STATE OF MICHIGAN

FRANK J. KELLEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Opinion No. 6784

January 24, 1994

INCOMPATIBILITY:

Same person serving as county administrator and city council member and participating in contract negotiations between the county and the city

An individual may not simultaneously serve as a county administrator and as a city council member and participate in contract negotiations between the county and the city.

Honorable Beverly A. Bodem

State Representative

The Capitol

Lansing, Michigan 48913

You have asked whether an individual may simultaneously serve as a county administrator and as a city council member and participate in contract negotiations between the county and city.

The incompatibility of public offices is governed by 1978 PA 566, MCL 15.181 et seq; MSA 15.1120(121) et seq, which prohibits one person from simultaneously holding two or more incompatible public positions. Incompatibility includes a conflict of duties which results when two public positions occupied by the same person are on opposite sides of contract negotiations or the approval of a contract. Abstaining from voting on the contract is itself a breach of duty and only the vacating of one position will remedy the conflict. Contesti v Attorney General, 164 MichApp 271, 280-281; 416 NW2d 410 (1987), lv den 430 Mich 893 (1988); Wayne County Prosecutor v Kinney, 184 MichApp 681, 684-685; 458 NW2d 674, lv den 436 Mich 887 (1990); OAG, 1979-1980, No 5626, p 537, 545 (January 16, 1980).

It is my opinion, therefore, that an individual may not simultaneously serve as a county administrator and as a city council member and participate in contract negotiations between the county and the city.

Frank J. Kelley

Attorney General