A director, officer or employee of the authority may not acquire any interest, direct or indirect, in any contract or proposed contract of the authority. A director, officer or employee may not participate in any decision on any contract entered into by the authority if that individual has any interest, direct or indirect, in any firm, partnership, corporation or association that will be party to such a contract or financially involved in any transaction with the authority; except this prohibition does not apply to the execution of agreements by banking institutions for the deposit or handling of authority funds in connection with any contract or to utility services, the rates for which are fixed or controlled by a governmental agency.   [PL 1995, c. 374, §3 (NEW).]