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STATE OF LOUISIANA <br /> ,',aP�oF oiTsf�. <br /> DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE <br /> LOUISIANA BOARD OF ETHICS <br /> m ilii, hie v <br /> jirw;,r.,' IN P.O. BOX 4368 <br /> i ill" ,., u,• <br /> . BATON ROUGE, LA 70821 <br /> , <br /> Oaios , (225)219-5600 <br /> FAX (225)381-7271 <br /> 1-800-842-6630 <br /> www.ethics.la.gov <br /> August 21, 2017 <br /> Philip Windham <br /> 926 Wood Road <br /> Pioneer, Louisiana 71266 <br /> Re: Ethics Board Docket No. 2017-576 <br /> Dear Mr. Windham: <br /> The Louisiana Board of Ethics, at its August 18, 2017 Board meeting, considered your request for <br /> an advisory opinion regarding whether you may lease an eighteen wheeler truck to a third party who <br /> may haul grain and other various things from places you inspect. You are currently employed as an <br /> agriculture specialist in the Grain Division within the Department of Agriculture and Forestry.Your <br /> responsibilities in this position include examining,inspecting,and investigating products,facilities, <br /> and commodities to ensure compliance with and enforcement of laws and regulations concerning <br /> agricultural commodities. Specifically,you take samples from barges and rail cars from local grain <br /> elevators to determine the quality of grain. You stated that in no way can you affect whether grain <br /> can or cannot be transported through your position. Further, you normally do not take samples of <br /> grain from trucks but would upon request from any elevator owners. <br /> You and your wife own Windham 4 Farm LLC which owns an eighteen wheeler truck with a hopper <br /> bottom trailer. You stated that these types of trailers are generally used for grain transportation but <br /> are not limited to it.You would like to lease this truck to a third party who may potentially haul grain <br /> to or from an elevator you have inspected. You stated that you would have no right to approve or <br /> disapprove of what the lessee was hauling and to where he would haul it. Further, there would be <br /> no markings on the truck that would let anyone know that the truck is owned by you.You stated that <br /> you would not receive any other form of compensation from the lessee other than the amount owed <br /> for the lease of the truck. Finally,you stated that you would not receive any payments from anyone <br /> you regulate. <br /> The Board concluded,and instructed me to inform you,that the Code of Governmental Ethics would <br /> not prohibit you from leasing an eighteen wheeler truck to a third party who may haul grain from a <br /> site you inspected as long as the lessee is not seeking to obtain a contractual or other business or <br /> financial relationship with the Grain Division and does not conduct operations or activities regulated <br /> by the Grain Division. La. R.S.42:1111 C(2)(d)provides that no public servant an no legal entity in <br /> which the public servant exercises control or owns an interest in excess of twenty-five percent,shall <br /> receive any thing of economic value for or in consideration of services rendered, or to be rendered <br /> to or for any person during his public service unless such services are neither performed for nor <br /> compensated by any person from whom such public servant would be prohibited by R.S. <br /> 42:1115A(1)or(B)from receiving a gift.You stated that the hauling of commodities is not regulated <br /> AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER <br />