Opinion 05-091-E.
Case Date | September 09, 2005 |
Court | Mississippi |
Mississippi Ethics Opinions
2005.
Opinion 05-091-E.
OFFICIAL ADVISORY OPINION NO.
05-091-ESeptember 9,
2005This Advisory Opinion concerns the
following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a
requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on September 9, 2005, basing
its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.May a municipality have as its
depository a bank that employs the mayor's spouse as a vice-president when the
bank is the only one located within the municipality?State law restricts the Mississippi Ethics Commission to
interpreting and issuing opinions on Sections 25-4-101 through 25-4-119, 1972
Mississippi Code Annotated and Article IV, Section 109, Mississippi
Constitution of 1890. Therefore, this opinion does not address the Mississippi
laws outside the Commission's jurisdiction nor the governmental entity's
internal rules and regulations.
The pertinent conflict of interest laws to be considered here
are:
Constitutional Section 109 states:
"No public officer or member of the legislature shall be
interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with the state, or any
district, county, city, or town thereof, authorized by any law passed or order
made by any board of which he may be or may have been a member, during the term
for which he shall have been chosen, or within one year after the expiration of
such term."
Code Section 25-4-103(c), (d), (f)(i)(ii), (h),
(k)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv), (l), (p)(i)(ii)(iii) and (q) states:
"(c) `Business' means any corporation, partnership, sole
proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, holding
company, self-employed individual, joint stock company, receivership, trust or
other legal entity or undertaking organized for economic gain, a nonprofit
corporation or other such entity, association or organization receiving public
funds.
(d) `Business with which he is associated' means any business of
which a public servant or his relative is an officer, director, owner, partner,
employee or is a holder of more than ten percent (10%) of the fair market value
or from which he or his relative derives more than One Thousand Dollars
($1,000.00) in annual income or over which such public servant or his relative
exercises control.
(f) `Contract' means:
(i) Any agreement to which the government is a party; or
(ii) Any...
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