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HomeMy WebLinkAbout86-003 MartinJ. Paul Martin, Esquire 607 Washington Street Room 300 Reading, PA 19601 Dear Mr. Martin: I. Issue: II. Factual Basis For Determination: ¢t STATE ETHICS COMMISSION 308 FINANCE BUILDING HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17120 May 1, 1986 OPINION OF THE COMMISSION 86 -003 Re: Statement of Financial Interests, Member, Municipal Authority, Termination of Authority This responds to your letter of April 2, 1986, wherein you requested the opinion of the State Ethics Commission. Whether the members of a municipal authority are required to file a Statement of Financial Interests in accordance with the State Ethics Act when the authority has completed the business for which it was created and where the only action that the authority will take in the current year is to terminate its existence. As Solicitor for the North Central Berks School Authority, you have requested the opinion of the State Ethics Commission in relation to the above issue. You have advised that the municipal authority in question was created under the provisions of the Municipal Authorities Act of 1945. 53 P.S. .5301 et. seq. The authority, when created, was an active authority and did, in fact, issue a bond in order to complete necessary projects in the jurisdiction of the authority. You advise, however, that the authority has been inactive for a number of years and that the authority has had no employees since at least 1972. You advise that for a number of years the authority has only held an annual meeting. The last such annual meeting was held in May of 1985. The bond that had been issued by the authority has peen paid off and at the annual meeting of May 1986, the authority will take action to terminate its existence in accordance with the Municipal Authorities Act .57. 53 P.S. .5317. You have questioned whether, under these circumstances, the members of the municipal authority would he required to file Statements of Financial Interests in accordance with the State Ethics Act and the previous rulings of the State Ethics Commission. J. Paul Martin, Esquire Page 2 III. Discussion: You have requested further advice as to the application of our Dice Opinion under the factors set forth above. May 1, 1986 Pursuant to the provisions of the State Ethics Act, public officials are requi red to fil e Statements of F; nanci al Interests by May 1 of every year i n which they hold office. See 65 P.S. §404(d). Judicial decisions have firmly established that the filing requirement of the Act is equally applicable to public employees and public officials alike. Kremer v. State Ethics Commission, 56 Pa. Commw. 160, 424 A.2d 968, At 969, (1981); reversed on Other Grounds, 503 Pa. 86, 469 A.2d 593, (1983). We have recently ruled that the above f iling requirements are applicable to members of municipal authorities who serve on authorities created under the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Act. 53 P.S. §301 et. seq. Our determination in that matter was based upon the fact that prior court decisions have clearly held that members of municipal authorities who serve in positions that would not otherwise be exempt from Ethics Act coverage are required to file such statements. Forney v. State Ethics Commission, 56 Pa. Commw. 539, 525 A.2d 66, (1981). In our recent opinion, Dice, 85 -021, we have determined that the fact that a municipal authority member receives no compensation for service in that position is no longer a determinative factor as to whether such individual i s requi red to file a Statement of Fi nanci al Interests within the provisions of the State Ethics Act. See, Snider v. Thornburgh, 469 Pa. 159, 436 A.2d 593, (1981). We have, therefore, generally determined that members of municipal authorities currently serving would be required to file Statements of Financial Interests in accordance with the provisions of the State Ethics Act and the aforementioned court decisions. In our opinion in Dice, we determi ned that that filing requirement would be applicable for the May 1, 1986 filing deadline and that the filing requi rements would be applicable to al l i ndividuals who continue to serve on municipal authorities during the calendar year 1986. Our recent clarification of this matter, which was published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, set forth the currently existing provisions of the State Ethics Commission regulations. Pursuant to those regulations, we have advi sed that the filing requi rements would not be applicable to any authority member whose term of office ended in January of 1986 and, who although served during January, 1986, participated in only routine matters. See, 16 Pa. Bulletin No. 12, March 22, 1986. Generally, our review of the State Ethics Act filing requirement and the definition of public official, as now set forth in the State Ethics Act, indicates that said requirement was intended to operate so as to ensure the public that the activities of their officials do not conflict with the public trust. This, of course, assumes as a prerequisite that the officials are, in fact, performing some governmental function on behalf of the public. In the instant situation, you have set forth facts that indicate that the municipal authority in question has been inactive for a number of years. The authority J. Paul Martin, Esquire Page 3 May 1, 1986 has not been expending public funds and indeed the only official action that the authority members will take in 1986 will be the decision to terminate the authority's existence. As noted in our publication of March 22, 1986 in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, we are not and have not applied the Dice Opinion retroactively and, therefore, we are not requi ri ng the filing by members who would have served in prior years. We believe that it is also a reasonable application of our opinion to rule that members of municipal authorities who serve in 1986 do not have to file a Statement of Fi nanci al Interests i n accordance with the Ethics Act and in accordance with our Dice Opinion, if the only action that said authority members take during the year is the decision to terminate the authority. Thus, if the authority members take no official action -other than as set forth in your letter of request, said authority members do not have to file Statements of Financial Interests in accordance with our previous ruling. We hasten to note that our opinion in this situation only relates to the specific factual situation that has been set forth in the instant matter. Said opinion, of course, is applicable to similarly situated authorities and to similar factual situations. IV. Conclusion: Members of municipal authorities created under the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Act although public officials within the financial interests filing requirements of the State Ethics Act, are not required to file Statements of Financial Interests by May 1, 1986, if the only action that said authority members will take during the year is action to terminate the authority's existence. Pursuant to Section 7(9)(i), this opinion is a complete defense in any enforcement proceeding initiated by the Commission, and evidence of good faith conduct i n any ci vi 1 or crimi nal proceedi ng, providi ng the requestor has disclosed truthfully all the material facts and committed the acts complained of in reliance of the advice given. This letter is a public record and will be made available as such Finally, any person may request within 15 days of service of the opinion that the Commission reconsider its opinion. The person requesting reconside- ration should present a detailed explanation setting forth the reasons why the opinion requi res reconsideration. By the Commission, 4:41 a'c G. Sieber Pancoast Chai rman