Mississippi Advisory Opinions August 11, 1994: AGO 94-0433 (August 11, 1994)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mr. Leroy Brooks

Supervisor District Five

Lowndes County

P. O. Box 1364

Columbus, MS 39703-1364

Re: County Road Manager

Dear Mr. Brooks:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your request for an opinion and has assigned it to me for research and reply. Your letter asks:

In view of Section 10 of 65-15-1, if the road manager submits a list of eligible candidates for a position, is the board prohibited from superseding the recommendation of the road manager and hiring any candidate on the list?

In response, the code section that you are referring to is Section 65-17-1. Subsection (9) states in pertinent part that “The county road manager shall employ, subject to approval of the board of supervisors, such assistants and employees as may be necessary . . .”. Subsection (10) states that “The board of supervisors may, by majority vote of the entire board, supersede any act of the road manager or change, modify or revoke any act which has been completed by the road manager, provided the change, modification or revocation does not constitute a breach of contract.”

Our position remains that the county road manager has authority to recommend an individual to be appointed as his assistant, whose employment is subject to approval by the board of supervisors. If the board, by majority vote, does not approve the individual chosen by the road manager, then the appointment fails and the person is not employed. The county road manager may then recommend another individual, subject to the same approval. See the attached opinions to Norton and Colson.

Very truly yours,

Mike Moore, Attorney General.

Mike Lanford, Special Assistant Attorney General.