Town Board of Trustees Form of government
Have a town board that want to form a town events committee. The board
wants to appoint as committee members the town clerk, the town police
chief and the town fire chief and the town street department head and
Public works authority head as well as a couple of citizens.
My concern is in appointing the town officials.
Although it seems that paragraph A 5 of Oklahoma Statutes Title 51 Section
6 actually permits this. Am I correct or am I missing something?
--
Kevin Dodson
Attorney at Law
308 A Northeast First Street
Pryor, OK 74361
918-824-3600 <(918)%20824-3600>
Fax: 918-824-3601 <(918)%20824-3601>
E-Mail: kevinatdodsonlawoffice@gmail.com
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Although there may be specific exceptions, my understanding is that dual office holding requires separate employers. One cannot hold an office for a municipality and also hold an office for the county or the state as an example. There are some situations where you cannot even run for the second office while holding the first.
However, a municipality can assign additional duties to an officer, so long as the additional duties directly benefit the employing municipality. This is why a City Councilor can also be a Trustee for a trust whose beneficiary is that same municipality. Also, while you can pay the expenses of such a person, I would be very careful and avoid a second pay check.
Therefore, I see no issue with a Board of Trustees member in the town also sitting on a committee serving that same town.
Mike Vanderburg
Ponca City
From: Oama [mailto:oama-bounces@lists.imla.org] On Behalf Of Kevin Dodson
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 3:08 PM
To: oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Town Board of Trustees Form of government
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Have a town board that want to form a town events committee. The board wants to appoint as committee members the town clerk, the town police chief and the town fire chief and the town street department head and Public works authority head as well as a couple of citizens.
My concern is in appointing the town officials.
Although it seems that paragraph A 5 of Oklahoma Statutes Title 51 Section 6 actually permits this. Am I correct or am I missing something?
--
Kevin Dodson
Attorney at Law
308 A Northeast First Street
Pryor, OK 74361
918-824-3600tel:(918)%20824-3600
Fax: 918-824-3601tel:(918)%20824-3601
E-Mail: kevinatdodsonlawoffice@gmail.commailto:kevinatdodsonlawoffice@gmail.com
Notice: CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION: This e-mail transmission, and any documents, files or previous e-mail messages attached to it, may contain confidential information that is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of any of the information contained in or attached to this message is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Interception of e-mail is a crime under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. 2510-2521 and 2107-2709. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify us by replying to this e-mail or by calling 918-824-3600tel:(918)%20824-3600, and destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading them or saving them to disk. Thank you.
The second pay check probably results in someone getting to explain that to a District Judge. I agree that the second pay check has to be avoided. Committee seats are usually volunteer, no pay positions.
Johnny Beech Attorney
Spencer Fane LLP
9400 N. Broadway Ext, Suite 600 | Oklahoma City, OK 73114
O 405.844.9900
jbeech@spencerfane.commailto:jbeech@spencerfane.com | spencerfane.comhttp://www.spencerfane.com/
From: Oama oama-bounces@lists.imla.org On Behalf Of Michael R. Vanderburg
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 4:04 PM
To: 'Kevin Dodson' kevinatdodsonlawoffice@gmail.com; oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: Re: [Oama] Town Board of Trustees Form of government
Although there may be specific exceptions, my understanding is that dual office holding requires separate employers. One cannot hold an office for a municipality and also hold an office for the county or the state as an example. There are some situations where you cannot even run for the second office while holding the first.
However, a municipality can assign additional duties to an officer, so long as the additional duties directly benefit the employing municipality. This is why a City Councilor can also be a Trustee for a trust whose beneficiary is that same municipality. Also, while you can pay the expenses of such a person, I would be very careful and avoid a second pay check.
Therefore, I see no issue with a Board of Trustees member in the town also sitting on a committee serving that same town.
Mike Vanderburg
Ponca City
From: Oama [mailto:oama-bounces@lists.imla.org] On Behalf Of Kevin Dodson
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 3:08 PM
To: oama@lists.imla.orgmailto:oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Town Board of Trustees Form of government
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Have a town board that want to form a town events committee. The board wants to appoint as committee members the town clerk, the town police chief and the town fire chief and the town street department head and Public works authority head as well as a couple of citizens.
My concern is in appointing the town officials.
Although it seems that paragraph A 5 of Oklahoma Statutes Title 51 Section 6 actually permits this. Am I correct or am I missing something?
--
Kevin Dodson
Attorney at Law
308 A Northeast First Street
Pryor, OK 74361
918-824-3600tel:(918)%20824-3600
Fax: 918-824-3601tel:(918)%20824-3601
E-Mail: kevinatdodsonlawoffice@gmail.commailto:kevinatdodsonlawoffice@gmail.com
Notice: CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION: This e-mail transmission, and any documents, files or previous e-mail messages attached to it, may contain confidential information that is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, or person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of any of the information contained in or attached to this message is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Interception of e-mail is a crime under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. 2510-2521 and 2107-2709. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify us by replying to this e-mail or by calling 918-824-3600tel:(918)%20824-3600, and destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading them or saving them to disk. Thank you.