Barry v. Johns

The code of ethics for municipal officers, RCW ch. 42.23, prohibits them from having a beneficial interest in contracts entered into on the municipality’s behalf. We are asked to decide whether a municipal contract that limits the liability of a non-profit organization’s board members for discretionary decisions made in their official capacity gives those board members a beneficial interest in the contract. Because the code seeks only to regulate municipal officers’ financial interests in contracts, not the type of non-pecuniary interest involved here, we conclude that it does not.

FACTS

In…