Opinion No. (2001)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General CLAYTON P. ROCHE Deputy Attorney General THE HONORABLE CHARLES J. McKEE, COUNTY COUNSEL, NEVADA COUNTY, has requested an opinion on the following question: May a person serve simultaneously as (1) the fire chief of a city, (2) a director of a fire protection district that has no overlapping boundaries with the city, and (3) a commissioner of the local agency formation commission representing the special districts of the county? CONCLUSION A person may not serve simultaneously as (1) the fire chief of a city, (2) a director of a fire protection district that has no overlapping boundaries with the city, and (3) a commissioner of the local agency formation commission representing the special districts of the county. ANALYSIS The question presented for resolution concerns the common law doctrine of incompatible public offices. 1 The doctrine prohibits a person from holding simultaneously two public offices if the performance of the duties of either could have an adverse effect on the other. (People ex rel. Chapman v. Rapsey (1940) 16 Cal.2d 636 , 641-642 ; 78 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 362 , 363 (1995).) Offices are incompatible if either office exercises a…