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.
Pertinent facts and circumstances provided by the requestor, absent identifying data, are set forth as follows and considered part of this opinion.
The pertinent conflict of interest laws to be considered here are:
"No public officer or member of the legislature shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with the state, or any district, county, city or town thereof, authorized by any law passed or order made by any board of which he may be or may have been a member, during the term for which he shall have been chosen, or within one year after the expiration of such term.
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 25-4-105 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.
(2) No public servant shall be interested, directly or indirectly, during the term for which he shall have been chosen, or within one (1) year after the expiration of such term, in any contract with the state, or any district, county, city or town thereof, authorized by any law passed or order made by any board of which he may be or may have been a member."The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinion No. 89-122- E in response to this request and by attachment incorporates it into this opinion.
This Commission has consistently held that a mayor in a code charter form of government is a board member for purposes of the conflict of interest laws.
Based on the facts and circumstances presented by the requestor, the Commission's opinion is the mayor nay serve as an uncompensated member of the volunteer fire department.
As stated in the attached advisory opinion, the mayor is prohibited from being compensated by the municipality for serving as a volunteer fire-fighter by the above cited Constitutional Section 109 and Code Section 25-4-105 (1) and (2).
The requestor is cautioned to advise the mayor that while a recusal will prevent a violation of Code Section 25-4-105 (1), it will not prevent a violation of Constitutional Section 109 and Code Section 25-4-105 (2).
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 it is 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 and 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 and local government.
Ronald E. Crowe
Executive Director