McComb Selectman Tommy McKenzie believes the proposed amendment to the city’s nepotism policy is in violation of Mississippi Ethics Commission guidelines.
After hearing McKenzie’s concerns and talking with Mayor Quordiniah Lockley, City Administrator David Myers and talking with Human Resources Director Donjurea Davis, Board Attorney Marcus Williams recommended not amending the nepotism policy at Tuesday’s meeting.
The board followed Williams’ recommendation and he said he would return with a proposed amendment to the nepotism policy at a later date.
“We’re just revising the language to make sure that we’re covering our bases, make sure we’re following the statute,” he said. “That’s it. Nothing major wrong. We’re just trying to make sure we follow the statutes and the ethics laws in the state.”
McKenzie did not believe there was a good reason to amend the nepotism policy.
“I reviewed some ethics opinions from the Mississippi Ethics Commission and it appears that policy was violated,” he said. “It would violate the Ethics Commission’s opinions. No. 2 is I do not like the idea of kin folks supervising kin folks. It’s a recipe for disaster that will result in more city lawsuits.
“The policy needs to stay the way it is. I haven’t heard a good argument of what the reason is for why the change is being presented. No one has been able to give a definite reason for why that was brought up.”
McKenzie presented an opinion from Mississippi Ethics Commission Executive Director and Chief Counsel Tom Hood from July 9, 2021. The question was, “May a municipal fire department employee remain employed by that department if his father is selected as fire chief?”
Hood’s answer read, “No. A public servant may not use his position to obtain any pecuniary benefit for his or her relative, as prohibited in Section 25-4-105(1), Miss. Code of 1972. Due to the potential for a violation of this section and the policy codified in Section 25-4-101, the employee should resign if his father is selected as fire chief.”
McKenzie mentioned how a section of the Mississippi Code says a public servant is, “Any individual who receives a salary, per diem or expenses paid in whole or in part out of funds authorized to be expended by the government.”
McKenzie then cited Section 25-4-105, Miss. Code of 1972 that reads, “No public servant shall use his official position to obtain, or attempt to obtain, pecuniary benefit for himself other than that compensation provided for by law, or to obtain, or attempt to obtain, pecuniary benefit for any relative or any business with which he is associated.”
McKenzie said changing the policy could cause problems.
“I haven’t heard a compelling argument for the change in the policy and the potential for lawsuits with the policy suggested would result in lawsuits, especially for a public entity,” he said. “The city just paid over $20,000 in attorney fees for lawsuits for decisions that should’ve been avoided.”
Lockley initially made a proposal on behalf of Myers at the most recent work session to allow family members to work in the same city department, as long as they are in different divisions within that department.
Part of the proposal would have allowed department heads to hire family members since they would be in separate divisions. Department heads are in the administrative division and employees are in a division within their department.
“It’s not like we have hundreds of employees in each division,” McKenzie said. “There’s no division with lots of employees so you will end up with kinfolks supervising kinfolks, and that is not a good policy.”
The current policy does not allow family members to work within the same department.
At the previous work session, Davis said there were vacancies in the public works department and candidates who were capable of filling the positions. She mentioned a candidate had a commercial driver’s license and could operate equipment. Amending the nepotism policy to allow family members to work in the same department, but different divisions would have enabled the candidate to be hired.
“I want to come up with a policy to present to the board that actually would be something that could be lawful and go through and actually make sense of what we’re trying to accomplish,” Williams said.
