You are an urban planner for the City of San Antonio. You work closely with other urban planners, Jack and Jill. The work Jack and Jill have done in the last several city comprehensive plans has brought a great deal of praise. The San Antonio Express-News ran a series of stories about Jack and Jill’s work, all positive pieces. One day, Jack asks Jill, “Why don’t we try to make some money as planning consultants? We can advertise online with a website and there would be low overhead. The costs would be minimal and as long as we don’t contract with clients doing business with the city department, there shouldn’t be any ethical or legal issues to contend with.”
Jill gives Jack’s suggestion a few days of thought and a week later they have a website in place. Their firm provides, among other things, market analysis, community planning, business site selection, and geographic information systems.
Although their website doesn’t identify Jack and Jill by name, it does note that they have local government experience as urban planners. Moreover, the page contains their firm’s email address and telephone number.
Two weeks later, Jack, while working on city time, receives a telephone call inquiring about his services as a consultant. You overhear the call. What do you do? Why? Justify your answer, very clearly.