Mississippi Advisory Opinions August 03, 1990: AGO 000010490 (August 3, 1990)

AGO 000010490.

Dear Mr. Clements:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

Your letter states:

"As acting attorney for the board of Supervisors of Issaquena County, Mississippi, in the absence of my father who is ill, I have been directed to seek an opinion from your office concerning the following:

Under Mississippi Law, including, but not limited to 19-3-40, Mississippi code of 1972, as amended, does the County Board of Supervisors have the authority to place on the ballot of a regularly scheduled and required General Election, a non-binding referendum on the question of the locating or exclusion of a hazardous waste treatment/disposal facility?"

In response to your inquiry please see the enclosed copy of an opinion addressed to Honorable Walter Brown, dated October 16, 1989. In summary that opinion states that the municipal home rule statute ( 21-17-5) provides sufficient flexibility and authority to conduct a non-binding election to determine the will of the electorate with respect to an issue falling within the city's jurisdiction and on which the legislature is silent as to methods of determining the will of the electorate, provided the governing authorities determine that the appropriation of public monies for such purposes is in the city's best interest.

Since the county home rule statute ( 19-3-40) is identical to the municipal home rule statute insofar as the practice and procedures for elections are concerned, our opinion as stated in Brown would be applicable to counties.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: Phil Carter Special Assistant Attorney General

PC:mfd Enclosure