedication or potential. Such an award is not a gift in violation of G. L. c. 268A, § 3 or an unwarranted privilege in violation of § 23(b)(2) of the statute.

EC-COI-06-5       Human Rights Committees for the Department of Mental Retardation’s state-operated facilities are state agencies, and their members are special state employees subject to the conflict of interest law, G.L. c. 268A. This conclusion also applies to Human Rights Committees for private providers.

EC-COI-05-1      Section 17(a) of G. L. c. 268A prohibits a municipal employee from receiving private compensation to perform preparation and maintenance tasks required by a municipal permit in which the municipality is a party and in which the municipality has a direct and substantial interest, unless the compensation is authorized by a municipal by-law or other law.

EC-COI-05-2      The Commission concluded that the School Building Authority is subject to the conflict of interest law based on express language in St. 2004, c. 208, which created the Authority and which specifies that the Authority’s operations "shall be subject to G. L. c. 268A." In addition, the Commission concluded that the School Building Advisory Board is subject to G. L. c. 268A because the Board was created by statute; it will have formal procedures and work product; it was the clear intent of the Legislature to have the Authority’s operations subject to c. 268A; and the Board develops governmental policy.

EC-COI-05-3      General Law c. 268A, § 5(e) does not prohibit a former state employee from engaging in paid public advocacy intended to influence public opinion on a matter before the person’s former governmental body provided that he does not do so on the grounds of that body. G.L. c. 268A, § 5(e) will, however, prohibit a former state employee from both directly lobbying his former governmental body and from engaging for compensation in lobbying that body through strategic legislative agent activities “behind the scenes.” Additionally, before engaging in permissible forms of public advocacy, a former state employee must ensure he complies with the requirements of G.L. c. 268A, §§ 5(a), 5(b) and 23(c).

EC-COI-04-1      Section 15A of G.L. c. 268A does not prohibit the Dukes County Commission from appointing one of its members to the Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority board of directors. The board of directors is not "under the supervision"of the commissioners.

EC-COI-04-2      A state college professor may assign to his students textbooks he has written and receive royalties or other financial benefits from the students’ purchase of the textbooks provided he first receives a written determination from his appointing authority pursuant to G.L. c. 268A, § 6.

EC-COI-04-3      A housing authority employee who has responsibility for administering only the rental programs in the housing authority may qualify for the G. L. c. 268A, § 20(g) exempt-ion in order to purchase a housing unit under the housing authority’s home ownership programs.

EC-COI-04-4      Otherwise qualified municipal employees may participate in a senior citizen property tax work-off abatement program established pursuant to [by] G.L. .c. 59, § 5K as long as they are able to secure an exemption to § 20 of G.L. c. 268A. Every participant in an abatement program will be considered a municipal employee for the purposes of G.L. c. 268A during the time they participate in the abatement program and must comply with the restrictions of G.L. c. 268A. Abatement program participants are eligible to be designated as special municipal employees.

EC-COI-03-1      Pursuant to G.L. c. 268A, §4, a probation officer may receive statutory fees (compensation) from a party other than the Commonwealth for services rendered as a constable in relation to litigation matters involving only non-state parties. A probation officer may not receive compensation as a constable for services rendered in connection with criminal proceedings or proceedings before a state court or agency where the Commonwealth or a state agency is a party or has a direct and substantial interest. (This opinion modifies EC-COI-94-4.)

EC-COI-03-2      Pursuant to G.L. c. 268A, §17, the specific exemption that allows a municipal employee to apply on behalf of and receive compensation from a private party to obtain a building, electrical, wiring, plumbing, gas fitting or septic system permit is not available to a City Councilor because the City Council regulates the activities of the permit-granting agency.

EC-COI-03-3      Pursuant to G.L. c. 268A, §8A, a board member is eligible to apply for a position under the supervision of the board on which he serves without first resigning his board position. The board, however, may not take any action regarding the board member’s application, such as selecting him for an interview, until 30 days have elapsed after the board member has terminated his service as a member. The board, however, may act within the 30-day period on any other application.

EC-COI-03-4      The Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) is a "municipal agency" for purposes of G. L. c. 268A. Accordingly, members and employees of the MVC are municipal employees for purposes of applying G. L. c. 268A to their conduct. The Cape Cod Commission is a "county agency" as that term is defined in G. L. c. 268A.

EC-COI-02-1      Section 18 of G.L. c. 268A prohibits a retail real estate broker who served on a town task force from receiving compensation from, or acting as agent for, the developer of a town site to assist it in complying with the restrictions imposed by the town, including finding buyers or renters of retail space at the site, because his compensation would be in connection with the same matter in which he participated as a municipal employee and which remains of direct and substantial interest to the town.

EC-COI-02-2      Section 19 of G.L. 268A does not prohibit a member of a town board who is a director of a private organization from participating in a particular matter in which the private organization does not intend to expend any financial resources as a result of the board decision; in contrast, if, as a result of a board decision, the private organization will expend its financial resources to oppose the project approved by the board, then the private organization has a financial interest and the board member who is a director of the private organization may not participate.

EC-COI-02-3      The conflict of interest law generally does not prohibit municipal clerks who are also justices of the peace from solemnizing marriages during their municipal work day on municipal premises, and collecting solemnization fees authorized under G.L. c. 262, §35, as long as their municipal duties are not adversely affected.

EC-COI-01-1      The “city councillor’s exemption” of MG.L. c. 268A, §20 does not allow a high school counselor who is elected to the City Council to accept a paid position as an assistant principal or principal in the City’s school system.

EC-COI-01-2      A member of the general court is permitted, under paragraph 5 of M.G.L. c. 268A, §7, to receive compensation from an educational institution of the Commonwealth for employment as an adjunct faculty member and is also permitted to be compensated as the coordinator of evening services because the coordinator duties are predominantly associated with the instructional function of the College, and therefore, “related” to teaching.

EC-COI-00-1     M.G.L. c. 166, §32A, a local option statute that permits a wiring inspector to perform electrical work in his municipality, does not expressly or impliedly repeal G.L. c. 268A, §20 as applied to wiring inspectors. Therefore, a wiring inspector is prohibited from being compensated for electrical work he performs for his own municipality, unless he satisfies one of the §20 exemptions.

EC-COI-00-2     A town retirement board is a municipal agency within the meaning of the conflict of interest law and, as such, individuals who perform services for or hold offices, positions, employment or membership in or on the board are municipal employees within the meaning of that law.

EC-COI-00-3     The Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation is not a state, county or municipal agency for purposes of the conflict of interest law because it was created by private citizens without governmental involvement; it does not perform essentially governmental functions; a majority of its funding is from private sources; and no governmental agency controls or supervises its Board of Directors. This opinion clarifies EC-COI-85-66 and 85-77.

EC-COI-99-1     G.L. c. 268A, §5(a) would prohibit a former state employee from being compensated by, or acting as agent for, a company in selling or marketing its services under a statewide blanket contract to individual public agencies because the company’s contractual relationship with individual agencies is part of the same particular matter (the statewide blanket contract) which the former state employee participated in as a member of the procurement management team that helped to select that company.

EC-COI-99-2     Under § 20, , unless he qualifies for a § 20(b) exemption, a city councilor would have a prohibited financial interest in a contract with his city if, as an associate in a law firm, he were to provide legal services to the city’s school committee by assisting the partner in his firm who is counsel under contract to the school committe. For purposes of the city councilor’s qualifying for the § 20(b) exemption, in his capacity as city councilor, he is not employed by an agency that regulates the activities of the school committe and he does not have official responsibility for any of the activies of the school committee.

EC-COI-99-3     Section 17 prohibits a call firefighter who is also a professional engineer, and who is not a special municipal employee, from designing fire protection systems for installation in that town given that such designs must be approved by the fire department before a building permit may issue. Because the firefighter’s own agency is the equivalent of a permit-granting agency, the 1998 amendment to §17 allowing greater latitude for “moonlighting” employees does not apply to these facts. Section 17 also prohibits another firefighter who is a full-time employee from performing, in his private capacity, oil burner work which requires a permit from the fire department. The permit is a matter in which the town has “a direct and substantial interest,” and, because the firefighter is seeking a permit from his own agency, the 1998 amendment to §17 does not apply.

EC-COI-99-4     Section 19(a) prohibits a selectman from approving or disapproving a school department payroll warrant because such approval or disapproval constitutes participation in a particular matter in which the selectman’s immediate family has a financial interest. By following the procedures for invoking the rule of necessity, the selectman would be allowed to approve or disapprove a school department payroll warrant under circumstances where a statute requires the town to pay town employees weekly (or on another prescribed basis); another selectman is absent; and, due to the disqualification of the selectman under §19, the board cannot obtain a quorum to act before it is statutorily required to do so.

EC-COI-99-5     The Hampshire Council of Governments, which consists of twenty municipalities from the former Hampshire County, is a municipal agency for purposes of the conflict of interest law and, as a result, Councilors are municipal employees of each of the Council’s member municipalities.

EC-COI-99-6      Where town bylaws require a board to evaluate landscape plans, § 17(a) prohibits a review board member who is a special municipal employee: (a) from implementing landscape plans he reviewed, even if he had no expectation of doing the work at the time of the review; and (b) from implementing landscape plans he did not review, because review board members have official responsibility for reviewing the plans, approving the issuance of a building permit, and inspecting the completed work.

EC-COI-99-7     The principals of a Massachusetts general partnership, which is a member of a company which entered into a five-year contract with a state agency for the provision of certain professional services, are state employees under G.L. c. 268A, §1(q) and qualify for special state employee status pursuant to §1(o)(2)(a). Section 4 does not prohibit the partners from receiving compensation from or acting as the agent for a private corporation with respect to a development project because the partners did not participate in the project as state employees; it is not the subject of their official responsibility; and they served as state employees on less than 60 days in the relevant period of 365 days.

EC-COI-98-1        Under §4 of G.L. c. 268A, a member of the Fire Safety Commission and Automatic Sprinkler Appeals Board may not receive compensation from a client if he knows or reasonably should know that his services will require him to prepare reports or other submissions to the Automatic Sprinkler Appeals Board or will result in Appeals Board proceedings. The Commission member is also prohibited by §4 from receiving compensation from a client to provide testimony under oath before the Sprinkler Appeals Board.

EC-COI-98-2      Section 23(b)(2) of G.L. c. 268A permits the chief of the Administrative Law Division of the Office of the Attorney General to use state time and state resources, to the extent necessary to perform duties as chair of the public law section of the Massachusetts Bar Association that are (i) in furtherance of the public interest; (ii) interconnected with her duties as division chief; and (iii) not used toward partisan political ends; provided that she obtains, in advance, her appointing authority’s written approval of her proposed use of state time and resources and such written approval specifies that her use of state time and resources satisfies these three conditions.

EC-COI-98-3      Under §18 of G.L. c. 268A, a former city councilor may represent a business association in a Superior Court appeal of a City Board of Health decision regarding citing a solid waste facility because his participation in certain City Council votes was not sufficiently personal and substantial participation in the siting decision such that he would be barred from acting as an attorney in a potential appeal of the decision.

EC-COI-98-4      A member of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) Retirement Board, who was elected, as provided by statute, from among the current and retired employees of the MTA, may participate in his Board’s determinations about whether to effect cost of living adjustments for retired members of the MTA Employees’ Retirement System and their beneficiaries, as provided by statute, notwithstanding his personal financial interest, as a retiree-member, in such matters.

EC-COI-98-5      Section 19(a) prohibits an elected member of a local school committee from approving payments to a non-profit corporation which is a vendor to the schools, where the school committee member sits on the non-profit’s board of directors. Previously, in EC-COI-87-32, the Commission had opined that under certain circumstances the signing of payroll warrants could be considered merely ministerial. In the current opinion, the Commission concluded that the approval of payment warrants is not ministerial, and reversed EC-COI-87-32 to the extent that it holds otherwise.

EC-COI-98-6      For the purposes of G.L. c. 268A, §4, the term "serves" as it appears in the phrase "serves on no more than sixty days" means substantive services performed on any portion of a calendar day. Some of the functions a lawyer or paralegal perform may be ancillary and should not be counted toward the 60-day limit.

EC-COI-98-7      A state employee is advised under §4 that she may not, in her private law practice, represent employees in their claims of unlawful discrimination against their employers filed and pending with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination because the MCAD has a direct and substantial interest in such matters.

EC-COI-97-1      Section 23(b)(1) will not prohibit a part-time intermittent police officer from working privately as a security guard within the city in which he serves as such a police officer, as long as he does so when not on active police duty. Intermittent officers in the city are not "on duty" at all times and, when they are not on active duty, have neither the authority nor the obligations to act as police officers. Thus, the position of private security guard is not inherently incompatible under §23(b)(1). An intermittent officer’s private work will, however, be subject to ss. §§17, 19 and 23 of the conflict law.

EC-COI-97-2      A state official who is an attorney in private practice may represent clients who are not state employees in workers compensation proceedings before the Division of Industrial Accidents. The Commission ruled that the Commonwealth’s interests in a benefits claim under G.L. c. 152, made by a private claimant against a private insurer or employer before the DIA, are not sufficiently direct and substantial to implicate s.§4 because the real parties in interest are the injured worker, the insurer and the employer and the Commonwealth does not have a stake in its determination whether or not the claimant receives benefits.

EC-COI-97-3      A charter school is a public rather than a private entity and a state rather than a municipal agency for purposes of the conflict of interest law. The Commission determined that a charter school trustee who serves as a trustee without election or appointment does not appear to have an appointing authority for purposes of the conflict of interest law and thus cannot obtain an exemption under §6. A charter school trustee may serve on an elected school committee subject to certain restrictions under §§4, 6, 17 and 23.

EC-COI-97-4      A member of a Board of Selectmen who is also a private attorney may list membership on the Board as part of qualifications for providing municipal legal services. Section 23(b)(2) does not prohibit elected or appointed officials from accurately identifying their current or past official titles in privately-funded advertisements of their services.

EC-FD-97-1      An individual who is required to file a statement of financial interests (SFI) under G.L. c. 268B, §5, who also practices law privately, is advised that, because two loans from an institutional lender to his law firm are "debts incurred in the ordinary course of business," he is not required by G.L. c. 268B, §5(g)(3) to report them in his SFI.

EC-COI-96-1      In an appeal of an Energy Facilities Siting Board decision to the Supreme Judicial Court, the Board will be represented by a Special Assistant Attorney General ("SAAG") because the Attorney General will oppose the Board on the matter. For the purposes of applying the limitations of G.L. c. 268A, §4 to the private activities of a "special state employee", the Commission finds that -- in these narrow circumstances -- the SAAG serves only the Board, and not the Attorney General’s Office; therefore, the SAAG may continue to represent private clients in litigation which does not involve the Board, but in which the Attorney General is a party. However, under G.L. c. 268A, §23(e), the Attorney General may impose provisions more restrictive than those of G.L. c. 268A, §4.

EC-COI-96-2      A member of a municipal board of assessors may conduct private appraisals of properties in town; however, he must follow the restrictions of G.L.c. 268A, §§17, 19 and 23.

EC-COI-96-3      A full-time state employee is advised that the "critical need exemption" to G.L. c. 268A, §7 will allow her to continue her part-time job with a state vendor which provides domestic violence shelter services through a network of "safe houses".

EC-COI-96-4      An employee of a state agency who is assigned to work for the Department of Housing and Community Development will violate §7 of the conflict law by receiving, as landlord, Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program and Section 8 Program rent subsidies under contracts with a municipal housing authority and a regional non-profit corporation, respectively, each of which receives those funds under contract with the Department of Housing and Community Development.

EC-COI-95-1      Using a five-part jurisdictional test, a local "cable access" corporation is determined not to be a municipal agency for purposes of the conflict of interest law.

EC-COI-95-2      Because it serves a state function, separate and distinct from the planning services provided by agencies of its member municipalities, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council is a state agency (rather than a municipal agency) for purposes of the conflict law, and its 133 members, who are uncompensated, are special state employees.

EC-COI-95-3      Using a four-factor "advisory board" test, the Commission finds that private-sector members of the City of Boston Mayor’s Special Commission on Health Care are not municipal employees for purposes of the conflict law.

EC-COI-95-4      An elected municipal official, who also serves as a savings bank "corporator", is not required to abstain from official actions affecting the financial interests of the savings bank. G.L. c. 268A §19 generally prohibits a municipal employee from taking any official action affecting the financial interests of an organization for which the municipal employee serves as a director or officer. However, the duties and powers of a bank "corporator" are not analogous to those of an officer or director, and therefore the general prohibition is not triggered.

EC-COI-95-5      A Mayor is advised that City employees may receive "government rate" discounts on their private cellular phone service from the City’s cellular telephone carrier, because such discounts are given as a "common industry-wide practice" to other large groups of employees, rather than because of the city employees’ official positions. However, the employees may not use City resources to implement or receive bills for their private usage.

EC-COI-95-6      Absent specific statutory or regulatory authority, G.L. c. 268A, §4 prohibits state employees from receiving compensation from a private school to conduct Saturday tests of applicants for a state license.

EC-COI-95-7      A compensated member of a city housing authority board is advised that, if he is elected as a city councillor, G.L. c. 268A, §20 will prohibit him from accepting the stipend paid to housing authority members. Because the board position was not publicly advertised, he would not qualify for a §20(b) exemption, and, by its terms, the "housing authority exemption" to §20 applies only to housing authority employees, and not to board members.

EC-COI-95-8      A high-ranking state employee is advised that, under the provisions of G.L. c. 268A, §7(a), he may dispose of his financial interest in a state contract by placing all of the stock in the affected company in an irrevocable trust for the benefit of his wife.

EC-COI-95-9      A member of the General Court, privately employed as a residential loan officer, is advised that he may not accept commissions for initiating loans which involve state financial assistance programs. Also, his private work is subject to the restrictions of G.L. c. 268A, §§ 4, 6 and 23.

EC-COI-95-10      Using a four-factor jurisdictional test, the Commission finds that a Downtown Association, initially funded by an Executive Office of Communities and Development Downtown Partnership Program grant awarded to the city, is a private entity -- not a municipal agency -- for purposes of the conflict law. A member of the city’s Historic Commission, who serves ex officio as a member of the Downtown Association’s board, will be subject to the restrictions of G.L. c. 268A, §§ 19 and 23 in the performance of her official duties. Also, her actions as a Downtown Association board member will be subject to the restrictions of G.L. c. 268A, §17, unless the City Council determines that her municipal duties include representation of the Downtown Association.

EC-COI-95-11      A former Chairman of a town Zoning By-Law Study Committee, who is a lawyer in private practice, may serve as paid counsel to the Committee. However, his private law practice will be subject to the restrictions of G.L. c. 268A, §§ 17, 18, and 23, and his official actions subject to the restrictions of G.L. c. 268A, §§19 and 23.

EC-FD-95-1      A public employee, designated to file a Statement of Financial Interest, is required to report securities held in three family trusts. The Commission finds that, under G.L. c. 268B, §5(g), the securities are "beneficially owned" by the public employee because he receives income from them, although he has no control over the trusts’ investment decisions and has no rights to the trust res.

EC-COI-94-1      A staff member of the State Board of Retirement (Board) may seek election to the Board and may continue to hold his current full-time staff position if he is elected to the Board. If he is elected, he will not need a §7(e) exemption, as the Board’s enabling statute requires that the elected member be a current or retirement member of the state retirement system. Thus, he would serve on the Board by virtue of his state position, which is analogous to an ex officio post. Additionally, the Board member must be an active participant in the retirement system, the enabling statute contemplates that he will participate in particular matters that affect all retirement system participants, including himself. Therefore §6 will not prohibit such participation.

EC-COI-94-2      Section 3 does not apply to items of substantial value which are given to a public employee as the result of an official act of the Commonwealth or a political subdivision thereof. However, §23(b)(2) will prohibit public employees from using such passes for non-job-related travel, where that usage exceeds $50 in a calendar year.

EC-COI-94-3      A municipal building inspector can not display his status as a "Massachusetts Certified Inspector of Buildings" on business cards to be used in his private business activities. Where such certification is derived from his municipal position, the conflict law will prohibit the municipal building inspector’s private use of the certification. In addition, under the conflict law, the municipal inspector may not privately inspect buildings within the municipality by which he is employed. Due to the statutory obligation that the municipal building inspector take action upon encountering certain situations, the inspector’s independent judgement might be impaired by a private business relationship with a paying client.

EC-COI-94-4      A court officer can also serve as a constable. Under §4(a), she may receive compensation as a constable from non-state parties, even where the state is a party to the particular matter, as such compensation is "provided by law." (See EC-COI-03-1, which finds that such compensation is not "provided by law.") However, she must obtain a §7(b) exemption to provide paid constable services on behalf of a state agency, and an exemption to §20 to provide paid constable services on behalf of a municipal agency. She may not act as a constable for the Trial Court, as court officers are employees of the entire trial court, rather than the department to which they have been assigned, pursuant to the Court Reform Act. Finally, §23 imposes restrictions on solicitation for her constable business.

EC-COI-94-5      A mayor is advised that he/she may invoke the rule of necessity to designate an alternate to serve as the city’s collective bargaining representative with an immediate family member’s union.

EC-COI-94-6      A former state employee is advised that the "revolving door" provisions of the conflict law apply to him in his federal position, and that certain activities in that post are barred.

EC-COI-94-7      Non-profit corporations known as Home Care Corporations which contract with the Executive Office of Elder Affairs are not public instrumentalities for the purposes of the conflict of interest law. The Commission’s conclusion is based on the application of its traditional four-part jurisdictional test; moreover, the Commission took into consideration, for the first time, whether the Commonwealth functioned as an "owner" of the entities, or whether the Corporations involved private interests.

EC-COI-94-8      Municipal police officers cannot be employed as private security guards in their own town, outside of the official municipal "paid detail" system, because the private security work might impair the officers’ independence of judgment in the performance of their official duties. Therefore, the private employment is "inherently incompatible" with the police officers’ official duties, and is prohibited by G.L. c. 268A, §23(b)(1).

EC-COI-94-9      An elected member of a regional board, who is also an attorney in private practice, may represent private clients before municipal boards and commissions (other than the one he serves on) in the municipality where selectmen have voted to designate regional board members as "special municipal employees". He may not represent private parties before municipal boards in the municipality which has not granted the regional board members "special" status.

EC-COI-94-10      Using a five-factor jurisdictional test, a Governor’s advisory commission is determined to be a public instrumentality for purposes of G.L. c. 268A. Members of the commission who are not otherwise employed by the Commonwealth will be subject to the conflict of interest law as special state employees.

EC-COI-94-11      A state board member, who is also a member of the board of directors of a private corporation, is generally prohibited by G.L. c. 268A, §6 from participating in certain activities of the state board which would affect the financial interests of the private corporation. However, because his official duties do not "require" him to participate in any matter pending before the state board, the member may simply abstain from participating in those activities affecting the corporation’s financial interests, and need not publicly disclose the corporation’s financial interest in the matters.

EC-FD-94-1      Two county Deputy Sheriffs were properly designated as "public employees" under 268B, required to file annual statements of financial interest. Reconsideration of EC-FD-93-1. Based on additional facts, deputy sheriffs do not receive "salary" for purposes of G.L. c. 268B, §1(l), but do "exercise similar authority" as other "public employees", and are therefore required to file.

EC-FD-94-2      A public employee designated to file a Statement of Financial Interest is not required to report information concerning the financial holdings of a spouse who does not reside in the public employee’s household.

EC-COI-93-1      Firefighters may not use official resources to promote vendor sales of a product, unless the use is authorized by a bylaw, or is an explicit contract provision, or the municipality is provided with reasonable reimbursement. Firefighters may not use their official position or title to endorse a product on behalf of a vendor.

EC-COI-93-2      A non-profit corporation which will enter a lease with a county to establish a hospital on county land is not an instrumentality of the county for purposes of G.L. c. 268A, § 1(c).

EC-COI-93-3      The "rule of necessity" allows two municipal planning board members to participate in a particular matter in which they would otherwise be prohibited from participating by §19(a). Generally, the members would be prohibited from taking any action in which a business organization, for which the officials are serving as trustees, has a financial interest; however, the "rule of necessity" may be invoked since, without the two members’ participation, the planning board would be unable to take any action on the matter.

EC-COI-93-4      A Selectman may hold two additional municipal positions if the town’s other Selectmen designate the two positions as being of "special municipal employee" status, and approve his holding of the other positions as required by §20(d). Alternatively, the Selectman must comply with the conditions of the Selectman’s exemption.

EC-COI-93-5      An agent of the Division of Registration assigned to the Pharmacy Board of Registration may be employed as a registered pharmacist outside of his normal state working hours provided that he does not serve as the principal pharmacist for the pharmacy and will therefore not have dealings with any agency of the Commonwealth. Under §6, as an agent for the Division, he may not participate in inspections or investigations of the pharmacy by which he is privately employed or of any of the geographic competitors of that pharmacy.

EC-COI-93-6      Charitable solicitations by police officers and police benevolent associations are primarily regulated by G.L. c. 41, §98E, but are further restricted by the "appearances" section of the conflict of interest law (§23[b][3]). Section 23(b)(2) prohibits police officers, when soliciting for charitable contributions, from exploiting their official position, or implying that good or bad consequences might result from a decision whether or not to donate; it also prohibits police officers from appearing in uniform while soliciting, using a municipal or other official seal for the solicitation, or using other official resources (e.g., telephones, copying machines, paid time) to further the solicitation.

EC-COI-93-7      Section 20 prohibits a full-time municipal highway department employee from holding the elected office of Alderman-at-large where as alderman-at- large he will have either regulatory control or will participate in activities of the municipal highway department.

EC-COI-93-8      G.L. c. 268A, §3 will not permit a trade organization to provide legislators with an all-expense-paid day at a resort, if the legislators pay a charitable contribution as an entrance fee because the charitable contribution is not earmarked towards and does not cover the expenses of the event. Donations by manufacturers or suppliers which will be used to finance the event will violate §3 if each manufacturer, at the time of its donation decision, knows that legislators or other public officials will be attending the event, if the manufacturer has an interest in legislative business and if its contribution amounts to $50.00 per invited guest or greater.

EC-COI-93-9      A former state employee cannot receive private compensation in connection with particular matters in which he participated as a state employee. Where a company provides services that the former state employee is prohibited from providing himself, mere investment income is not "compensation," unless the individual is active in the business. Such "compensation" (i.e. the proceeds from the prohibited sources) must be segregated from any pool of money which is used to pay the individual his salary or to determine his share of profits. Finally, fellow officers and shareholders of a corporation are not "partners" of the former state employee for purposes of §5(c), unless there is reason to disregard the corporate entity.

EC-COI-93-10      Section 7 prohibits a full-time state employee from being employed by a private vendor pursuant to the vendor’s contract with the very same state agency by which he is employed.

EC-COI-93-11      Generally, a state Legislator (member of the General Court) may, upon the request of a public works contractor, recommend various community organizations for the contractor to work with on construction mitigation issues. Similarly, the Legislator may recommend that the contractor make financial contributions to community organizations as part of its construction mitigation measures. the Legislator may not take such actions if he or a member of his immediate family have a financial interest in the construction project, the mitigation efforts, or the community organizations; or if the Legislator is an officer, trustee, partner, board member or employee of an involved community organization.

EC-COI-93-12      The "municipal exemption" to §4 prohibits a paid municipal official who is also an employee in the Governor’s Office from voting or acting on any matter which is within the "purview" of the Governor’s office. Since the Governor’s purview encompasses the entire Executive Branch, the purview limitation will restrict the municipal employee to a large degree. The municipal employee may wish to relinquish his municipal salary, as the municipal exemption restricts unpaid municipal employees only in the narrow circumstances when he acts as agent for a municipal agency or municipality. Thus, an unpaid municipal employee will be subject to the "purview" limitation only where he acts as an agent for the municipality or a municipal agency.

EC-COI-93-13      The "Rule of Necessity" allows a selectman to vote on the issuance of a liquor pouring license, notwithstanding the Selectman’s own financial interest. The rule was applicable because a vacancy on the Selectman’s Board could not be filled in time for the Board to comply with a statutorily mandated time limit for acting on the matter. In a separate question, a Selectman whose partner is landlord to a liquor license applicant may act on the license application provided that the issuance or denial of the license would not have a reasonably foreseeable impact on the partner’s financial interests.

EC-COI-93-14      Commission re-affirms its conclusion that $50.00 is the threshold to be used by public employees in determining whether an item is of substantial value for purposes of G.L. c. 268A, §3 and §23.

EC-COI-93-15      A Town Selectman, who is also part owner of an engineering and surveying business, is prohibited by §17(a) from receiving compensation related to the preparation of documents which will be submitted to Town agencies. The Selectman is also prohibited, by §17(c), from placing his professional seal on documents which will be submitted to Town agencies, or otherwise acting as agent for clients appearing before Town boards.

EC-COI-93-16      A former state manager who participated in the development of a bid process is prohibited by §5(a) from receiving private compensation, related to a contract awarded under the bid process, even though the contract was awarded several months after the employee left state service.

EC-COI-93-17      A Selectman who is also a teacher cannot re-negotiate a Town Manager’s contract (where re-appointment or conditions upon which the Manager can continue employment are at issue), but he may participate in the mere evaluation of the Manager’s performance (where re-appointment is not at issue).

EC-COI-93-18      A full-time municipal employee is not ordinarily eligible for "special municipal employee" status, even where his hours are not 9-5. A full-time "regular" municipal employee who does not fulfill all of the requirements of §20(b) may not hold a second position with the same municipality.

EC-COI-93-19      A full-time municipal employee may provide services to more than one municipal agency, when all duties to be performed are considered part of a single employment contract. If the employee is elected Selectman, she will (1) be required to obtain an exemption under §20(d) if she wishes to receive compensation for her appointed position; and (2) be unable to participate in any matters relating to her employment as Assistant to the Selectmen’s board. Further, if she is elected Selectman, her future re-appointment as Assistant must be approved by a vote of Town Meeting members, under the restrictions of §21A.

EC-COI-93-20      An appointed Town Sewer Commissioner, who also owns several undeveloped acres of land on which he is planning to build residential units, has a financial interest in potential new sewer regulations and therefore may not participate in adopting the new regulations unless he receives prior, written approval from his appointing authority. His interest is not shared by a substantial segment of the population.

EC-COI-93-21      Members of school councils, established by the Education Reform Act of 1993, are considered "municipal employees." Elected members of school committees may also serve on school councils without violating §17(c), §19 or §20. Note that, in the instance where a school committee member is appointed rather than elected, the member would have to receive a §20(b) or §20(d) exemption in order to also serve as a member of a school council. Principals and teachers may serve as members of school councils without violating §20.

EC-COI-93-22      Members of a Governor’s Advisory Council are not considered "state employees" or "special state employees" for the purposes of the conflict of interest law. Members of the council principally serve to provide the Governor with outside viewpoints and advice, and do not perform tasks ordinarily expected of state employees. Government agency, government employee.

EC-COI-93-23      A municipal agency may enforce, as personnel policy, ethics standards that are more stringent than 268A.

EC-COI-93-24      268A and 268B would regulate the private law practice of a potential appointee to the State Ethics Commission. The potential appointee would be unable to take any official action on matters involving clients represented by her private law firm. Fellow members and associates of her firm (which is a Professional Corporation) are not "partners" for the purposes of §5(d), unless there is reason to disregard the corporate entity.

EC-FD-93-1      Two county Deputy Sheriffs were properly designated as "public employees" under 268B, required to file annual statements of financial interest.

EC-COI-92-1      A city councillor may also be employed by a "community action agency," subject to the usual limitations on a regular municipal employee’s outside employment, because a community action agency is not a "municipal agency" under G.L. c. 268A.

EC-COI-92-2      A state legislator may not solicit donations for personal financial assistance from anyone with an interest in legislative business, broadly defined. He may not accept unsolicited donates of $50 or more from anyone with such an interest, nor from any combination of persons with a common interest in the same legislative business.

EC-COI-92-3      A federal agency is an "organization" (but not necessarily a "business organization") within the meaning of G.L. c. 268A, §6. Consequently, a state employee who negotiates for employment with a federal government agency may trigger the disclosure/determinations requirements of §6. The federal government is not, however, treated as a single organization. Rather, each federal agency may be treated as a separate organization.

EC-COI-92-4      A volunteer state employee may continue to receive compensation from his private employer, from whom he has obtained a leave of absence, provided that a specifically tailored state regulation authorizes the arrangement, notwithstanding the restrictions of G.L. c. 268A, §4. The regulation would make the arrangement "as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duties" within the meaning of §4. The state employee will, however, be subject to other guidelines under c. 268A.

EC-COI-92-5      Public officials seeking reelection or higher office would violate §23 of G.L. c. 268A by displaying the Seal or Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth on private stationery for fund-raising or other campaign purposes. Recipients might reasonably infer from such use of the state seal that the solicitation was supported or endorsed by the Commonwealth when in fact it is for the benefit of a personal interest.

EC-COI-92-6      The provision of §1(q) that prohibits certain engineering and environmental consultants from bidding on later contracts for the same construction project applies only to individuals who are otherwise "state employees" under G.L. c. 268A.

EC-COI-92-7      A state employee may not enter a private business relationship with a subordinate (nor with a vendor he supervises, nor a person within his regulatory jurisdiction) unless: (1) the relationship is entirely voluntary; (2) the subordinate initiates the relationship; and (3) the supervisor publicly discloses facts clearly showing (1) and (2).

EC-COI-92-8      A member of the General Court may hold, and receive compensation for, an elective or appointive municipal office without the necessity of complying with the "purview" restrictions applicable to other state employees (found in G.L. c. 268A, §4). Members of the General Court are exempt from the restrictions of §4, except under limited circumstances.

EC-COI-92-9      In the absence of additional circumstances, physicians are not considered to be municipal employees under G.L. c. 268A, §1(g) solely because they have been granted clinical privileges by Quincy Hospital and have been appointed to the hospital’s medical staff.

EC-COI-92-10      A municipality may, through the adoption of a by-law, permit a special town counsel simultaneously to represent private parties in connection with matters in which the municipality is also a party or has a direct and substantial interest, notwithstanding the restrictions of G.L. c. 268A, §17, and Town of Edgartown v. State Ethics Commission, 391 Mass. 83 (1984). The by-law would make the arrangement "as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duties" within the meaning of §17. The by-law in question required that the town’s regular counsel consult with the town’s Selectmen concerning whether the dual representation advanced the interests of the town. The by-law also required that the regular town counsel supervise the special town counsel’s dual representation.

EC-COI-92-11      The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head does not fall within the definition of a "business organization" for the purposes of G.L. c. 268A, §19. Thus, members of the Tribe who are also municipal officials are not required to abstain in matters affecting the financial interests of the Tribe, but such municipal officials must comply with the safeguards in §23.

EC-COI-92-12      An appointed state employee, even if unpaid, may not solicit campaign contributions from persons under his regulatory jurisdiction, nor use state facilities or resources in such solicitations.

EC-COI-92-13      Employees of a private consulting firm who have been expressly designated in a state contract to perform specific services are considered to be "state employees" for the purposes of G.L. c. 268A.

EC-COI-92-14      Under §5, a former state employee could accept referral of a patient whom she treated while she was a state employee as she did not participate in the discharge plan which occurred after she left state service.

EC-COI-92-15      A member of a town’s board of assessors may not be appointed to a paid position (assessors’ clerk) under the supervision of the board of assessors unless: (1) the board of selectmen designates the clerk’s position as a special municipal employee position; (2) the assessor complies with the §20(d) exemption; and (3) pursuant to §21A, the appointment is approved at an annual Town Meeting.

EC-COI-92-16      Under some circumstances, a former state employee who later contracts with a different state agency is covered by the restrictions of both §4 and §5.

EC-COI-92-17      Section 18(a) prohibits a former municipal employee, who participated in negotiating a contract for the municipality with a private vendor, from negotiating and implementing for the vendor a second contract that would, in effect, modify the first contract. The second contract is "integrally related" to the first contract.

EC-COI-92-18      An elected County Retirement Board member may remain a Board member and continue private employment with an investment firm if he complies with the provisions of §§ 11, 12, 13 and 23.

EC-COI-92-19      Section 3 prohibits a private communications corporation from offering, and selectmen from accepting, seats in a corporate box for Red Sox games, because the tickets would be given for or because of the recipients’ municipal positions and the cost per seat to the corporation would be of substantial value ($50.00 or more).

EC-COI-92-20      The superintendent of a public school system who serve on a computer company’s users’ advisory committee could not accept from the company payment of her travel, hotel and meal costs to attend at an advisory committee meeting. The superintendent had previously entered into contracts with the computer company on behalf of the school system. Section 3 would not prohibit receipt of travel and associated costs if the municipality had a by-law or charter provision regulating vendor paid travel.

EC-COI-92-21      Section 19 prohibits a fire district prudential committee member from participating in any matter in which his son, a fire fighter in the district, has a direct and immediate or reasonably foreseeable financial interest. The committee member must refrain from participating in discussions or votes concerning the collective bargaining agreement for full-time fire fighters, as well as any other matter which will affect his son’s financial interest, including but not limited to seniority rights, lay-offs, retirement, health benefits and disciplinary matters.

EC-COI-92-22      Section 4 permits an employee of the state Department of Environmental Protection (the Department) also to serve as a member of a local Board of Selectmen. He must, however, as a Selectman, abstain on certain matters which fall within the purview of the Department.

EC-COI-92-23      Section 23(b)(2) prohibits Town Clerks from arranging to provide immediate election results by telephone to a private news agency, in return for substantial payments by the news agency to the Clerks’ private association, unless a state statute or regulation explicitly authorizes the arrangement.

EC-COI-92-24      Section 19 prohibits a member of a local Board of Health (the Board) from participating in a particular matter in which his own financial interests (as an abutter) will foreseeably be affected. Where other Board members are also prohibited from participating in the same matter because of conflicts of interest (such that a quorum cannot be obtained), the Rule of Necessity may be invoked. If it is properly invoked, all board members who have conflicts of interest may participate in the matter.

EC-COI-92-25      A state environmental police officer may also be appointed to an unpaid municipal conservation commission, but he may not act as that commission’s agent in relation to any particular matter within his state agency’s purview. In effect, he may also not perform his state environmental police duties within that town.

EC-COI-92-26      The Martha’s Vineyard Collaborative is a regional municipal entity under G.L. c. 268A and, as such, is an instrumentality of each member municipality. With this opinion, the Commission will no longer consider regional entities to be "independent municipal agencies" under the conflict law and adopts the reasoning of the Massachusetts Appeals Court in McMann v. State Ethics Commission, 32 Mass. App. Ct. 421, 428 (1992). A member of the Chilmark Finance Committee may serve as the Town’s designee on the Collaborative and may, under §19, participate in Collaborative matters in which the Town has a financial interest because he is representing the Town’s interests in both positions.

EC-COI-92-27      A regional school committee member may enter into a contract with the regional school district only if regional school committee members are designated as special municipal employees by the boards of selectmen or city councils of all of the member municipalities. The committee member would also have to comply with the §20(d) exemption, which requires him to make public disclosure of his financial interest in the contemplated contract with the school district, and also requires the boards of selectmen or city councils of all of the member municipalities to approve the exemption.

EC-COI-92-28      Under §23(b)(2), the Governor is prohibited from signing a solicitation letter to benefit a private non-profit organization which is seeking to attract the summer Olympics to Massachusetts and which is targeted, in part, to individuals or organizations subject to the regulatory authority of the Administration because the solicitation was not authorized by statute or regulation.

EC-COI-92-29      Legal counsel for a municipal housing authority may pursue a lawsuit against a state agency where legal counsel would be representing the authority in an attempt to enforce the authority’s contractual rights. Legal counsel may also represent an individual member of the authority on a limited basis without violating §17(c), as long as the lawsuit serves the authority’s distinct institutional interest and any aspects of the lawsuit that are of specific concern to the individual member and not to the agency as a whole are handled by the member’s private legal counsel.

EC-COI-92-30      A city council may not elect one of its members as a city clerk until thirty days after he resigns as a councillor, because every multi-member municipal body, including this city council, is a "municipal commission or board" for §21A purposes. While he remains a councillor, §§19 and 23(b)(2) prohibit him from participating in matters related to his city clerk candidacy and from using his position to further his candidacy.

EC-COI-92-31      A housing inspector for a housing authority may (as a private landlord) receive housing assistance payments made on behalf of an eligible tenant, because the inspector does not have responsibility for the administration of the subsidy program. Since the inspector’s role in the subsidy program is limited to conducting on- site inspections, he qualifies for the exemption found in §20(h).

EC-COI-92-32      Section 3 prohibits a non-profit organization from waiving an entrance fee to a fund-raising dinner where the beneficiaries of the waiver are public employees who have had, or likely will have, official dealings with the organization. None of the public officials involved were to participate in the fund-raising dinner as a speaker. In addition, the Commission found that, for purposes of determining whether "substantial value" has been obtained, it will look to the full cost of attending the event as opposed to merely the actual coast of the meal served.

EC-COI-92-33      Section 19 prohibits a city solicitor from giving legal advice about a management salary cap that would probably apply to him, unless the mayor (his appointing authority) gives him an advance written determination that his financial interest will not likely interfere with the integrity of his services to the city, as allowed by §19(b)(1).

EC-COI-92-34      The §19(b)(3) exemption allows a selectman whose immediate family owns a substantial commercial property to participate in the selectmen’s decision to adopt a higher property tax rate on all commercial property in town, because the decision "involves a determination of general policy" and his family’s ownership interest is shared with more than 10 percent of town residents, which constitutes a "substantial segment of the populations."

EC-COI-92-35      Section 7 prohibits an employee of a state agency from having a financial interest in state subsidized rents (or other state benefits paid directly to the state employee in exchange for goods or services) unless she can rely upon an exemption to §7. In addition, §23 prohibits a state employee from initiating private business relationships with person over whom she exercises official authority.

EC-COI-92-36      In the circumstances described, an alternate member of a local board of appeals (the board) does not have official responsibility for matters under the Board’s jurisdiction unless and until he is designated to serve on the board by its chairman. Accordingly, an alternate board member may appear before other town boards on a particular matter involving the board of appeals if he has not served on the board when that matter was pending before it.

EC-COI-92-37      A member of the General Court is prohibited, by §3, from accepting free or discounted office space and office furnishings for use as a district office, which is given by an individual or private or public entity who is making the offer as a gesture of good will.

EC-COI-92-38      G.L. c. 268A, §3 will not prohibit employees of the Executive Office of Economic Affairs from soliciting funds from private businesses who have official dealings with the agency in order to fund an agency program as a statute authorizes the solicitation and the solicitation is for the benefit of the agency, not a particular public employee. Section 23(b)(3) requires that state employees who have official dealings with contributing organizations file a disclosure with their appointing authority.

EC-COI-92-39      Section 23(b)(2) prohibits an appointed public official from using his official title in endorsing a political candidate.

EC-COI-92-40      Under recent case law and Commission precedent, this opinion reviews and modifies some of the Commission’s conclusions in EC-COI-90-2. The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank is an instrumentality of each of the member municipalities and is a "municipal agency" for conflict law purposes. Land Bank Commissioners and Town Advisory Board members who are also private real estate brokers are subject to the restrictions contained in §§ 17, 19, 20 and 23.

EC-FD-92-1      A Chapter 7 federal bankruptcy filing means that a person no longer owns the assets in question once the transfer to the trustee in bankruptcy has taken place. Consequently, such assets need not be reported on a Statement of Financial Interests, reported as of December 31 of the calendar year, if transferred anytime during the year. In addition, this opinion cites several examples of the types of debt the Commission would view as having been incurred "in the ordinary course of business."

EC-FD-92-2      Members of county charter commissions must file statements of financial interests, even if they are appointed by the elected members to fill a vacancy.

EC-COI-91-1      A former state employee may represent private individuals in a guardianship proceeding. Prior participation as a state employee in a "care and protection" proceeding constitutes a distinct particular matter. A current guardianship proceeding is not in connection with the prior lawsuit, because the guardianship matter involves different parties, different facts, and a different controversy in a different court, even though both matters concern the same children.

EC-COI-91-2      Section 7(a) will not prohibit the Secretary of Transportation and Construction from divesting of a financial interest in a state contract after a thirty day period of assuming office because (1) the interest arose prior to his appointment; (2) he had attempted to divest in good faith prior to assuming office; (3) a legal requirement outside of his control prohibited divestment of the interest unless and until that requirement was fulfilled; (4) the value of his interest was capped pursuant to an agreement which was entered into prior to his taking office; (5) he would not financial benefit from any delay in divesting; and (6) he agreed to keep the Commission informed of the divestment process.

EC-COI-91-3      Members of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission are considered employees of an independent municipal agency for purposes of G.L. c. 268A. A commissioner may participate in a permit application when he is a party to a lawsuit challenging Commission approval of a prior permit if he complies with §23(b)(3).

EC-COI-91-4      A state employee who serves as a member of the boards of directors for two private corporations may accept compensation and otherwise act in such positions because the companies’ activities do not relate to any contract or other particular matter in which the Commonwealth or an agency thereof is a party of has a direct and substantial interest. Similarly, a state employee may provide consulting services to a quasi-public agency of another state where none of the agency’s activities relate to a contract or other particular matter in which the Commonwealth is a party or has a direct and substantial interest. EC-COI-91-5      For purposes of G.L. c. 268A, §4, the 60-day period applicable to special state employees must be viewed over a "floating" period of 365 days. Consequently, one must look to both prior and subsequent service as a special state employee during a 365-day period to determine whether the 60-day rule is implicated. This result is required because the Commission must construe exceptions to the conflict of interest law narrowly.

EC-COI-91-6      A county employee may engage in part-time employment with a private company which, by permit from a city and the Commonwealth, provides disposal and treatment services for waste water. For purposes of §11, the county employee’s activities do not involve the interests of the county in any direct or substantial way because the company has no dealings with the county or any county agency.

EC-COI-91-7      An associate professor at a state college who had a part-time, paid position coaching cross-country and track teams at the same college qualified for the "teaching" exemption from §7, as amended by St. 1990, c. 487 to include "performing other related duties."

EC-COI-91-8      A town administrator could apply for and accept from town employees under his supervision a generally available federal housing rehabilitation grant for his personal residence. He was exempt from §20 by virtue of subsection (e), and §17 did not apply as he was acting on his own behalf. The town employees were required to disclose the relevant facts to avoid violating §23(b)(3).

EC-COI-91-9      A City Councillor is prohibited by §20 from holding full-time municipal employment in the same City. A City Councillor cannot rely on the special municipal employee provisions of §20. In addition, §20(b) is not applicable to full-time municipal employment.

EC-COI-91-10      For purposes of §5, the Commonwealth has a direct and substantial interest in all Workers’ Compensation proceedings, even those matters involving private litigants, because of the Commonwealth’s general interest in enforcing the Workers’ Compensation law. Consequently, the restrictions of §§5(a) and 5(b) are applicable to a former employee of the Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) who wishes to represent private parties who have appeared as litigants before the DIA. But see EC-COI-97-2, modifying this opinion.

EC-COI-91-11      A state employee who chose to take required "furlough" time (under St. 1990, c. 6, §90) as unpaid leave continued to be a state employee under G.L. c.268A, in view of the employee’s receiving continued health insurance and other benefits and having a reasonable expectation of returning to work. However, the employee was a "special state employee" for the purpose of analysis under §§ 4 and 7.

EC-COI-91-12      A private, non-profit corporation is not a state agency for purposes of c. 268A where state employees do not control the board and where the majority of the funding is not public.

EC-COI-91-13      G.L. c. 268A, §23(b)(2) prohibits selectmen from accepting a token donation from a private party for the purpose of eligibility in the municipal agency health insurance program.

EC-COI-91-14      A member of the General Court may own and operate a consulting/seminar business within the confines of G.L. c. 268A. However, certain conditions apply to the business, the most restrictive of which prohibits the business from providing any services on matters involving Massachusetts legislative activities. Those services are prohibited by §23(b)(1) because they would be inherently incompatible with the office of a state legislator. NOTE: THE COMMISSION DID NOT ADDRESS WHETHER §23(d) WOULD ALTER THIS CONCLUSION.

EC-COI-91-15      Section 14 prohibits a County Conservation District Board of Supervisors from hiring one of its own members to provide paid consulting services for the district.

EC-COI-90-1      A municipal tax collector whose mother is the assistant tax collector may not participate in any personnel matter, evaluation, promotion, step raise, salary determination or other term or condition of employment affecting her mother’s financial interest.

EC-COI-90-2      Member’s of the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank are considered employees of an independent municipal agency for the purposes of G.L. c. 268A, and members of local advisory boards are municipal employees under G.L. c. 268A. The opinion addresses the limitations which G.L. c. 268A imposes on the official and private activities of these employees. NOTE: This opinion has been overturned in 92-40.

EC-COI-90-3      Members of the board of directors of a foundation created and supported by a state college to perform a governmental function for the college are special state employees of a state agency under G.L. c. 268A, §1(p). Directors must observe the limitations of §§7 and 23 in their dealings with other state agencies.

EC-COI-90-4      Trial court housing specialists may work after hours performing code inspections for a municipal agency, subject to certain restrictions under §§4, 6, and 23.

EC-COI-90-5      Two law partners may contract to perform investigative and adjudicatory legal services, respectively, for a state agency, subject to the restrictions of §§6 and 23.

EC-COI-90-6      A former state supervisor is subject to the post-employment restrictions of §§5 and 23 with respect to contracts and other matters in which he previously participated or had official responsibility for as a supervisor.

EC-COI-90-7      Members of the board of directors and employees of a trust fund created by a pension agreement between a union and a state agency to provide pension benefits to state employees are considered employees of a state agency pursuant to G.L. c. 268A, §1(p). NOTE: This opinion was overturned by the SJC in the MBTA case.

EC-COI-90-8      A full-time counsel for a state agency may also work after-hours as a part-time town counsel, subject to the restrictions of §§4, 6 and 23(b)(2).

EC-COI-90-9      Consistent with §23, the appointed head of a public agency may not use his official position to endorse a political candidate nor solicit for political support individuals who are dependent on the agency head’s official actions. The agency head must refrain from campaign activity which directly or indirectly obligates an agency vendor to respond in writing or in person to the agency head.

EC-COI-90-10      A part-time city official may retain his directorship and less than 1% ownership of a company which contracts with the same city, subject to the restrictions of §§17, 19, and 23.

EC-COI-90-11      A former municipal attorney may represent a private client in a lawsuit in which he neither participated nor had official responsibility for as a municipal attorney.

EC-COI-90-12      A private attorney who volunteers to serve as a mediator for the state Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to a Department Environmental Protection/Boston Bar Association program will be considered a special state employee under G.L.c. 268A. The restrictions which G.L. c. 268A, §4 places on the attorney’s private law practice will be limited as long as the attorney does not serve as a mediator for DEP for more than 60 days in any 365-day period.

EC-COI-90-13      A state employee may work after hours for a municipal waste treatment plant as long as he does not act or vote in his municipal capacity on any matter within the purview of his state agency. The employee’s work for a private company, however, may not relate to any matter in which DEP or any state agency has a direct and substantial interest.

EC-COI-90-14      The superintendent of a regional school district who also owns a software company may donate to the district a software package, subject to certain restrictions. In particular, he may not officially participate in the matter as superintendent nor may he act as his company’s agent in its dealings with the district.

EC-COI-90-15      A municipal plumbing inspector may also perform private plumbing and gas fitting work in the same municipality, notwithstanding the restrictions of G.L.c. 268A, §17, in light of the enactment of G.L. c. 142, §12.

EC-COI-90-16      A private attorney who volunteers to handle criminal appeals for the Suffolk County district attorney’s office is considered a special state employee under G.L.c. 268A. The restrictions which G.L.c. 268A, §4 places on the attorney’s private law practice will be limited as long as the attorney does not volunteer for the district attorney’s office for more than 60 days in any 365 day period.

EC-COI-90-17      A member of the General Court who also owns a specialty business may neither contract with state agencies nor represent his company before state agencies. While he may participate in his official capacity in general legislation affecting his business, he must abstain from special legislation in which his business has a financial interest.

EC-COI-90-18      A member of the Mental Health Advisory Council is a special state employee under G.L. c. 268A. A council member may not separately contract with the Department of Mental Health (DMH) since, as a council member, he participates in an has official responsibility for the activities of DMH as a special state employee.

EC-COI-89-1      A holding company created by the board of trustees of a state institution will be considered an instrumentality of a state agency for the purposes of 268A where the company was created to fulfill a governmental purpose and is substantially controlled by the state institution.

EC-COI-89-2      An employee of a town may also serve as an elected member of an independent water district within the town, subject to certain conditions. In particular, the district member must abstain from participating in any contract, decision or other matter in which the town has a financial interest. NOTE: This is no longer true.

EC-COI-89-3      The executive director of the state group insurance commission may accept, for official use by the commission, a donation of consultant services from to a life insurance company which currently holds a contract with the commission. The Commission must observe the safeguards of 23 in connection with its monitoring of the company’s performance under the contract.

EC-COI-89-4      A member of the General Court may accept promotional rate tickets for himself and his spouse to conduct a series of substantial speaking engagements. The spouse promotional rate is permissible under an established industry-wide practice available to similarly situated individuals.

EC-COI-89-5      The chairman of the board of regents of higher education may also serve as "of counsel" to a law firm which represents clients in matters within the official responsibility of the board of regents, subject to certain conditions. He must abstain from participating as chairman in any matter in which his firm represents a client, and must arrange to have the firm segregate from his compensation any fees connected with representation in board-related matters. Because his of counsel relationship does not have the attributes of a partnership, the firm’s partners may represent private clients in matters within the official responsibility of the board.

EC-COI-89-6      Employees of the non-profit corporation are not municipal employees by virtue of an agreement between the corporation and a municipal committee, inasmuch as the choice of corporate personnel is within the sole province of the corporation, the municipal committee has no right to override those choices or to demand the services of any specific corporate personnel, even where committee members have developed relationships with certain high-ranking individuals at the corporation. Thus, the city has not identified specific individuals to perform work under the contract.

EC-COI-89-7      The former secretary of the executive office of environmental affairs must comply with the restrictions of 5 and 23(c) in his new "of counsel" position with a law firm. In particular, he must refrain from representing a client in any matter in which he previously participated as a secretary. Because, as secretary, he had official responsibility for all matters within the executive office, 5(b) requires that he refrain from personally appearing before any state court or state agency in connection with those matters.

EC-COI-89-8      A member of the General Court must abstain from sponsoring, advocating or voting on special legislation in which his immediate family member has a foreseeable financial interest.

EC-COI-89-9      A member of the General Court may not have a financial interest in his family’s business contract made with a state agency prior to his election. Notwithstanding his transfer of ownership of his business to his spouse, he retains a financial interest in the business, and therefore, in the contract with the state.

EC-COI-89-10      A county commissioner may also represent clients in real estate and health care issues before municipal, state and federal agencies, inasmuch as these matters are not of direct and substantial interest to the county.

EC-COI-89-11      A state employee who wishes to resign and accept a consultant contract with the same state agency must comply with the conditions of 4, 6, and 23. In particular, he may not currently participate in any determinations relating to the performance of the present consultant nor in matters relating to the agency’s decision recording his consultant application.

EC-COI-89-12      A member of the judiciary may accept membership on the board of advisors to a hospital, subject to certain limitations. He must avoid appearing on behalf of the hospital before any state agencies and must dispel any appearance of undue favoritism as a judge towards the hospital.

EC-COI-89-13      A member of a municipal authority may retain her investment as well as a limited partner status is a project that is pending before her municipal authority, provided that her investment is lass than 1% of the entire project and she abides by the rules of §§ 19 and 20.

EC-COI-89-14      A state employee cannot transfer property to an independent third- party where: (1) the third party had a previously established contractual arrangement to transfer the property to a state agency; (2) the state agency had initiated the series of transfers solely as a way to circumvent the §7 restrictions, and (3) all of the parties knew, in advance of the original transfer, that the property would be conveyed from the state employee to the third party to the state agency. The series of transactions was, in effect, a prohibited pass-through.

EC-COI-89-15      An unpaid member of a state authority is a special state employee. He may retain his membership on the board of overseers of an institution that falls under the jurisdiction of his state authority because, in this case, the overseers do not have management authority over the institution, but instead have advisory authority. Therefore, the employee’s status as a board member does not require his abstention under §6, although proper disclosures under §23 could be necessary in certain instances. As a special state employee, he must avoid acting as agent or attorney for the institution in connection with anything under his official responsibility at the authority.

EC-COI-89-16      A state employee may participate in a matter involving a person who was, 10 years ago, a member of the same athletic club as the state employee, and whom the state employee has not seen in 10 years with the exception of three chance social occasions. To dispel the appearance of favoritism, however, the employee should make a public disclosure to his appointing authority of his past friendship, and be guided by the standards of conduct set forth in §23.

EC-COI-89-17      Employees of an agency created by a legislative act are considered to be "municipal employees" within the meaning of §1(g) because of the agency’s essentially local character. Among the factors considered by the Commission were: (1) the services the agency provides; (2) the local control over the agency; (3) the collection of local revenues; (4) the fact that surplus agency funds accrued to the local municipality; and (5) the fact that title in the agency’s property vests in the local municipality upon the agency’s dissolution. As a municipal agency, its employees are not required to file Statements of Financial Interests.

EC-COI-89-18      An employee of a private construction firm will not be considered a state or public employee if he performs advisory services for a private, non-profit corporation that was established to provide advice to the Boston business community regarding the Third Harbor Tunnel and Central Artery construction projects. If his construction company is hired to do planning and/or re-construction work on the project, the employee should contact the Commission for further advice.

EC-COI-89-19      A municipal official may participate in a local zoning amendment decision where the municipal official’s spouse does not have a reasonably foreseeable financial interest in the decision because it is unknown how the decision will affect the real estate of a corporation in which the spouse owns stock.

EC-COI-89-20      Regional Employment Boards (REB)

EC-COI-89-21      Tax shelters are reportable on Statements of Financial interest, pursuant to G.L.c. 268B, §5, as either "investments" or "business" if the fair market value of the shelter is greater than $1,000, regardless of whether the shelter produces tax losses or income.

EC-COI-89-22      A Selectman would violate §20 by holding a direct financial interest in a contract to provide ambulance services to his own Town. The §20(f) exemption for certain "personal services" contracts is not applicable because the contract is not for the provision of "employment-type" services to the Town police, fire, rescue, or ambulance department.

EC-COI-89-23      A state agency may accept a gift of a demonstration model software package worth more than $100 from a private software company because the gift is being made to the agency rather than to one or more employee for his or her personal use. However, employees at the agency may not grant any unwarranted privileges or special consideration to the private company because of the gift to the agency.

EC-COI-89-24      A non-profit corporation formed by faculty at a state institution is a state agency for purposes of 268A where the purpose of the corporation is to enhance and support the faculty department, the non-profit corporation furthers the state institution’s legislative mandate, and the corporation’s Board of Directors is controlled by university employees.

EC-COI-89-25      An athletic coach employed by a state college may receive an honorarium from a college alumni association for legitimate speaking engagements outside of his regular work schedule and work responsibilities. In order for speaking engagements to be considered legitimate, they must be:

1. formally scheduled on the agenda of the meeting or conference;
2. scheduled in advance of the speaker’s arrival at the meeting or conference;
3. before an organization which would normally have outside speakers address them at such an event; and
4. the speaking engagement must not be perfunctory, but should significantly contribute to the event, taking into account such factors as the length of the speech or presentation, the expected size of the audience, and the extent to which the speaker is providing substantive or unique information or viewpoints.

EC-COI-89-26 A former member of a committee which supervises investments for certain state agencies is prohibited by §5(b) from appearing for one year before any state agency in connection with an investment in an annuity contract over which he had official responsibility as a committee member, even if he had not previously participated in that matter.

EC-COI-89-27      For purposes of 268A, a municipal employee retains his municipal status during the time he is collecting workman’s compensation benefits. In determining whether an employee continues to hold employment within a municipal agency, the Commission will examine the characteristics of the relationship between the employee and the agency, including: whether a previously compensated employee continues to receive compensation from the municipal agency; whether the employee continues to receive the same retirement, insurance and other benefits available to municipal employees; whether the parties have a reasonable expectation that the employee will return to his municipal position; and what actions have been taken by the parties to terminate the employment relationship.

EC-COI-89-28      A municipal police officer is prohibited under §20 from maintaining his employment as a police officer and also serving as a city councillor. An exemption to §20 for selectmen does not apply to city councilors.

EC-COI-89-29      A special state employee who is also a private attorney may participate as a state employee in the re-sale of property previously purchased by his state agency from a former legal client of the special state employee. The employee must abstain from participating in particular matters that affect his own financial interests or those of his immediate family, partners, or associates, and must also avoid any actual or apparent undue favoritism. In addition, the employee is prohibited in his private capacity as an attorney from representing or receiving compensation from a private party in connection with any matter that is of interest to the state.

EC-COI-89-30      A municipal police chief may accept employment with a private resort to provide ongoing consulting services involving the supervision of the resort’s private unarmed security force, only if the police chief complies with substantial restrictions set forth in §§17, 19 and 23.

EC-COI-89-31      A member of the General Court who is also an attorney would be subject to §4 if he were to become "of counsel" to a large law firm which either currently or potentially represents clients before state agencies. Unless the Legislator is deemed to have "partner" status at the private law firm, the §4 restrictions will not apply to other attorneys in the law firm.

EC-COI-89-32      A special municipal police officer who owns the only garage in the town with a tow truck is considered a "special municipal employee"in his part-time police officer position. As a special, the officer may repair town fire trucks if his police duties do not include matters concerning the fire department, and if he files a written disclosure with the Town Clerk. He may provide towing services to the town, provided he complies with the exemption requirements of §20(d).

EC-COI-89-33      A conservation commission member who resides near property whose owner has made a filing under the Wetlands Protection Act, may participate in the matter where: (1) the member is not a direct abutter; (2) the member is not a "party aggrieved"; (3) the member is not a "party in interest"; and (4) the fact do not indicate any other direct or reasonably foreseeable financial interests prohibited by §19. Direct abutters, "parties aggrieved," and "parties in interest" are presumed to have a §19 financial interest which would prohibit participate unless an exemption applied.

EC-COI-89-34      A former state employee who previously participated in the preparation and presentation of a report on certain pending legislation may, under §18, assist and represent a prospective developer in connection with a redraft of the bill to be reconsidered in a subsequent legislative session.

EC-COI-89-35       Individuals who are independent consultants for a private corporation which contracts with a public entity may be deemed to be public employees.

EC-COI-88-1      A part-time assistant city solicitor may not represent, in his private capacity, an applicant in connection with matters pending in the city solicitor’s office. His private corporation may enter into a contract with the city redevelopment authority since his financial interest qualifies for an exemption under §20(c).

EC-COI-88-2      A Democratic city committee is not a state or municipal agency for purposes of 268A because its members do not perform services for the public.

EC-COI-88-3      A local assessment committee is a municipal agency. Accordingly, a member of the Board of Selectmen who wishes to accept a paid position with the committee is subject to a six-month waiting period following the member’s resignation as Selectman.

EC-COI-88-4      A non-profit organization which sells certain products to municipalities is a business organization for the purposes of 268A. Accordingly, a selectman who serves as a member of a board of directors of a non-profit organization must abstain from official participation in matters in which the organization has a financial interest.

EC-COI-88-5      State employees who are assigned to evaluate a prospective vendor may not accept free or subsidized transportation arrangements from the prospective vendor in connection with the evaluation.

EC-COI-88-6      A town counsel may not privately represent a selectman in defense of an enforcement action by the Commission, since the town will inevitably have a direct and substantial interest in the outcome of the Commission proceedings.

EC-COI-88-7      An assistant city solicitor may not privately represent a criminal defendant arrested by the city police department in connection with a motion to suppress hearing, because the city has a direct and substantial interest in the outcome of the hearing.

EC-COI-88-8      A former member of a state board may represent his partnership in connection with an application before the board inasmuch as the former member neither participated in nor had official responsibility for the application while serving on the board.

EC-COI-88-9      A part-time building inspector who is a municipal employee is prohibited under §17 from performing privately paid carpentry work in his town which requires a permit from or is subject to inspection or approval by a town agency. This opinion is based on principles discussed in opinion EC-COI-87-31.

EC-COI-88-10      A municipal school teacher may be paid by the school department for extra-curricular education-related activities which are authorized and contemplated by the teachers’ primary employment contract.

EC-COI-88-11      A former undersecretary of a state agency is a former state employee who is subject to §5(a) and (b) and §23(c) with respect to future employment opportunities. The former state employee’s brief discussion advising a city official of a need for a plan to develop a pier was not personal and substantial participating in the city’s decision to develop a master plan for the harbor. The constraints of §5(a) will not apply to partners in the law firm as long as he is "of counsel" status in that firm.

EC-COI-88-12      A former employee of a state agency who has recently become a state official in a second state agency must comply with the safeguards of §23, including public disclosure, prior to his participation as a state official in matters in which his former state agency is now involved.

EC-COI-88-13      A municipal employee suspended under §25 is entitled to receive full compensation or salary for that suspension period upon the resolution of any administrative action by his appointing authority under §23(b)(2). A §25 suspension requires that the public officer or employee be under indictment for misconduct in such office or employment or for misconduct in any elective or appointive public office, trust or employment at any time held by that individual. An indictment for driving under the influence of alcohol is not an indictment for misconduct in public office.

EC-COI-88-14      A former state employee is prohibited by §5(a) from accepting a position with a consulting firm because he would be compensated in connection with the same grant in which he participated as a state employee. As a state employee, the individual’s participation in the grant was personal and substantial even though he did not make the final decision to award the grant.

EC-COI-88-15      A state employee who is also a partner and part owner of a private development company is subject to the following provisions: (1) Under §4 the employee cannot act as an agent for or receive compensation from the company in relation to any applications for funds from state programs; (2) an exemption under §7(b) must be filed with the Ethics Commission if the company wishes to apply for funding under state programs; and (3) under §23(b)(3) the employee must not be unduly influenced by his private business in his official actions.

EC-COI-88-16      Members of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Commission are considered municipal employees of the City of North Adams because the Commission is an agency of the City. A MOCA Commission member is thus subject to §§ 17, 19, and 23 with respect to his private positions as adjunct professor at Williams College and as Director of the Guggenheim Foundation.

EC-COI-88-17      A full-time state employee may become an unpaid board of trustees member for an organization for the homeless subject to certain restrictions. Section 4(c) would prohibit the employee from acting as an agent or representative for the organization before state agencies on matters in which the state has a direct and substantial interest. This section would not prohibit the employee from participating in internal board of director discussions including matters in which the state has an interest. An exemption from §4(c) would not be available since the employee’s official duties do not specifically authorize membership on the Board o f trustees. If the state employee’s duties require her to participate in a matter which would financially affect the Board, she must comply with a §6 exemption to avoid a violation of that section.

EC-COI-88-18      A member of the General Court and also a committee chairman may not attend a conference where the transportation, food, lodging and expenses would be paid for by an association of companies who have a direct interest in matters before his committee.

EC-COI-88-19      A non-profit corporation which was created to manage and operate cable television access channels is not considered to be a "municipal agency" under §1(f). In determining when any entity is within the jurisdiction of 268A, the Commission has in past decisions considered the following factors:

1. the means by which it was created (e.g., legislative or administrative action);
2. the entity’s performance of some essentially governmental function;
3. whether the entity receives and/or expends public funds; and
4. the extent of control and supervision exercised by government officials or agencies over the entity. EC-COI-88-2; 85-22; 84-65.

EC-COI-88-20      A non-profit mental health clinic that has a partnership arrangement with the state may, subject to §3, offer to state employees who work at the clinic productivity incentive credits for increased work during a normal weekday for use towards acquiring books and other items limited to their official state use but not for conference fees or travel expenses for individual employees. However, where the incentive credit awards are of substantial value and intended to provide multiple remuneration for a state employees’ good job, it would normally be a violation of §3.

EC-COI-88-21      A state employee who is an attorney and also services as a city conservation commissioner is subject to several provisions of 268A. Section 4 allows the state employee to hold a municipal position provided that he does not vote or act on any matter within the purview of his state agency or over which he has official responsibility. As a municipal employee under §17 he may not represent private clients: (1) before other municipal agencies or (2) on appeals of municipal decisions to state agencies. Section 19 prohibits him from participating as a commissioner in any matter which could directly or indirectly affect the financial interest of his law firm. Once he leaves his state job, he would be subject os §§ 5 and 23 as a former state employee. His law firm would not be subject to §18(d/c) and §5(d/c) since he would be an associate attorney in the firm.

EC-COI-88-22      A state agency that operates a transportation facility would not violate §§ 3 or 23 by enrolling the agency in a corporate care rental discount program where the car rental company is a tenant of the agency and would be the only car company used by the agency because the discount would not be an item of substantial value given to an individual employee and would be available because of the agency’s organizational status rather than because of any landlord-tenant relationship. However, the agency’s employees would violate §23(b)(2) by accepting "frequent flyer bonus points" accruing from their state-funded car rentals because the cumulative value of such points could constitute an item of substantial value and would constitute an unwarranted privilege not available to similarly situated individuals.

EC-COI-88-23      A full-time police officer traffic-report in a state agency whose official duties include gathering and providing commuter traffic data to the local media, including a local television station, may accept a part-time private consulting position with the television station as a traffic analyst on major construction projects in the Boston area. The private work will be done during the officer’s private hours, using only private vehicles, equipment and materials and would not under §4(a) be in connection with particular matters in which his state agency has a direct and substantial interest. The state employee would also be subject to the provisions of §6 and cannot participate as a state employee in any matter which could affect the television station’s financial interest.

EC-COI-88-24      A non-profit corporation created by a city redevelopment authority is considered a "municipal agency." In balancing the factors stated in 88-19, above, the Commission concluded that the corporation was primarily created to help the authority in performing its functions, used public funds, and was subject to substantial government control. Employees of the authority who work for the corporation are therefore subject to §§17 and 23. NOTE: MBTA v. SEC added a fifth factor.

EC-COI-88-25      A full-time state court employee is prohibited under §4(a) from accepting part-time employment with a private alcohol education program because the referrals of clients to the program would come from the state courts. Section 4(a) prohibits the employee’s receipt of compensation in connection with matters in which the state has a direct and substantial interest.

EC-COI-87-1      A selectman who is an officer of an organization which operates a private club may participate in the liquor license application of a restaurant which does not compete with the club.

EC-COI-87-2      A fire district is an independent municipal agency for purposes of 268A, and an elected member of a prudential committee of the fire district is a municipal employee. He is not eligible for classification as a special municipal employee, nor does he qualify for any exemptions from §20 which would permit his receipt of additional compensation as a call firefighter. NOTE: McMANN may have changed the conclusion that the fire district is an independent municipal agency.

EC-COI-87-3      Two members of the board of directors of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) are special state employees and may continue their outside activities, subject to certain conditions. One director may consult to a housing development corporation which has a funding request pending before CEDAC, provided he abstains from any participation as a CEDAC member in the request and his consultation is independent of matters involving CEDAC. A second director must observe the limitations of §23 prior to participation in the funding request of the housing development corporation whose executive director is also on the board of directors of a state agency which employs her.

EC-COI-87-4      A member of the General Court may continue employment as a consultant to a company as long as his compensation is not derived from any contracts between the company and the state, and he refrains from appearing before state agencies in connection with state contracts or other particular matters. He must also abstain from voting or otherwise participating on any special legislation which financially affects the company.

EC-COI-87-5      A state employee may serve as a paid member of the board of directors of a bank, as long as he complies with the restrictions of §§4, 6 and 23. Specifically, he may not participate as a state employee in any matter affecting the bank’s financial interest and may not work for the bank on any leases, regulatory proceedings, scholarship programs or other matters in which the state has a direct and substantial interest.

EC-COI-87-6      The chief executive officer of a company which has performed services for the campaign committee of the head of a state agency may accept employment with that agency, provided he complies with the restrictions of §§ 4, 7 and 23. In particular, his company may no longer contract with state agencies, and he must observe the §23 conditions prior to his official dealings with agencies or employees with whom his company has previously contracted.

EC-COI-87-7      A municipal official who is invited to attend an out-of-state event in his official capacity would, by receiving payment or reimbursement for transportation, lodging, and event admission from a private sponsor, violate §23(b)2) unless the municipality authorizes the payment or reimbursement.

EC-COI-87-8      The treasurer and owner of a for profit business corporation was advised that he was a municipal employee by virtue of a contract between the corporation and a city agency. The Commission announced interim standards to determine when a principal owner or other individual who plays a significant role in the performance of a contract will be deemed a public employee. The factors include, but are not limited to:

1. whether the individual’s services are expressly or implied contracted for;
2. the type and size of the corporation. For example, an individual who is president, treasurer and sole stock holder of a closely held corporation may be deemed a public employee if the corporation has a contract with a public agency;
3. the degree of specialized knowledge or expertise required of the service. For example, an individual who performs highly specialized services for a corporation which contracts with a public agency to provide those services may be deemed to be performing services directly to the agency;
4. the extent to which the individual personally performs services under the contract, or controls and directs the terms of the contract or the services provided thereunder; and
5. the extent to which the person has performed similar services for the public entity in the past.

EC-COI-87-9      A member of a city council may initiate a lawsuit against the council in connection with a prior council’s termination of his employment with the city, subject to certain conditions. He may not officially participate in any decision or determination relating either to the lawsuit or the employment status of the incumbent in the position the councillor formally held. He must also keep separate the course of his lawsuit from his exercise of official responsibilities as city coun