Attorney General Opinion finds no conflict of interest of dual offices by Maverick County Hospital District Board of Directors

By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

The Attorney General of Texas Greg Abbott issued an Opinion (GA-1075) on August 8, 2014, finding that Maverick County Hospital District (MCHD) Board of Directors Rito J. Valdez, III, and Ricardo E. Calderon do not have a conflict of interest serving simultaneously in Maverick County in other official capacities by the Texas Constitution or the common-law doctrine of incompatibility.

MCHD Vice-President Rito J. Valdez, III, simultaneously serves as Maverick County Treasurer while MCHD Board member Ricardo E. Calderon previously served simultaneously as an Eagle Pass Housing Authority Board of Commissioner.

The Attorney General Opinion states that “in determining whether there are conflicting loyalties between two offices, the crucial question is whether holding both offices is detrimental to the public interest or whether the performance of the duties of one interferes with the performance of those of the other.”

Attorney General Abbott found that the office of County Treasurer “involve the receipt and disbursement of money belonging to the county, which includes directing prosecution of recovery of any debt owed to the county, which includes directing prosecution for the recovery of any debt owed to the county and supervising the collection of debt.” The Commissioners Court, as the executive head of the county, however, also has the authority to initiate collection suits. Thus, the non-exclusive authority of the County Treasurer does not rise to the level of a conflicting loyalty. “A Court would likely conclude that the doctrine of incompatibility does not bar a Board member from simultaneously serving as a County Treasurer.”

On the issue whether a MCHD Board member may simultaneously serve on a municipal housing authority Board of Commissioners, the Attorney General stated that where two governmental entities are authorized to contract with one another, there is a potential basis for common-law incompatibility based on conflicting loyalties, depending on the particular facts. “Resolving the incompatibility question with respect to any particular contract would require an analysis of the public interest as a whole and whether the same person could perform the duties of both offices without interfering with his or her separate allegiance to each entity. Such a determination is a factual inquiry, which cannot be resolved in the opinion process. Thus, we cannot determine as a matter of law whether common-law conflicting-loyalties incompatibility would bar the dual service about which you ask.” The Attorney General, however, noted that “the individual no longer serves as a housing authority commissioner.”

Both MCHD Board of Directors Rito J. Valdez, III, and Ricardo E. Calderon do not or did not have any conflict of incompatibility of dual office holding by serving in two local governmental entities.