The following opinion is presented on-line for informational use only and does not replace the official version. (Mich Dept of Attorney General Web Site - www.ag.state.mi.us) STATE OF MICHIGAN FRANK J. KELLEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL Opinion No. 6816 September 8, 1994 INCOMPATIBILITY: Lincoln Park city councilperson and administrative assistant to a Wayne County Commissioner The public positions of Lincoln Park city councilperson and administrative assistant to a Wayne County Commissioner are compatible and may be held simultaneously by the same person. Honorable Robert A. DeMars State Representative The Capitol Lansing, MI You have asked if the public positions of Lincoln Park city councilperson and administrative assistant to a Wayne County commissioner are compatible and may be held simultaneously by the same person. 1978 PA 566, MCL 15.181 et seq; MSA 15.1120(121) et seq (the Act), prohibits the holding of incompatible public positions and sets forth the criteria by which incompatibility is to be determined. Under section 1(b) of the Act, incompatible offices are defined as follows: "Incompatible offices" means public offices held by a public official which, when the official is performing the duties of any of the public offices held by the official, results in any of the following with respect to those offices held: (i) The subordination of 1 public office to another. (ii) The supervision of 1 public office by another. (iii) A breach of duty of public office. Section 2 of the Act prohibits public officers and public employees from holding incompatible public offices. The Legislature did not define the terms subordination and supervision in the Act. Thus, it is presumed that their commonly understood meanings were intended. OAG, 1979-1980, No 5626, p 537, 541-542 (January 16, 1980). Here, the public positions of Lincoln Park city councilperson and administrative assistant to a Wayne County Commissioner do not involve subordinate or supervisory relationships. The Legislature has not defined the term breach of duty. Examples of a breach of duty include representing two local units of government that are competing with each other for allocated millage or that contract with each other. In those situations, abstention from voting is, itself, a breach of duty. Contesti v Attorney General, 164 Mich App 271, 280-282; 416 NW2d 410 (1987), lv den 430 Mich 893 (1988). Here, the two local units of government do not compete with each other for allocated millage. In addition, a review of the position description submitted with the opinion request, for the position of administrative assistant to a Wayne County Commissioner, reveals that a person occupying that public position is not involved in negotiating or voting on contracts entered into by the Wayne County Board of Commissioners. It is my opinion, therefore, that the public positions of Lincoln Park city councilperson and administrative assistant to a Wayne County Commissioner are compatible and may be held simultaneously by the same person. Frank J. Kelley Attorney General