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A municipal employee may always represent his own personal interests, even before his <br /> own municipal agency or board, on the same terms and conditions that other similarly <br /> situated members of the public would be allowed to do so. A municipal employee may <br /> also apply for building and related permits on behalf of someone else and be paid for <br /> doing so,unless he works for the permitting agency, or an agency which regulates the <br /> permitting agency. <br /> Example of violation : A full-time health agent submits a septic system plan that she has <br /> prepared fora private client to the town's board of health. <br /> Example of violation : A planning board member represents a private client before the <br /> board of selectmen on a request that town meeting consider rezoning the client's property. <br /> While many municipal employees earn their livelihood in municipal jobs, some <br /> municipal employees volunteer their time to provide services to the town or receive small <br /> stipends. Others, such as a private attorney who provides legal services to a town as <br /> needed, may serve in a position in which they may have other personal or private <br /> employment during normal working hours. In recognition of the need not to unduly <br /> restrict the ability of town volunteers and part-time employees to earn a living,the law is <br /> less restrictive for "special" municipal employees than for other municipal employees. <br /> The status of"special" municipal employee has to be assigned to a municipal position by <br /> vote of the board of selectmen, city council, or similar body. A position is eligible to be <br /> designated as "special" if it is unpaid, or if it is part-time and the employee is allowed to <br /> have another job during normal working hours, or if the employee was not paid for <br /> working more than 800 hours during the preceding 365 days. It is the position that is <br /> designated as "special" and not the person or persons holding the position. Selectmen in <br /> towns of 10,000 or fewer are automatically "special"; selectman in larger towns cannot be <br /> "specials." <br /> If a municipal position has been designated as "special," an employee holding that <br /> position may be paid by others, act on behalf of others, and act as attorney for others with <br /> respect to matters before municipal boards other than his own,provided that he has not <br /> officially participated in the matter, and the matter is not now, and has not within the past <br /> year been, under his official responsibility. <br /> Example : A school committee member who has been designated as a special municipal <br /> employee appears before the board of health on behalf of a client of his private law <br /> practice, on a matter that he has not participated in or had responsibility for as a school <br />