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 as stated below and was approved by the Commission on January 5, 1996.

May a county coroner contract with his father-in-law to remove and transport bodies?

    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 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), (1), (p)(i)(ii)(iii) and (q) states:

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

(i) Counties.

(1) 'Pecuniary benefit' means benefit in the form of money, property, commercial interests or anything else the primary significance of which is economic gain. Expenses associated with social occasions afforded public servants shall not be deemed a pecuniary benefit.

(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.

(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.

This is in regards to the transportation of coroner cases to Jackson for post, and also the removal at the scenes. Currently the County Fire Dept. (volunteer fire dept.) is transporting the cases and are being paid overtime by the county. I believe that this is the responsibility of the coroner's office. I believe I can have more control over the service since it is mine to manage. I am requesting that the county board allow me to take this over and pay $40.00 for a local removal and an $80.00 fee if case has to be taken to Jackson for post. I will continue to use the volunteer fireman that want to make some of the trips. The opinion I am asking of you my father-in-law, who is very financially stable, is one I would also like to use to make removals and transport to Jackson. I will submit their fees with mine and I will pay them out of my coroner's checking account.

    The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinions No. 92-001-E and No. 92-024-E in response to this request and by attachment incorporates them into this opinion.

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

    The requestor is prohibited by Code Section 25-4-105(1), cited above, from taking any action in his official position as coroner which would result in a pecuniary benefit for a relative. [Emphasis added]

    However, Advisory Opinion No. 92-00l-E, attached hereto, clearly notes that a father-in- law and a mother-in-law are not designated as relatives within the definition set forth in the Ethics in Government laws.

    Therefore, the requestor, as coroner, may contract with his father-in-law to remove or transport bodies.
 
 
 

Ronald E. Crowe Executive Director