Advisory Opinion 95-04-1121

Transit Department/Outside Employment

ISSUE: WHETHER A PART-TIME TRANSIT OPERATOR WHO ALSO OPERATES AN APPAREL DESIGN BUSINESS MAY CONTRACT WITH THE TRANSIT DEPARTMENT TO SELL TRANSIT UNIFORMS?

Opinion: A part-time transit operator would have a conflict of interest if she bid for a contract for new transit uniforms, because she is a member of a uniform committee which is developing specifications for the contract.

Whenever a County employee is involved in developing the specifications for a contract, they incur a conflict of interest if they subsequently intend to compete for award of that same contract.

Statement of Circumstances: A part-time transit operator in the Transit Department at Metro also operates an outside business in apparel design. Metro has recently set-up a uniform committee to provide inputs to a consultant for new transit uniforms. The committee consists of two employees, one male and one female, from each of the transit bases, and the committee was established so that transit operators would be directly involved in the process of selecting new uniforms. The part-time operator sits on this committee. The employee would like the Board of Ethics to determine whether she would have a conflict of interest if she designed transit uniforms and competed for a contract to sell these uniforms to Metro?

Analysis: Subsection 3.04.030 B of the Code of Ethics provides that a County employee shall be deemed to have a conflict of interest if the employee directly or indirectly:

Is beneficially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract, sale, lease, option, or purchase that may be made by, through, or under the supervision of the employee, in whole or in part, or accepts, directly or indirectly, any compensation, gift, or thing of value from any other person beneficially interested therein

It is the Board's understanding that the uniform committee will be directly involved in developing the specifications for transit uniforms prior to the bidding process, and that the employee will be included in the entire process of evaluating uniforms, interviewing vendors, and making selections. Therefore, the employee, as well as any other employees on the committee, could be perceived as having a competitive advantage in the contractual process. While the employee would not supervise the administration of the contract for new transit uniforms, her level of involvement in developing specifications is sufficient to establish that she would have a conflict of interest if she subsequently competed for award of any such contract.

References: King County Code of Ethics, section 3.04.030 B.

ISSUED THIS ___________ DAY OF ___________________, 199__.

Signed for the Board: Dr. J. Patrick Dobel, Chair

Members:

Dr. J. Patrick Dobel, Chair
Timothy Edwards, Esq.
Rev. Paul Pruitt
Ron Carlson
Dr. Lois Price Spratlen

JPD/mag

cc:

Gary Locke, King County Executive
Metropolitan King County Council Members
Susan Baugh, Director-Ombudsman, Office of Citizen Complaints
Robert I. Stier, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and Counsel to the Board of Ethics
Gloria Overgaard, Manager, Operations Division, Transit Department
Marilyn Davis, Supervisor, Atlantic Base, Transit Department
Deborah Baytos, Transit Operator, Central Base, Transit Department