Advisory Opinion No. 2010-42 Rhode Island Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion No. 2010-42 Re: Lynn M. Hawkins QUESTION PRESENTED The Petitioner, Town Clerk for the Town of Exeter, a municipal elected position, requests an advisory opinion regarding whether she is prohibited from accepting appointment to the position of Town Clerk if the Exeter Town Charter is amended such that the position of Town Clerk becomes an appointed, rather than an elected, position. RESPONSE It is the opinion of the Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, Town Clerk for the Town of Exeter, a municipal elected position, is not prohibited from accepting appointment to the position of Town Clerk if the Exeter Town Charter is amended such that the position of Town Clerk becomes an appointed, rather than an elected, position. The Petitioner has served as the Town Clerk for the Town of Exeter since March of 2010. She represents that, recently, the Exeter Town Council has proposed an amendment to the Charter of the Town of Exeter which would transform the position of Town Clerk from an elected position to one that is appointed by the Town Council. The Petitioner states that if the voters elect her to the position of Town Clerk in the upcoming election cycle and simultaneously approve the charter amendment converting the Clerk’s position from an elective one to an appointed one, she could be considered for, and offered, appointment to the same office. The Petitioner represents that, if the position of Town Clerk is changed to an appointed one, the duties and responsibilities of the Town Clerk would remain the same. Accordingly, the Petitioner requests an advisory opinion regarding whether her acceptance of appointment to the position of Town Clerk within one year of having held that office as an elected position would violate the Code of Ethics. The central question raised by this Petitioner’s set of facts is whether her acceptance of appointment to a position that she was elected to and held immediately prior to appointment, would violate Commission Regulation 36-14-5014. Regulation 5014(a) states in pertinent part: No municipal elected official or municipal school committee member, whether elected or appointed, while holding office and for a period of one (1) year after leaving municipal office, shall seek or accept employment with any municipal agency in the municipality in which the official serves, other than employment which was held at the time of the official’s election or appointment to office or at the time of enactment of this regulation, except as provided herein. It is the opinion of this Commission that in this Petitioner’s set of facts, her appointment to the position of Town Clerk would not violate Regulation 5014, notwithstanding the fact that she will have been a municipal elected official within one year prior to that appointment, given that her prior service as the elected Town Clerk would be considered “employment which was held at the time of the official’s . . . appointment to office” and thus falls within the exception outlined above. See also A.O. 2008-29 (opining that no violation of Regulation 5014 existed when the Town of Scituate expanded the duties of the elected Town Treasurer and correspondingly increased his salary, as the Treasurer was not “seeking or accepting employment” in any new position, but rather, would be serving more hours and performing more duties in his current position as Treasurer); A.O. 99-151 (opining that no violation of the Code of Ethics will occur if the Tiverton Treasurer/Tax Collector, an elective position, is appointed to the new position of Tax Collector, given that an amendment to that Town’s charter divided the responsibilities of the elected position into two new appointed positions). Additionally we note that Regulation 5014(c) allows that the “Rhode Island Ethics Commission may authorize exceptions to this regulation where such exceptions would not create an appearance of impropriety.” Finally, the Petitioner is advised that this opinion solely addresses the application of the Code of Ethics to the facts as represented by the Petitioner. This opinion does not address whether any other statutes, rulings, policies, charters, or ordinances prohibit such activity. Code Citations: Regulation 5014 Related Advisory Opinions: A.O. 2008-29 A.O. 99-151 Keywords: Revolving Door