DP2

DecisionPoint
http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint

DP2

Should Engineer Doe issue an official county engineer recommendation regarding subdivision plans that he personally prepared in his private consulting capacity, and if so, what form should that recommendation take?

Having accepted the private commission and prepared the subdivision plans, Engineer Doe must now fulfill his duties as county engineer, which include reviewing subdivision plans submitted to the county and issuing a recommendation to the planning board. The plans he privately prepared for the developer are now before him in his official capacity. Doe must decide how to handle his county engineer recommendation function with respect to plans he personally designed and has a direct financial interest in seeing approved.

Formally withdraw from the county engineer recommendation role with respect to these specific plans, arrange for an independent engineer to conduct the technical review and issue the recommendation to the planning board, and disclose the conflict of interest to the county — thereby preserving the independent review function the county engineer role is designed to provide.

Proceed to recommend approval of the subdivision plans in the official county engineer capacity, as Engineer Doe actually did — a structurally self-serving act that eliminates independent technical review, divides loyalty between the county and the private client, and activates the absolute Section 8(b) prohibition regardless of any disclosure made.

Recommend rejection or modification of the plans in the county engineer capacity, ostensibly to avoid the appearance of self-approval — but this option itself constitutes a conflict, as Doe would be using his public authority to harm his private client's interests, equally violating the undivided loyalty obligation from the opposite direction.

County Engineer Reviewing Self-Designed Plans