Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 17, 1990: AGO 000007507 (July 17, 1990)

AGO 000007507.

Dear Ms. Mercer:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. Your letter presents four (4) questions regarding municipal election commissioners. We will repeat each question and respond in sequence.

QUESTION NO. 1: "Does Section 23-15-153 apply to municipalities? Are the commissioners required to meet every Tuesday after the second Monday in January and on the second Monday of September preceding the general election or regular special election day?" RESPONSE: Mississippi Code Annotated upon 23-15-221 (Special Pamphlet, 1989) provides in part:

"The governing authorities of municipalities..... shall appoint ... election commissioners ... and all of whom shall perform all the duties in respect to the municipal election prescribed by law to be performed by the county election commissioners where not otherwise provided."

Section 23-15-153 requires county election commissioners to meet on the dates stated in your letter as well as certain other dates. We find no specific statutory provisions setting forth the dates that municipal election commissioners must meet.

Therefore, it is our opinion that municipal election commissioners are required to meet on the schedule set forth in section 23-15-153.

QUESTION NO. 2: "Is the ` ... not to exceed ten (10) days ... prior to any special election' reference in Section 23-15-153 (3) also implied to relate to general elections?"

RESPONSE: No.

QUESTION NO. 3: "Can the commissioners take it upon themselves to meet three (3) hours one day and maybe one (1) hour another day for a period of ten (10) days and the municipality still be required to pay the $50.00 per diem?"

RESPONSE: We find no statutory requirement that municipal election commissioners be paid $50.00 per diem as is provided for county election commissioners. It is our opinion that municipal election commissioners are municipal officers whose compensation is to be set by the municipal governing authorities at a level deemed appropriate for the work the commissioners are required to do.

QUESTION NO. 4: "Can the Council take an official action that would require the commissioners to meet a maximum number hours per day to revise the registration books and pollbooks?"

RESPONSE: As indicated in our response to Question No. 3, it is our opinion that the municipal governing authorities set the compensation of municipal election commissioners. If the compensation established by the municipal governing authorities is based on days worked and if the governing authorities deem it appropriate to require commissioners to work a certain number of hours in order to constitute a "day" for pay purposes, it is our opinion that said authorities may do so.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: Phil Carter Special Assistant Attorney General