Mississippi Advisory Opinions September 16, 1992: AGO 000005045 (September 16, 1992)

AGO 000005045.

Dear Mr. Hicks:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your recent letter on behalf of the City Council of Columbus and has asked me to respond. Your letter states:

One of the City Councilmembers has an uncle by marriage that the Columbus City Council would like to appoint to the Columbus Municipal Elections Commission. We would appreciate your opinion on whether this appointment is in violation of Section 25-1-53 of the Mississippi Code or any of the other nepotism statutes or laws.

Miss. Code Ann. Section 25-1-53, our nepotism statute, prohibits governing authorities from appointing a person who is related to any of the governing authorities by blood or marriage within the third degree to one of five specific positions, stating in part:

It shall be unlawful for any person elected, appointed or selected in any manner whatsoever to any state, county, district or municipal office, or for any board of trustees of any state institution to appoint or employ, as an officer, clerk, stenographer, deputy or assistant who is to be paid out of the public funds, any person related by blood or marriage within the third degree, computed by the rule of the civil law, to the person or any member of the board of trustees having the authority to make such appointment, or contract such employment as employer.

A municipal officer is one of the five positions covered by the nepotism statute. We reaffirm our attached opinion to Henry Davis, dated September 26, 1977, which states that municipal election commissioners are officers whose functions are similar to those of county election commissioners and whose terms of office are for four years, running with the terms of the governing authorities. While the statute upon which this opinion was based has been repealed, Section 23-15-221 (Supp. 1992)(attached), provides for the appointment of municipal election commissioners according to the population of the municipality. An uncle of a councilmember is a relative within the third degree according to the rule of civil law, and the nepotism statute applies to relatives by marriage as well as by blood. Therefore, the nepotism statute prohibits the Columbus city council from appointing to the Columbus Municipal Elections Commission an uncle by marriage of one of the councilmembers.

If we may be of any further assistance, please let us know.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: Alice D. Wise Special Assistant Attorney General ADW:sm