| Advisory opinion request from Malcolm English the Mayor of the Town of Glenmora, Rapides Parish regarding whether the Town Council may hire Darla Billings, the wife of the Fire Chief Monty Billings, for a part-time position as administrative assistant with the Glenmora Fire Department. |
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Mayor English requested an advisory opinion regarding whether Section 1119 of the Code would prohibit the Glenmora Town Council from hiring Darla Billings, the wife of the Fire Chief Monty Billings, for a part-time position as administrative assistant with the Glenmora Fire Department. In particular he would like to know if the exception found in La. R.S. 42:1119C(4) would apply to this situation.
The Mayor stated that the Town of Glenmora has a population of 1,554 and a very limited pool of potential employees. Also, that The Town of Glenmora operates it own gas distribution system. His further concern is that due to the lack of qualified applicants in Glenmora it is possible that after advertisement of the position no other resident of Glenmora may qualify for the position and Ms. Billings past status as a volunteer with the fire department and her skills developed through years of service with the Town of Glenmora as the Utility Clerk make her more than qualified to assume the position.
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La. R.S. 42:1119 A. No member of the immediate family of an agency head shall be employed by his agency.
La. R.S. 42:1119 B (1) No member of the immediate family of a member of the governing authority or the chief executive of a governmental entity shall be employed by the governmental entity.
La. R.S. 42:1119 C(4) The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the hiring of the immediate family members of a member of a governing authority of a municipality with less than two thousand in population and which owns an electric or gas distribution system. Any member of the governing authority which employs an immediate family member shall recuse himself from any decision involving the promotion, discipline, discharge, or assignment of work of his immediate family member. However, the provision of this paragraph shall only apply when there is no other resident of the municipality who is qualified and has applied for the position of employment.
La. R.S. 42:1102(11) "governing authority" means the body which exercises the legislative functions of a political subdivision.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Suzanne Mooney |
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