You are the uncompensated Chairman of a State Board of Registration (Board). You are also employed full-time by a department of the City of Boston (Department) as the Director of a Department at a city institution. The Department has offered you space to present a workshop or series of workshops on a) how to become a licensed member of your profession and b) how to bring a complaint against a member of that profession. A fee will be charged for these workshops and, although you will not be paid for conducting the workshops, the Department will make a profit.
You ask whether you may conduct these workshops for the Department without violating the state conflict of interest law, G.L.c.268A.
The Commission concludes that you may under the conflict law, but restrictions placed on Board members by the Board's Code of Conduct may apply.
In rendering this opinion, the Commission has relied on the facts as you have stated them and has not made any independent investigation of those facts. The Board is within the Division of Registration of the Executive Office of Community Affairs and is, therefore, a state agency. G.L.c.268A, s.1(p). Because you provide services to the Board you are a state employee. G.L. c. 268A, s.1(q). Section 3(b) of the conflict law prohibits you from receiving anything of substantial value otherwise than as provided by law for or because of your official acts or acts within your official responsibility. Presenting workshops which concern matters within the responsibility of your agency and your official position may be deemed to be "official acts or acts within your official responsibility." However, since you state that you will not be paid for the work you do on these workshops, you will not be receiving anything of value, so s.3(b) will not apply. Section 6 of G.L.c.268A prohibits you from participating as Chairman of the Board in any "particular matter"[1] in which a business organization by which you are employed has a financial interest. The Department, even though an agency of a municipal corporation (the City of Boston), is a business organization. EC-COI-81-56. Therefore, s.6 would restrict your participation as Chairman in particular matters in which the Department has a financial interest. This section does not apply to this case, however, because the workshop is a private venture and is not a particular matter. Should a matter come before you, however, as Chairman of the Board, in which you would normally be required to participate, s.6 requires that you inform your appointing official of the matter and the financial interest involved. That official must then assume responsibility for the matter himself, assign it to another employee or make a written determination that the interest is not so substantial as to affect the integrity of the employee's service. Copies of this determination must be given to the employee and to the Commission. Section 23 of the conflict law provides standards of conduct which apply to all state, county and municipal employees. Specifically, s.23(d) prohibits you from using your official position to gain unwarranted privileges for yourself or others. As Chairman of the Board you are well-qualified to present these workshops and it is conceivable that any organization which offered to sponsor such workshops would attempt to make a profit from them. Therefore, the Department is not receiving an "unwarranted privilege or exemption" as a result of your contribution and s.23(d) does not prohibit your participation. Section 23(e) provides that no state employee shall by his conduct give reasonable basis for the impression that any person can improperly influence or unduly enjoy his favor in the performance of his official duties, or that he is unduly affected by the kinship, rank, Position or influence of any party or person. Specifically, this provision may be at issue if participants in this workshop raise actual complaints or intend to seek licenses which may later come before you as Board Chairman. You should caution the participants to avoid actual persons and actual fact situations when discussing complaints. Should a complaint or license application come before you on the Board which you recognize as clearly being raised at the workshop, you should withdraw from consideration of that complaint or license.
However, you should take note of the provisions of the Code of Conduct for the Employees of the Division of Registration in the Executive Office of Consumer Affairs. Section 4 of that Code states that "[d]ivision employees shall not use or give the appearance of using their official positions to enhance. . .private financial interests ... of persons with whom they have family, personal, business, or financial ties." Inasmuch as Section 4 of the Code may preclude your conducting workshops from which your employer will profit, you should seek guidance from the Secretary of the Executive Office of Consumer Affairs over the application of this provision to your situation.
End Of Decision
