This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on August 2, 1996, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.

May one individual serve as a county requisition clerk, as a county part-time veterans service officer, as an uncompensated county human resource agency director and as an uncompensated board member of a regional solid waste authority?

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

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(a), (f)(i)(ii), (g)(i)(v), (h), (1), and (p)(i)(ii)(iii) states:

"(a) 'Authority' means any component unit of a governmental entity.

(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

(v) Any department, agency, board, commission, institution, instrumentality, or legislative or administrative body of the state, counties or municipalities created by statute, ordinance or executive order including all units that expend public funds.

(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) and (4)(h) 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.

(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, a public servant or his relative:

(h) May be employed by or receive compensation from an authority of the governmental entity other than the authority of the governmental entity of which the public servant is an officer or employee."

We would like to have an opinion as to whether a person can serve as: Requisition Clerk District #1 paid a salary of $125.00 per month, a part time Veteran Service Officer at $5.00 per hour three half days per week, on the Board of the Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste only paid travel to meetings, Human Resource Director for the County no salary is paid. The County's Chancery Clerk has contracted with the County's Human Resource Agency to assist in the Bookkeeping Department, so therefore he works with the clerk on behalf of the County's Human Resource Agency.

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

As set forth in the attached opinion, Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a), cited above, prohibits a county employee from contracting with the county, either as an independent contractor or in another employment position within the same authority of the county government.

Regarding the requisition clerk, Code Section 31-7-118, a statute in the Implementation of Central Purchasing by Counties Law, specifically allows current county employees to also serve as purchase clerk, receiving clerk or inventory control clerk. However, this law does not address a current county employee also serving as a requisition clerk.

Therefore, the county's dual employment of an individual as a county requisition clerk and as the county veteran's service officer is prohibited by Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a).

The individual's service as the uncompensated human resource agency director of the county would not be prohibited by the conflict of interest laws. This is because the service is voluntary and there is no personal pecuniary gain. In addition, Code Sections 17-15-1, et seq., authorizes the establishment of human resource agencies by counties and municipalities, clearly setting them apart as separate authorities from the boards of supervisors and municipal boards. Therefore, a county requisition clerk or county veteran's service officer could serve as a human resource agency director for the same county under the exception set forth in the above cited Code Section 25-4-105(4)(h).

The contract between the chancery clerk's office and the county human resource agency has no prohibitive effect upon the individual serving as the human resource agency director as the contract is between the two public offices. The conflict of interest laws prohibit competing private interests and not competing public interests.

Code Section 17-17-307 clearly states that once any unit or units of local government establish a regional solid waste authority that the authority shall be a "public body corporate and politic constituting a political subdivision of the state." Therefore, the regional solid waste authority is a separate governmental entity from the board of supervisors. Since it is a separate governmental entity, the conflict of interest laws would not prohibit a county requisition clerk or county veteran's service officer from serving as one of its board members.

The issue presented by the requestor also must be viewed as it relates to Code Section 25-4-101, set forth above. This code section sets the tone for the conflict of interest laws as the Legislature's "Declaration of Public Policy." This public policy can be summarized as any circumstance having the potential of creating suspicion among the public and reflecting unfavorably upon the state or local government should be closely reviewed by public servants with the intent to reduce or eliminate any suspicion on the part of the public which detracts from the public's trust in state or local government.

Clearly, one individual serving in this many public positions for or on behalf of one county has the potential of creating suspicion among the public and reflecting unfavorably upon the county

Ronald E. Crowe Executive Director