This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The opinion is based solely on the facts and circumstances stated in the requestor's letter and was approved by the Commission on February 8, 1996.

May an ambulance service which has employed or taken as a partner the county coroner contract with that county when there are two or fewer available sources located within the county?

    The Mississippi Ethics Commission is restricted 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, Mississippi laws outside the jurisdiction of the Commission and internal rules and regulations of the local governmental entity are not addressed by this opinion.

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

Code Section 25-4-103 (g)(i), (h) and (p)(i)(ii)(iii) states:

"(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."

Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a) and (4)(d) 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:

(d) May be a contractor, subcontractor or vendor with any authority of the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent or have a material financial interest in a business which is a contractor, subcontractor or vendor with any authority of the governmental entity of which he is a member, officer, employee or agent: (i) where such goods or services involved are reasonably available from two (2) or fewer commercial sources, provided such transactions comply with the public purchases laws; or (ii) where the contractual relationship involves the further research, development, testing, promotion or merchandising of an intellectual property created by the public servant."

    Based solely on the facts and circumstances presented in the requestor's letter, the Commission's opinion is that the county coroner's employment by or partnership in the ambulance service contracting with the county is prohibited by the above cited Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a), even though there are only two or fewer available ambulance services within the county.

    The exception set forth in the above cited Code Section 25-4-105(4)(d)(i) does not limit a good or service "reasonably available from two (2) or fewer commercial sources" to a specific geographical area such as a county. An ambulance service in an adjourning county or an ambulance service willing to locate in the county clearly would be a reasonably available commercial source.
 
 

Ronald E. Crowe Executive Director