Could a Caddo Parish waterworks employee also serve on the parish commission?

Plain-English summary

A full-time Caddo Parish Water Works District No. 7 employee asked whether he could keep that job if elected to the parish commission. The AG said no. It first found that the parish and special waterworks district were separate political subdivisions, so the same-subdivision employment bar in LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) did not decide the question. A different rule did: LSA-R.S. 42:64 barred combinations where one position had power to appoint or remove the holder of the other.

The AG pointed to LSA-R.S. 33:3811, which gave the parish governing authority power to abolish a waterworks district. Because the parish commission could disband the applicant's employer, it concluded that the commission seat and district employment could not be held together. The opinion applied that incompatibility rule to the proposed combination; it did not identify a way to cure it while retaining both roles.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2006. 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.

Common questions

Could the district employee keep his job if elected to the Caddo Parish Commission?

The AG said no. The parish governing body could abolish the district that employed him, bringing the roles within the incompatible-offices provision it applied.

Why did the AG say the ordinary same-subdivision restriction did not apply?

It treated the parish and the waterworks district as separate political subdivisions under LSA-R.S. 42:62(9). That defeated the particular LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) bar based on employment in the same subdivision.

What other rule made the roles incompatible?

LSA-R.S. 42:64 covered combinations in which the holder of one office or employment had power to appoint or remove the holder of the other. The opinion relied on the commission's statutory authority to abolish the waterworks district.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion applied Louisiana's dual-officeholding law to a waterworks employee seeking a parish commission seat. LSA-R.S. 42:62(9) defined political subdivisions, including special districts. LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) addressed simultaneous local elected office and employment in the same subdivision. LSA-R.S. 42:64 separately prohibited incompatible roles, and LSA-R.S. 33:3811 supplied the parish power over waterworks districts that made the proposed combination impermissible.

Citations

• LSA-R.S. 42:62(9) (political-subdivision definition).
• LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) (same-subdivision employment restriction).
• LSA-R.S. 42:64 (incompatible offices and employment).
• LSA-R.S. 33:3811 (parish authority concerning waterworks districts).

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/06-0031

Original opinion text

April 20, 2006
OPINION 06-0031

Mr. Roger Brantley
78 OFFICERS-Dual officeholding
Water Works District #7
LSA-R.S. 42:64
Elected parish commissioner may not also hold full time
6836 Colquitt Road
employment with the water works district.
Keithville, LA 71047

Dear Mr. Brantley:

Your opinion request of recent date prompts our review of the Louisiana Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law, LSA-R.S. 42:61, et seq., as applied to your factual circumstances. You state that you are presently employed on a full time basis by the Caddo Parish Water Works District #7, and you desire to seek the local elective office of Caddo Parish Commissioner with the parish governing authority. You ask whether the law permits you to hold both positions, if you are elected.

LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) provides as follows:

(D) No person holding an elective office in a political subdivision of this state shall at the same time hold another elective office or full-time appointive office in the government of this state or in the government of a political subdivision thereof. No such person shall hold at the same time employment in the government of this state, or in the same political subdivision in which he holds an elective office. In addition no sheriff, assessor, or clerk of court shall hold any office or employment under a parish governing authority or school board, nor shall any member of any parish governing authority or school board hold any office or employment with any sheriff, assessor, or clerk of court. (Emphasis added).

LSA-R.S. 42:62(9) further provides:

(9) "Political subdivision" means a parish, municipality, and any other unit of local government, including a school board and a special district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions. In addition for the purposes of this Part, mayor's courts, justice of the peace courts, district attorneys, sheriffs, clerks of court, coroners, tax assessors, registrars of voters, and all other elected parochial officials shall be separate political subdivisions.
(Emphasis added).

Since the parish and the waterworks district, as a special district, are statutorily defined as

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Mr. Roger Brantley
Opinion 06-0031
Page 2

separate political subdivisions, the prohibitions of LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) are inapplicable.

However, LSA-R.S. 42:64 providing for the holding of incompatible offices states, in pertinent part:

§64. Incompatible offices

A. In addition to the prohibitions otherwise provided in this Part, no other offices or employments shall be held by the same person in combination if any of the following conditions are found to pertain and these prohibitions shall exist whether or not the person affected by the prohibition exercises power in conjunction with other officers:

(1) The incumbent of one of the offices, whether or not in conjunction with fellow officers, or employment has the power to appoint or remove the incumbent of the other.....

The authority of a parish to create a waterworks district is found at LSA-R.S. 33:3811, et seq. providing the following, in pertinent part:

§3811. Division of parish into waterworks districts

Police juries may divide their respective parishes into one or more waterworks districts, with such name or number as the police jury may designate. The police jury may repeal any ordinance creating a waterworks district, or may abolish a waterworks district in its entirety or may change or alter the boundaries thereof…

Because LSA-R.S. 33:3811 allocates the authority to disband the waterworks district, of which you are an employee, to the parish governing authority, (here, the Caddo Parish Commission) the prohibitory language of LSA-R.S. 42:64 becomes applicable. Unfortunately, we conclude that you may not legally hold both positions simultaneously.

Very truly yours,

CHARLES C. FOTI, JR.
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: _______ KERRY L. KILPATRICK
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
KLK:ams

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Mr. Roger Brantley
Opinion 06-0031
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OPINION 06-0031

78 OFFICERS-Dual officeholding

LSA-R.S. 42:64

Elected parish commissioner may not also hold full time employment with the water works district.

Mr. Roger Brantley
Water Works District #7
6836 Colquitt Road
Keithville, LA 71047

Date Received:
Date Released: April 20, 2006

KERRY L. KILPATRICK
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL