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HomeMy WebLinkAbout82-562 SeverMr. F. Alan Sever 516 Sand Hill Road RD #3 Montoursville, PA 17754 Mailin Address: STATE ETHICS COMMISSION P.O. BOX 1 179 HARRISBURG, PA 17108 TELEPHONE: (717) 783 -1610 July 20, 1982 ADVICE OF COUNSEL 82 -562 RE: Section 3(a), Sanitary Engineer; Bureau of Water Quality Dear Mr. Sever: This responds to your letter of April 23, 1982 in which you requested advice from the State Ethics Commission. Issue: Can an engineer employed by the Bureau of Water Quality (BWQ) of the Department of Environmental Resources (DER) submit permit applications to another Bureau such as a permit application to the Bureau of Community Environmental Control (CEC)? Can a Water Quality Specialist in the Bureau of Water Qaulity do the design work and submit an application to the Bureau of Water Quality for a project which is not in his assigned work area and therefore would not be inspected by him? Facts: You are presently employed by the Commonwealth as a Sanitary Engineer in the Permits and Grants Section of the Bureau of Water Quality. You indicate that you work with the Permits Section which reviews appli- cations for privately funded sewage treatment facilities. The Grants Section deals with similar municipal or publicly funded projects. The CEC generally deals with the quality of drinking water and swimming pools. You work exclu- sively within Region 4 (Williamsport) or DER. In your Section (Permits) there is no limit on the number of permits available. Discussion: Initially, we note that you addressed your inquiry to the Governor's Board of Ethics and refer to decisions of the Board. That Board is separate and distinct from the State Ethics Commission. The State Ethics Commission can only address inquiries under Act 170 -1978. Any questions as to the Governor's current Code of Conduct (Ethics) should be addressed to your personnel department in the first instance. State Ethics Commission • 308 Finance Building • Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Mr. F. Alan Sever July 20, 1982 Page 2 Addressing your questions under the Ethics Act, we may only respond directly to questions about your own conduct. Accordingly, we cannot render binding advice to you as to the propriety of the conduct of an Engineer employed by the Bureau of Community Environmental Control who might seek a mine drainage permit. We can give you general guidance, however, as to your conduct as a Sanitary Engineer within the Bureau of Water Quality, you are a public employee subject to the State Ethics Act, 65 P.S. 401 et seq. Thus, your conduct. As to your conduct as a public employee must conform to the provisions of the Act, so that your activities present neither a conflict nor the appearance of a conflict with the public trust. 65 P.S. §401. The Ethics Act does not generally restrict your ability to seek permits from governmental entities, including your own or other Bureaus. Using your example, you may submit a permit application for a Water Supply to the Bureau of Community Environmental Control. Even in this activity, of course, your conduct must conform to the Act's admonition that no public employee shall use his public office or any confidential information received therefrom to obtain financial gain other than compensation provided by law. See Sec. 3(a) of the Ethics Act, 65 P.S. 403(a). Likewise, the Ethics Act does not generally restrict your ability to engage in "outside" employment such as doing design work for yourself or another client. If, in the context of this work it is necessary to submit a permit application to BWQ or DER in general, the Ethics Act would require that the Engineer - employee could not participate in any manner in the review or approval process associated with that application. Also, as stated above, the Engineer - employee could not use his public position or confidential infor- mation to prepare or secure approval of that application. These requirements apply to an application for projects where you might have a personal - proprietary interest as well as those where you are merely serving a client. The fact that the project would not be in your assigned work area and would not be inspected or approved by you indicates that the arrangement of doing private engineering work would not present even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Conclusion: The Ethics Act does not restrict the Sanitary Engineer from submitting permit applications to his own Bureau or Bureaus other than the one with which he is associated. You may prepare and submit an application and do the design work for a project so long as the restrictions discussed above are met. Pursuant to Section 7(9)(ii), this Advice is a complete defends i n any enforcement proceeding initiated by the Commission, and evidence - of good faith conduct in any other civil or criminal proceeding, providing the requestor has disclosed truthfully all the material facts and committed the acts complained of in reliance on the Advice given. Mr. F. Alan Sever July 20, 1982 Page 3 This letter is a public record and will be made available as such. Finally, if you disagree with this Advice or if you have any reason to challenge same, you may request that the full Commission review this Advice. A personal appearance before the Commission may be scheduled and a formal Opinion from the Commission will be issued. You should make such a request or indicate your disapproval of this Advice within the next 30 days. BF /rdp cc: Edward J. Miller, Deputy Secretary for Administration Sincerely, Sandra S. Chris ► anson General Couns