This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on November 5, 1999, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.

May an individual employed as a bookkeeper for the county tax collector/assessor simultaneously serve as the elected coroner of the same county?

Your opinion request to the Office of the Attorney General dated October 6, 1999, was referred by that Office to the Mississippi Ethics Commission on October 14, 1999, as your request involves the above issue that concern the Mississippi conflict of interest laws.

The Mississippi Ethics Commission is restricted to interpreting and issuing opinions on Sections 25-4-101 through 25-4-119, 1972 Mississippi Code Annotated and Article IV, Section 109, Mississippi Constitution of 1890. Therefore, Mississippi laws outside the jurisdiction of the Commission and internal rules and regulations of the local governmental entity are not addressed by this opinion.

The pertinent conflict of interest laws to be considered here are:

Code Section 25-4-103 (f)(i)(ii), (g)(i), (h) and (p)(i)(ii)(iii) states:

"(f) 'Contract' means:

(i) Any agreement to which the government is a party; or

(ii) Any agreement on behalf of the government which involves the payment of public funds.
 
 

(g) 'Governmental' means the state and all political entities thereof, both collectively and separately, including but not limited to:

(i) Counties.

(h) 'Governmental entity' means the state, a county, a municipality or any other separate political subdivision authorized by law to exercise a part of the sovereign power of the state.

(p) 'Public servant' means:

(i) Any elected or appointed official of the government;

(ii) Any officer, director, commissioner, supervisor, chief, head, agent or employee of the government or any agency thereof, or of any public entity created by or under the laws of the State of Mississippi or created by an agency or governmental entity thereof, any of which is funded by public funds or which expends, authorizes or recommends the use of public funds; or

(iii) Any individual who receives a salary, per diem or expenses paid in whole or in part out of funds authorized to be expended by the government."

Code Section 25-4-105 (3)(a) states:

"(3) No public servant shall:

(a) Be a contractor, subcontractor or vendor with the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent, other than in his contract of employment, or have a material financial interest in any business which is a contractor, subcontractor or vendor with the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent."

Pertinent facts and circumstances provided by the requestor, absent identifying data, are set forth as follows and considered part of this opinion.

I respectfully request an attorney general's opinion on the following question concerning county government.

Can an employee of the Tax Assessor Collector office who serves as a bookkeeper hold a duel office in county government, serve as a coroner and a bookkeeper at the same time?

The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinion No. 96-003-E in response to this request and by attachment incorporates it into this opinion.

Based solely on the facts and circumstances presented in the requestor's letter, the Commission's opinion is that an individual would be prohibited from simultaneously serving as a county coroner and as an employee of the county tax collector/assessor for the same county by the above cited Code Section 25-4-105 (3)(a).

As stated in the attached advisory opinion, "The interpretation of Code Section 25-4-105 (3)(a) is that a public servant may hold only one position with the authority of the governmental entity of which he or she is a member, officer, employee or agent."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ronald E. Crowe

Executive Director