This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issues as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on April 6, 2001, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.

ISSUE 1. May a deputy sheriff serve as a deputy coroner when both positions are with the same county?

ISSUE 2. May an elected police chief serve as a deputy coroner in the county in which the municipality he serves is located?

ISSUE 3. May a police officer serve as a deputy coroner in the county in which the municipality that employs him is located?

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:

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), (g)(i)(ii), (h), (l) and (p)(i)(ii)(iii) states:

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

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

(i) Counties; and

(ii) Municipalities.

(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.

(l) '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."

Code Section 25-4-105(1) and (3)(a) 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.

(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."

Pertinent facts and circumstances provided by the requestor, absent identifying data, are set forth as follows and considered a part of this opinion.

I need an opinion about deputy coroners.

I. May a deputy of a sheriff department serve as a deputy coroner? This deputy is an auxiliary deputy that receives no compensation in money from the county. Should any sheriff deputy serve as a deputy coroner?

II. I now have a deputy coroner which is running for city police chief, if he is elected, may or should he still serve as a deputy on any cases outside the city in which he is elected.

III. May a regular police officer serve as a deputy coroner, if he can, should it be outside the city he serves as a police officer?

The Commission formally adopts Advisory Opinion No. 96-003-E, without attachments, in response to this request and by attachment incorporates it into this opinion.

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

ISSUE 1. In the attached advisory opinion, Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a), cited above, prohibited a coroner from serving as a deputy sheriff as both positions are within the same authority of the county government.

The situation presented by the requestor is not unlike the situation addressed in the attached advisory opinion in regard to the application of the prohibition imposed by Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a).

Therefore, Code Section 25-4-105(3)(a) will prohibit a deputy sheriff from simultaneously serving as a deputy coroner when both positions are with the same county.

This prohibition applies to both a compensated deputy sheriff and an uncompensated auxiliary deputy sheriff as an individual holding either position would be a public servant of the county as defined in the above cited Code Section 25-4-103(p)(i)(ii)(iii).

ISSUE 2. The state conflict of interest laws do not as such prohibit an officer or employee of one governmental entity from being employed by a totally separate governmental entity.

Therefore, an elected police chief would not as such be prohibited from serving as a deputy coroner.

Notwithstanding the above, Code Section 25-4-105(1), cited above, prohibits a public servant from using his official position to obtain a pecuniary benefit for himself.

Therefore, it is the Commissions position that the only way that the police chief could be certain to avoid a violation of Code Section 25-4-105(1) is to not perform the duties of deputy coroner within the boundaries of the city he serves as police chief.

This 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, an elected police chief being compensated to perform coroner duties within the boundaries of the city he is elected to serve is a circumstance that can be expected to create suspicion among the public and reflect unfavorably upon the city and county. Therefore, such a circumstance must be avoided in order to fully comply with the public policy mandate set forth in Code Section 25-4-101.

Notwithstanding the above, it is unclear to this Commission how a police chief could adequately and properly perform the duties statutorily required of him at all times and simultaneously perform the duties of a deputy coroner.

ISSUE 3. As stated above in ISSUE 2, the state conflict of interest laws do not as such prohibit an officer or employee of one governmental entity from being employed by a totally separate governmental entity.

Therefore, a city police officer would not as such be prohibited from serving as a deputy coroner.

Notwithstanding the above, Code Section 25-4-105(1), cited above, prohibits a public servant from using his official position to obtain a pecuniary benefit for himself.

Therefore, it is the Commission's position that the only way that the police officer could be certain to avoid a violation of Code Section 25-4-105(1) is to not perform the duties of deputy coroner within the boundaries of the city he serves as police chief.

Code Section 25-4-105(1) would absolutely prohibit a police officer from being compensated for performing deputy coroner duties during the same hours that he is on duty and being compensated by the city for performing his law enforcement duties.

As in ISSUE 2, this 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, a city police officer being compensated for performing coroner duties within the boundaries of the city that employs him is a circumstance that can be expected to create suspicion among the public and reflect unfavorably upon the city and county. Therefore, such a circumstance must be avoided in order to fully comply with the public policy mandate set forth in Code Section 25-4-101.
 

Ronald E. Crowe

Executive Director