Mississippi Advisory Opinions March 11, 1987: 19870311 (March 11, 1987)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mr. S.E. Allen, Jr.

Post Office Box 208

Hazlehurst, Mississippi 39083

Dear Mr. Allen:

Attorney General Edwin Lloyd Pittman has received your request for an official opinion from this office and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

As attorney for the Board of Trustees of the Hazlehurst Municipal Separate School District you request an opinion relative to the election of trustees coming from the added territory outside the corporate limits. Because of the length of your inquiry, a copy is attached hereto and made a part of this opinion as if copied herein.

In regard to your first question, you state that no one qualified to be a candidate for the office of trustee pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 37-7-211 (Cum.Supp.1986). Therefore under Miss.Code Ann. § 25-1-7 (Cum.Supp.1986) the present member in office would hold over until the first Saturday of March 1988 at which time a special election would be held to fill the vacancy.

In response to your second question, Miss.Code Ann. § 37-7-203 (Cum.Supp.1986) states:

... that in the case of trustees coming from the added territory outside the corporate limits, the person so appointed shall serve only until the first Saturday of March following his appointment, at which time a person shall be elected for the remainder of the unexpired term ...

Furthermore, if the required election is not held at that time, under the specific requirements of Miss.Code Ann. § 25-1-7 (Cum.Supp.1986) the appointed position would be vacated and should be filled as required by statute. Of course the same or another person could be appointed.

Very truly yours,

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Attorney General.

Frankie Walton White, Assistant Attorney General.