A California Assembly member asked the Attorney General for an opinion on whether a manager or department head of a municipal water district, public utility district, county water district, irrigation district, or city could legally serve on the board of directors of a county water authority as the representative of the agency. California Attorney General Opinion 2007-03-15.
The Attorney General opined that a manager or department head of such a district or city could serve on the board.
Attorney General Opinion
At issue is whether Government Code Section 1099 applies, which prohibits the holding of “incompatible offices.” Section 1099 spells out the definition of incompatible offices, including when either office may audit, overrule, remove members of, or exercise supervisory powers over the other; or when there is a possibility of significant clash within the two offices.
The Attorney General noted that while the director of a county water authority clearly holds a “public office,” managers and department heads have generally been found to be employees, rather than public officeholders, with few exceptions. In any event, with the County Water Authority Act, the Legislature specifically sanctioned representatives of one agency to represent their own agency by serving as directors on another. “Neither we nor the courts have applied the incompatible offices rule to situations where the directors of one public agency are authorized by the Legislature to be representatives of constituent public agencies,” the Attorney General said. In such a circumstance, it is appropriate for a representative of one agency to represent and even promote the interests of that agency while serving as a director of the Authority. “After all, the Authority is created and exists to benefit its constituent member agencies,” the Attorney General opined.
Therefore, the Attorney General concluded such an arrangement was not the holding of “incompatible offices” under Section 1099 as the simultaneous holding of the particular offices is expressly authorized by law.
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