PROVIDENCE — The state Ethics Commission this week refused to approve the arrangements the state’s former top health and human services administrator had proposed to do her new job while staying clear of the state’s ethics rules.

Jane Hayward, who retired as executive secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services in October, has since become the president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Health Center Association, which provides management, advocacy and other services for the state’s community health centers.

The private agency has contracts with at least two of the five state agencies Hayward was in charge of as a state official — the Department of Health and Department of Human Services — according to an Ethics Commission staff report.

On Tuesday, the commission rejected, on a 5-to-2 vote, a staff recommendation that it approve the arrangements Hayward proposed to insulate her from dealings with the state agencies she used to run.

At issue is the state’s “revolving door” rule, which is intended to prevent former state officials from using their contacts and influence within state government to benefit their new employer after they retire.

Barbara Binder, the commission’s vice-chair, said the rule was established to make sure former officials “don’t trade on the personal connections you made in state government.” The ban applies for a year after an official leaves office.

James Lynch Sr., the commission’s chairman, told Hayward that she can act as she chooses in her new job, but that she would risk prosecution if what she violates the state Code of Ethics. That could happen if a member of the public files a complaint with the commission, or if the commission staff itself initiates a complaint.

Hayward had sought a formal advisory opinion from the commission approving her plans subject to the conditions she outlined. That would have protected her from prosecution under the ethics code so long as she complied with the conditions. However, the commission voted not to issue an advisory opinion.

To avoid a conflict with the ethics rules, she had proposed, for example, delegating responsibility for handling state contracts during the year to a subordinate, with that person reporting to the chairman of the organization’s board of directors, Merrill Thomas, rather than Hayward.

Hayward said she had looked carefully at the ethics provisions, read past advisory opinions, and talked to the commission’s staff lawyers. The staff recommended that the commission approve her plan.

The staff recommendation would have also approved her role as a board member of Neighborhood Health Plan, and approved her representing the Health Center Association before the General Assembly and other state officials, although not with the governor’s office or state Department of Administration.

Commission member Ross Cheit said that the arrangement Hayward was suggesting “is what the revolving door provision is intended to prevent.”

Also, he said, the commission has no business trying to “police a private agreement” like Hayward’s contract with her new employer.

After the year is up, Cheit said, Hayward can use her state experience as she likes.

Hayward said afterward that she wants to think things over before deciding how she will respond to the decision. She said, however, that her new job involves many functions other than those affected by the Code of Ethics.

blandis@projo.com