May an individual elected constable serve as a deputy coroner for the county in which he was elected to serve as constable?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:
(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."
"(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."
We would like to have an opinion as to whether a person can serve as a constable and as a deputy coroner, this person is not on payroll. He receives no fringe benefits from the county, he's only paid fees from both positions.The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinions No. 96-003-E and No. 95-121-E in response to this request and by attachment incorporates them into this opinion.
Based solely on the facts and circumstances presented by the requestor, the Commission's opinion is as follows.
In the attached opinions, a coroner, the same as the county medical examiner investigator, and a constable were determined to be within the same authority of government as the county board of supervisors. Therefore, a deputy medical examiner investigator is within that same authority of government Code Section 41-61-57 provides further support of this finding in that it provides that a deputy medical examiner investigator shall be appointed jointly by the board of supervisors and the county medical examiner investigator. Since the deputy medical examiner is appointed by the board of supervisors and the medical examiner investigator, it is logical and reasonable that the deputy medical examiner may in like manner be removed by the board of supervisors and the medical examiner. The ability to remove the deputy makes the position one of employment and not a public office.
Therefore, a constable would be prohibited from serving as a deputy medical examiner investigator for the county he serves as constable by the above cited Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a).
As stated in the attached opinions, "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