November 4, 1987 Public Officers and Employees; Conflict of Interest; Conduct of Members of Regional Airport Authorities Governed by N.C.G.S. 14-234(a).
Subject:
Requested By: Victor W. Buchanan, Attorney for the Asheville Regional Airport Authority
Question: Does a prohibited conflict of interest arise when an Authority member, the president of a public relations firm, enters into a contract with another company providing public relations services to the Asheville Regional Airport?
Conclusion: A conflict of interest may exist, within the purview of N.C.G.S. 14-234(a), if a contract is made under the fact stated.
The Asheville Regional Airport Authority ("Authority") was formed in 1979 by the County of Buncombe and the City of Asheville pursuant to the provisions of Article 20 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes of North Carolina. The purpose of forming the Asheville Regional Airport Authority was to maintain, operate, regulate and improve the Asheville Regional Airport.
Three members of the Airport Authority are appointed by the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. Three members of the Authority are appointed by the Asheville City Council. These six individual Authority members then appoint the seventh member.
One of the seven current members of the Asheville Regional Airport Authority is the president of a public relations firm which is now contemplating entering into a contract with another company known as Directional Media Associates, Inc. It is contemplated that the Airport Authority members firm would provide to Directional Media public relations services such as news releases.
Directional Media presently has two contracts with the Asheville Regional Airport Authority relating to advertising, and it is contemplated that the Airport Authority members corporation may be involved with providing public relations services relative to these contracts with the Airport Authority.
In pertinent part, N.C.G.S. 14-234(a) states:
"If any person appointed or elected a commissioner or director to discharge any trust wherein the State or any county, city or town may be in any manner interested, shall become an undertaker, or may make any contract for his own benefit, under such authority, or be in any manner concerned or interested in making such contract, or in the profits thereof, either privately or openly, singly or jointly with another, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. . ."
The Asheville Regional Airport Authority has been created by interlocal cooperation between the City of Asheville and the County of Buncombe. The construction, maintenance and operation of the Asheville Regional Airport are public in governmental functions which are both city and county functions and purposes, and a person who exercises these functions is a public officer. See Opinion of Attorney General to Mr. A. Dumay Gorham, Jr., Attorney for New Hanover Memorial Hospital, Inc., 52 NCAG 49 (1982).
The facts as presented show that the Authority member would directly benefit from contracts engaged in between the Authority and Directional Media which would appear to be a violation of
G.S. 14-234(a) of the General Statutes of North Carolina. The Authority members public relations firm could only contract with Directional Media Associates if the Authority member resigned his position with the Authority or if Directional Media Associates terminated its business relationship with the Authority.
Also of benefit to this inquiry is the Opinion of the Attorney General to Timothy W. Howard, Attorney for Sampson County Department of Social Services, 49 NCAG 108 (1980).
Lacy H. Thornburg Attorney General
Thomas H. Davis, Jr. Assistant Attorney General