This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on February 18, 2005, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.
 

May one who has a business relationship with a county serve as mayor of a municipality located in another county?

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(g)(i)(ii) and(h) states:
 

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

(i) Counties; and

(ii) Municipalities.

 (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.”

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

I am writing to request an opinion on any potential conflict of interest that may exist in my candidacy for Mayor, a position I held from 1996 to 1999, and my current position as a Risk Management Consultant for the Board of Supervisors of a different county.

As a consultant, my company is paid a fee monthly for rendering advice and support for the County’s various insurance policies.  I have recently qualified to run for Mayor of a municipality in another county.  Assuming that I should be elected, will I be able to continue serving the County in my role as consultant?

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

No violation of the Ethics in Government Laws should result if the requestor is elected mayor and continues the consulting relationship with the county. The municipality and the county are separate governmental entities, as that term is defined in Section 25-4-103(h), Miss. Code of 1972, quoted above. Potentially, a conflict of interest could arise if the county and municipality enter into an interlocal agreement which somehow provides an economic benefit to the requestor. However, in this instance, the municipality is located in a separate county from the one with which the requestor has a consulting relationship. Therefore, the chances of even a potential conflict are extremely remote.
 

Scott Rankin
Executive Director