Could an assistant district attorney sit on Lafayette's fire and police civil service board, and could the city limit members' terms?

Plain-English summary

Lafayette's city-parish attorney asked who could serve on its Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board and whether the municipality could limit members' terms. In Opinion 03-0349, the AG gave two answers. An assistant district attorney could not serve because R.S. 33:2476 barred board members from holding other public employment, subject to listed exceptions. The municipality could not impose term limits by ordinance because the statute fixed a three-year term and contained no restriction on the number of terms.

The PDF includes a copy of older Opinion 87-165, which the AG cited for its similar conclusion on term limits for a fire protection district board.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

Prospective board member

The AG classified an assistant district attorney's job as public employment and applied R.S. 33:2476(B)(c)(i)'s bar on simultaneous civil service board membership.

Municipality making appointments

R.S. 33:2476(D) set a three-year board term. The AG found no statutory limit on repeat terms and said a city ordinance imposing one would conflict with the statute. This did not require the appointing body to reappoint a particular member when a term expired.

Common questions

Could an assistant district attorney serve on this board at the same time?

No. The AG said that public employment fell within the statute's restriction.

Could Lafayette enact a maximum number of board terms?

The AG said no. The statute set the term length but did not limit reappointment, so a new ordinance restriction would conflict with it.

Did the opinion say an incumbent must be reappointed?

No. The attached older opinion distinguished eligibility for reappointment from a governing body's choice whether to reappoint someone at the end of a term.

Background and statutory framework

R.S. 33:2476(B)(c)(i) restricted other public employment by civil service board members. R.S. 33:2476(D) fixed their terms at three years. The AG relied on the absence of a statutory reappointment limit and cited attached Opinion 87-165 as an earlier example involving a different board.

Citations and references

• R.S. 33:2476(B)(c)(i): incompatible public employment.
• R.S. 33:2476(D): board term length.
• R.S. 33:2476: statutory scheme that a local term-limit ordinance would conflict with.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0349

Original opinion text

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One American Place
301 Main Street, Suite 600
CIVIL DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
FAX: (225) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
ATTORNEY GENERAL

October 10, 2003
OPINION 03-0349

       Mr. Steven J. Dupuis                         71         Municipalities

77 Officers
City-Parish Attorney
R.S. 33:2476 (B)(c)(i); R.S. 33:2476(B)(1)(a); R.S.
Lafayette Consolidated Government
33:2476(D); R.S. 33:2476
P. O. Drawer
Municipality may not place term limitations upon appointees to
local civil service board.
Lafayette, LA 70502-4425

Dear Mr. Dupuis:

In response to your recent inquiry, an assistant district attorney may not serve as a member of the Lafayette Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board. R.S.
33:2476(B)(c)(i) states:

(c)(i). No member of a board shall be a candidate for nomination or election to any public office or hold any other public office or position of public employment, except that of notary public, a military or naval official office, or that of a municipal fire or police department which is expressly required by the provisions of this Part.

An assistant district attorney holds public employment, and the language of R.S.
33:2476 (B)(c)(i) quoted above prohibits such individual from concurrently holding board membership.

In response to your second question regarding the legality of the municipality imposing term limits on board membership, note the eligibility requirements of R.S.
33:2476(B)(1 )(a) provide as follows:

B. (1)(a) To be eligible for appointment or to serve as a member of a board, a person shall be a citizen of the United States of American, a resident of the municipality in which he is to serve for at least five years next preceding his appointment, and, at the time of his appointment, shall be a qualified voter of the municipality.

The term of office for all board members "shall be for a period of three years." See R.S.
33:2476(D). There are no statutory restrictions placed on the number of terms a board member may serve. It is our opinion that term limitations imposed by ordinance would

Page 2

Mr. Steven J. Dupuis
OPINION 03-0349
Page 2

conflict with R.S. 33:2476. We have previously made this determination in Attorney General Opinion 87-165, copy attached.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:

AS~,STANT ATTORNEY GENEP,AL
KLK:ams

Page 3

~ai~ of ~o~ieiana
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

WILLIAM J. GUST£,JR.

708,04

May ii, 1987
ION NUMBER 87-165

~~
71 ..... Municipali~ies
Mr. Harry B. Garland
77 ..... Of£ice[a
Attorney At Law
LSA-R.S. 40:1496. 42:3
Post Office Box 61
Appoin~men~ of members o£ ~he Boazd
Opelousas, Louisiana 70570 Dis~[ic~ No. 2 of S~. Land[y Palish.

Dear Mr. Garland:
You requested an opinion from this office concerning
the appointment of members of the board of commissioners for Fire Protection District No. 2 of St. Landry Parish. You stated that the governing authority for the Town of Port Barre recently voted to limit the number of terms that appointees of the municipality could serve as members on the board and voted further to prohibit the reappointment of those presently serving as municipal appointees for the next four years. You also stated that the governing authority appointed two individuals to take office as board members at the expiration of the terms of those board members presently serving on the board. You asked for an opinion on the propriety and legality of the actions of the Board of Aldermen.
LSA-R.S. 40:1496 provides for appointment of members of the board of commissioners for Fire Protection Districts. It provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
A. The board of commissioners shall consist of five members.
B. In the case of a district comprising all or part of a single parish, members shall be appointed as follows:

(2) In the case where one municipality is included within the boundaries of a district lying within a single parish:

Page 4

Mr. Harry B. Garland
OPINION NUMBER 87-165
May ii, 1987
Page 2

(a) Two members shall be appointed by the parish governing authority.
(b) Two members shall be appointed by the governing authority of the municipality; and
(c) One shall be selected by the other four members and shall serve as chairman of the board.

D. Each member of the board shall be a resident property taxpayer of the district.
E. Two of the initial members of the board shall hold office until one year from the January first immediately succeeding their appointment and three members shall hold office until two years from the January first immediately succeeding their appointment the respective terms to be determined by lot. Thereafter, each member appointed shall serve for a term of two years. Members are eligible for reappointment. If a vacancy occurs, it shall be filled for the unexpired term by the body originally making the appointment so vacated.
The town of Port Barre is the only incorporated municipality in Fire Protection District No. 2 of St. Landry Parish and therefore has the power to appoint two individuals to serve on the board of commissioners for the fire protection district. Each member shall serve for a term of two years and is eligible for reappointment at the end of his term. Qualification and eligibility of the appointed members has been outlined by the quoted provision. The only required qualification is that the board appointee be a resident property taxpayer of the district. There are no restrictions placed on eligibility for reappointment nor are there any restrictions placed on the number of terms a board member may serve.

Page 5

Mr. Harry B. Garland
OPINION NUMBER 87-165
May 11, 1987
Page 3

In accordance therewith, it is the opinion of this office that the governing authority for the Town of Barre cannot limit or restrict the number of terms an individual can be reappointed to serve as a member of the board of commissioners for the fire protection district. While as a practical matter, the board may refuse to reappoint members to successive terms when their terms expire, they cannot hold them ineligible to serve based on the number of terms they have already served on the board. Such an action would place a restriction on eligibility for reappointment of board members and therefore come into direct conflict with LSA-R.S. 40:1496, which places no restriction on eligibility for reappointment of board members.
LSA-R.S. 42:3" addresses the limitation of terms of employees elected by boards. It provides:
The term of office of ill employees or officials elected by any state, district, parochial or municipal board shall not be for a longer period of time than the term of office of membership of the board electing them so that each respective board shall elect its own officers and employees. This Section does not apply to the officers or employees of any board governed by a civil service law of this state or of any parish or municipality thereof.
This provision basically prohibits the appointment by municipal boards of officers whose terms of office exceed the term of office of the board making the appointment; its stated purpose being that of allowing each appointing board the privilege of appointing its own officers and employees. Thus, in that the two year term of those board members appointed to take office in 1989 will probably exceed the term of the present board appointing them, the appointments are probably improper.

Page 6

Mr. Harry B. Garland
OPINION NUMBER 87-165
May ii, 1987
Page 4

It is hoped that this opinion has been of some assistance to you. If we may be of any further assistance, please feel free to contact us.
Sincerely,
WILLIAM J. GUSTE, JR.
Attorney General j
/

Cassandra A. Simms
Assistant Attorney General
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