This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on September 6, 2002, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.
 

May an elected county school board member be employed by the county as County Community Service Director supervising prisoners under a program established by the Circuit Court Judge for prisoners to perform community service under the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court?

State law restricts the Mississippi Ethics Commission 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, this opinion does not address the Mississippi laws outside the Commission’s jurisdiction nor the governmental entity’s internal rules and regulations.

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

Constitutional Section 109 states:
 

“No public officer or member of the legislature shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with the state, or any district, county, city, or town thereof, authorized by any law passed or order made by any board of which he may be or may have been a member, during the term for which he shall have been chosen, or within one year after the expiration of such term.”

Code Section 25-4-101 states:

“The legislature declares that elective and public office and employment is a public trust and any effort to realize personal gain through official conduct, other than as provided by law, or as a natural consequence of the employment or position, is a violation of that trust.  Therefore, public servants shall endeavor to pursue a course of conduct which will not raise suspicion among the public that they are likely to be engaged in acts that are in violation of this trust and which will not reflect unfavorably upon the state and local governments.”

Code Section 25-4-103 (f)(i)(ii), (g)(i)(iii), (h), (l) 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; and

(iii) All school districts.

(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.

(l) ‘Pecuniary benefit’ means benefit in the form of money, property, commercial interests or anything else the primary significance of which is economic gain.  Expenses associated with social occasions afforded public servants shall not be deemed a pecuniary benefit.

(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(1) and (2) states:
 

“(1) No public servant shall use his official position to obtain pecuniary benefit for himself other than that compensation provided for by law, or to obtain pecuniary benefit for any relative or any business with which he is associated.

(2) No public servant shall be interested, directly or indirectly, during the term for which he shall have been chosen, or within one (1) year after the expiration of such term, in any contract with the state, or any district, county, city or town thereof, authorized by any law passed or order made by any board of which he may be or may have been a member.”

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

It has been recommended by the Circuit Judge that the County Board of Supervisors employ as the County Community Service Director a gentlemen who is currently serving as an elected member of the County Board of Education.

The County Board of Supervisors, as well as the school board member, want to be sure that such employment would not be in conflict with Sections 25-4-101 through 25-4-119, Mississippi Code Annotated (1972 Recompiled), as amended.

Therefore, as attorney for the County Board of Supervisors, I request an official advisory opinion on this matter, specifically:

Would the employment of an elected county school board of education member by the county as County Community Service Director supervising prisoners under a program established by the Circuit Court Judge for prisoners to perform community service under the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court be a violation of the conflict of interest statutes?

The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinion No. 02-069-E in response to this request and by attachment incorporates it into this opinion.

 
Based solely on the facts and circumstances presented by the requestor, the Commission’s opinion is as follows.

The requestor is advised that the conflict of interest laws and their application to the county school board member addressed in the attached Advisory Opinion No. 02-069-E apply in the same manner to the subject of this request.

Based on the facts and circumstances being sufficiently similar for the above request and Advisory Opinion No. 02-069-E,  the Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinion No. 02-069-E in its entirety as its response to this request and by attachment incorporates it into this opinion.
 
 
 

Scott Rankin
Executive Director