FPPC: No conflict of interest on fire board FPPC: No conflict of interest on fire board (December 29, 2004)

By Renee Batti

Almanac Staff Writer

There was no violation of the state's conflict-of-interest law when local fire board member Bart Spencer voted in 2001 to appoint a person he shares a real-estate interest with to the same board, according to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission.

The Menlo Park Fire Protection District board late last year asked the FPPC to review the March 2001 vote to appoint Atherton resident Peter Carpenter to fill a vacancy on the board.

At issue was whether Mr. Spencer had a conflict of interest when he participated in the appointment decision, considering his co-ownership of a house with Mr. Carpenter through the Carpenter family trust. Mr. Spencer lives in the Menlo Park house, and pays rent to the Carpenters for their share of the ownership.

In its ruling the FPPC stated: "A conflict of interest is based upon financial interests. Since a board officer serves without compensation, it is not reasonably foreseeable that the decision to elect an individual to a board office will have a material financial effect upon the official's personal finances or any other of the official's economic interest."

Although the FPPC ruled there was no conflict of interest, "it did say that it would be better for (the two board members) not to vote to approve each other's expenses," noted Ruthann Ziegler, the fire district's attorney.

Since that ruling, the board has changed the way it votes on member reimbursement. Reimbursements for the other three board members are approved on the consent calendar, as had been done in the past. But Mr. Spencer's and Mr. Carpenter's reimbursements are approved separately, and the two affected board members recuse themselves from the vote.

Both board members said they didn't believe there had been a conflict of interest, and noted that the home-ownership partnership had been fully disclosed in legally required financial-interest forms, known as Form 700, that had been filed by both of them.

But both supported a board review and, subsequently, an FPPC review after the conflict-of-interest question was raised by an Almanac reporter.

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