CEO 86-82 -- December 11, 1986

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

APPLICABILITY OF FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE LAW TO MEMBERS OF CITY URBAN DESIGN TASK FORCE

To: Mr. Frederick B. Karl, Jr., City Attorney, City of South Daytona

SUMMARY:

The members of the South Daytona Urban Design Task Force are not "local officers" subject to the requirement of filing statements of financial interests annually under Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes. The Task Force performs a solely advisory role and does not have land- planning or zoning responsibilities. CEO 84-82 is referenced.

QUESTION:

Are the members of the City of South Daytona Urban Design Task Force "local officers" subject to the requirement of filing statements of financial interests annually?

Your question is answered in the negative.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides that each "local officer" shall file a statement of financial interests annually. Section 112.3145(2)(b), Florida Statutes (1985). The term "local officer" is defined to mean:

Any appointed member of a board; commission; authority, including any expressway authority or transportation authority established by general law; community college district board of trustees; or council of any political subdivision of the state, excluding any member of an advisory body. A governmental body with land-planning, zoning, or natural resources responsibilities shall not be considered an advisory body. [Section 112.3145(1)(a)2, Florida Statutes (1985).]

In turn, "advisory body" is defined to mean

any board, commission, committee, council, or authority, however selected, whose total budget, appropriations, or authorized expenditures constitute less than 1 percent of the budget of each agency it serves or $100,000, whichever is less, and whose powers, jurisdiction, and authority are solely advisory and do not include the final determination or adjudication of any personal or property rights, duties, or obligations, other than those relating to its internal operations. [Section 112.312(1), Florida Statutes (1985).]

In your letter of inquiry you advise that the City of South Daytona has formed several citizen task forces to assist the City in planning for the future. One of these bodies, the Urban Design Task Force, was created to provide input to the City on a number of issues, and it was anticipated that those issues would include long- term planning and zoning of the City.

In a telephone conversation with our staff, the City Manager advised that he created six task forces to consider various aspects of the City's future. The Urban Design Task Force consisted of approximately twenty volunteers, of whom about ten members have participated. It was anticipated that the Task Force would look at planning and zoning matters and make recommendations for future planning and zoning of the City. However, the Task Force did not become involved in zoning issues, but rather made recommendations regarding the infrastructure of the City, water and sewer lines, and signs within the City. The recommendations of the Task Force go to the steering committee of the task forces, he advised, whose advice would be considered during the City's comprehensive planning process. Finally, he advised that neither the Urban Design Task Force nor any of the other task forces was intended to play a direct role in the City's planning or zoning processes.

In a previous opinion, CEO 84-82, we advised that a city task force created to analyze and make recommendations on a study by a regional/urban design assistance team was not subject to the financial disclosure law. There, although the task force made many recommendations concerning future land use in the City, it played no formal role in any type of process relating to land-planning, and its recommendations were not considered a condition precedent to final government action in land-planning matters.

Accordingly, based on the rationale of CEO 84-82, we find that the members of the South Daytona Urban Design Task Force are not "local officers" and therefore are not subject to the requirement of filing statements of financial interests annually.