This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on  October 1, 2004, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.
 

May a municipality purchase land owned by the first and second cousins and brother-in-law of an alderman?

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:

Code Section 25-4-103(q) states:
 

“(q) ‘Relative’ means the spouse, child or parent.”

Code Section 25-4-105(1) 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.”

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

As attorney for the Town, I have been directed by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen to request an official opinion based on the following circumstances.  The Town is considering the purchase of a parcel of property just outside the city limits for a possible park and/or recreational area.  The property has been offered to the Town as one parcel, although there are several owners of individual lots included in the parcel. The owners are related to an alderman as first and second cousins, and one owner is the brother-in-law of the same alderman.  The lot(s) which is owned by the brother-in-law was jointly owned with the alderman’s spouse until she conveyed her interest to her brother approximately three months ago.  My questions are these:

1. May the Town purchase the entire property as it has been offered?

2. If the Town cannot purchase the property formerly owned by the alderman’s spouse, may the Town purchase the remainder of the property separately?

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

Section 25-4-105(1), Miss. Code of 1972, quoted above, prohibits a public servant from using his or her official position to obtain pecuniary benefit for a relative. Yet the only persons defined as relatives for purposes of the Ethics in Government Law are spouses, children and parents. See Section 25-4-103(q), Miss. Code of 1972, quoted above. Therefore, if the municipality purchases all of the land in question, then no conflict will result merely because the owners are the first and second cousins and brother-in-law of an alderman.
 

Scott Rankin
Executive Director