Could an Evangeline Parish police juror also direct the parish solid waste district?

Plain-English summary

In 2015, the Louisiana Attorney General considered whether an Evangeline Parish police juror could apply for the executive director job at the parish's solid waste disposal district. Applying the dual-officeholding rules, the AG treated the police juror as a part-time elected official and the director as a full-time employee of a separate political subdivision. It said applying alone did not trigger the rules for holding two positions. Under the stated hiring and funding facts, the juror could also accept the job while remaining on the police jury. The opinion did not decide whether the government ethics code allowed the arrangement.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2015. 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

Q: Did applying for the waste district job violate the dual-officeholding law? A: The AG said no. The applicant had not yet held both positions, and the statute addressed positions held at the same time.

Q: Could the juror keep the parish seat after accepting the executive director job? A: The AG said yes on the supplied facts. The director was employed by a separate district, and the opinion found no incompatible offices under the appointment and funding provisions it analyzed.

Q: Who hired the district's executive director?
A: The opinion said the district commission, whose members the parish governing authority appointed, had sole authority to employ district staff. The police jury did not itself hire the director.

Q: Did parish payments to the district make the jobs incompatible? A: The opinion said the district was funded by a parish-wide sales tax rather than police-jury funds. It also said the police jury's payment for a dumpster rental at a park did not violate the incompatible-offices provision it discussed.

Q: Did the AG decide the ethics-code question?
A: No. It expressly left ethics questions to the Louisiana State Board of Ethics.

Background and statutory framework

The AG read La. R.S. 42:63(D) to allow an elected official to work for a separate political subdivision in these circumstances. It also considered the incompatible-offices rule in La. R.S. 42:64, including the appointment and funding relationships between the police jury and district. Its answer depended on the specific authority of the district commission and the funding facts supplied in the request.

Citations and references

• La. R.S. 42:63(D), simultaneous elected office and public employment.
• La. R.S. 42:64(6), incompatible positions involving transferred or deposited funds.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/14-0206

Original opinion text

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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. BOX 9400S
BATON ROUGE
70804·9005
JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
"TIORNEY GENERAL

April 28, 2015
OPINION 14-0206

78 Dual Officeholding
Mr. Kevin Veillon
Police Jury
La. RS. 42:61 ef seq.

Evangeline Parish
The provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law
1047 Family Drive
do notprohibit a member of the Evangeline Parish Police Jury from
applying for the position of Executive Director for Evangeline Parish
Ville Platte, LA 70586
Solid Waste Disposal District.

Dear Mr. Veillon:

Our office received your request for an opinion regarding whether you as a member of the Evangeline Parish Police Jury ("Police Jury") are prohibited from applying for the position of Executive Director for the Evangeline Parish Solid Waste Disposal District ("District").

The provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Employment Law, found at La. RS. 42:61 et seq., govern questions concerning the ability to hold two or more public offices and/or positions simultaneously. Classifying the correct nature of the positions held is essential for the purposes of applying the dual officeholding provisions.

Evangeline Parish operates under a police jury form of government. The Police Jury is the governing authority of Evangeline Parish. A member of the Police Jury holds a "part time" "elective office" for the purposes of the dual officeholding laws.'

The District was created in 1984 as a political subdivision of the State. 2 The members of the Evangeline Parish Solid Waste Disposal Commission ("Commission") are appointed by the governing authority of the Parish of Evangeline. The Commission has the authority to employ necessary personnel, including an Executive Director. The

I "Part time" means the period of time which a person normally works or is expected to work in an
appointive office or employment which is less than the number of hours of work defined in this Section as full time. La. R.S. 42:62(5). "Elective office" means any position which is established or authorized by the constitution or laws of this state or by the charter or ordinances of any political subdivision thereof, which is not a political party office, and which is filled by vote of the citizens for this state or of a political subdivision thereof. La. R.S. 42:62(1).
, 1984 La. Acts No. 710.

Page 2

OPINION 14-0206
Ms. Kevin Veillon
Page 2

position of Executive Director for the District is classified as "full time" "employment" for purposes of the dual officeholding laws.3

The Police Jury and the District are considered separate political subdivisions of the state for the purposes of the dual officeholding laws."

The mast applicable provision of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law is La. R.S. 42:63(D), which provides in pertinent part:

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....

La. R.S. 42:63(D) generally does not prohibit the simultaneously holding of an elected office and employment in different political subdivisions. However, our office directs your attention to La. R.S. 42:64 which prohibits the holding of "incompatible offices." In particular, La. R.S. 42:64(A)(1! and La. R.S. 42:64(A)(6) provide as follows:

(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, except that local governmental subdivisions may appoint members of the governing body to boards and commissions created by them and aver which they exercise general powers as provided in Article VI, Section 15 of the Constitution of Louisiana....

(6) Funds received by one office or employment are deposited with or turned over to the other office or position.

3 "Full time" means the period of time which a person normally works or is expected to work in an appointive office or employment and which is at least seven hours per day of work and at least thirty-five hours per week of work. La. RS. 42:62(4). "Employment" means any job compensated on a salary or per diem basis, other than an elective or appointive office. in which a person is an employee of the state
~overnment or of a political subdivision. La. RS. 42:62(3).
"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. La. RS. 42:62(9).

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OPINION 14-0206
Ms. Kevin Veillon
Page 3

The Commission, not the Police Jury, has the sole authority to employ necessary personnel for the District including the position of Executive Director. The Commission may employ a member of the Police Jury in the position of Executive Director without violating the "incompatible offices" provision of La. R.S. 42:64(1).

In similar factual situations, this office opined that the offices are considered "incompatible offices" if one office transfers, allocates, donates or approves substantial funds to the other office or directs the expenditure of the funds to the other office. See La. Atty. Gen. Op. Nos. 05-0129,99-0029 and 92-0185.

According to the information provided to this office, the District does not receive any funds from the Police Jury and the operations of the District are funded by a 1% parish wide sales tax. The Police Jury pays the District for the rental of a dumpster at Crooked Creek Recreational Park. However, this payment does not violate the "incompatible offices" provision of La. R.S. 42:64(6).

Based on the applicable provisions of law, our prior opinions and the information you have provided, it is the opinion of this office that a member of the Police Jury is not prohibited from applying for the position of the Executive Director for the District as these offices are not incompatible offices pursuant to La. R.S. 42:64(6).

According to the information in your request, the member of the Police Jury is only "applying" for the position of Executive Director of the District and therefore is not currently holding both positions at the same time. The Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Laws, La. R.S. 42:61 et seq., are applicable only when both public positions are held simultaneously. See La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 14-0086. In the event that a member of the Police Jury is offered the position of Executive Director for the District, he may remain on the Police Jury and accept the offer of employment.

Please note that our expressed opinion relative to state law is limited to an examination of the dual officeholding provisions. Further, it does not address the potential applicability of the provisions of the Louisiana Code of Governmental Ethics, La. R.S. 42: 1111, et seq. Advisory rulings addressing questions under the Ethics Code are within the jurisdiction of the. Louisiana State Board of Ethics. The Board may be contacted at the following address: P.O. Box 4368, Baton Rouge, LA 70821, phone: 225-219-5600.

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OPINION 14·0206
Ms. Kevin Veillon
Page 4

We hope that this opinion adequately addresses the legal issues you have raised. If our office can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
ATIORNEY GENERAL
•

BY: ~~{ £) QC6J'~
Made me S. Carbonette
Assistant Attorney General

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