Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1910-12-31
CITY ATTORNEY
RENDERS OPINION
Holds that o. E. Norell's Connec-
ton With Village Board Does
Not Invalidate Contract of Viii
lage With Elmore County Re-
publican.

In the matter of the eligibility
of 0. E. Norell to hold the office
Of Village Clerk and the validi-
ty of the contract for the publ
cation of the proceedings and Or
dinances of the Village, | beg to
submit the following opinion:
Neither the state laws, nor the
Village Ordinances provide any
qualifications for the Clerk of the
Board Of Trustees. Therefore, un
less there is some special reason
for disqualification, any elector
Of the village would be qualified
for the office of Clerk of the Vii
lage Board.
The only special reason for dis
qualification called to my atten-
tion is section 255 of the Revised
Codes of Idaho which reads as
follows: Members of the Legis-
lature, State, county, city, district
and precinct officers, must not be
interested in any contract made
by them in their official capacl-
ty, or by any body or board Of
which they are members. -"
This section of the law OF the
state does not affect Mr.. Norell,
or the contract between the \ IL
lage and the Elmore County Re-
publican in any respect. First,
this section does not define or
limit the qualifications of amy
person to hold any such office,
nor is there any other state law
which does. However, the state
law (Section 25i) does expressly
provide that any contract made
in violation OF such law may be
avoided at the instance oil any
party except the interested Off en-
Therefore, this section does not
disqualify the officer, but only
makes the prohibited contract
voidable. Secondly, this section
(Section 255) does not apply for
the reason that Mr.. Norell is not
in any sense a member Of the
board or body which entered into
this contract. The Clerk is not
q member OF the board Of trustees.
The statute provides (Section
2225) that the corporate powers
and duties Of every village shall
be vested in a board of trustees,
to consist of five members-not
six members. The Clerk is not
elected on the board and has no
voice or vote whatever. The con-
tract in question was not entered
into by the Clerk Of the Board,
but by the Board itself. The
Clerk has no authority to enter
into any contract in the name of
and in behalf Of the Village.
Therefore the Clerk cannot make
any such contract in his official
capacity. Thirdly, this section
(Section 255) does not, in my O.
pinion, apply for the reason that
at the time the contract between
the Village and the owner Of the
Elmore County Republican was
entered into, Mr.. Norell was nei-
ther interested in the Elmore
County Republican, nor was he
Clerk of the Village Board. |
can find no authority for any
contention that the election or
appointment to public office
could invalidate prior, legal
contract. | seriously question if
the appointment or election of
any person to any public office
could affect any contract such
person may have had with his
predecessor in office or of any
board or body of which he has
become a member since such con-.
tract was entered into. The rea-
son for this would be doubly
strong in a case where a person
had acquired an interest in such
a contract and been appointed
or elected to such an office after
the contract had been entered
into and had been partly consul
Since the contract be-
tween the Village and the for
mer owner Of the Elmore County
was entered into long
before Mr.. Norell became part
owner, or in any way interested
in the Elmore County Republican,
e9d long before he was appointed
TO 70 the office of Village Clerk,
that section does not apply for
that reason.
The reason for the enactment
Of such a statute as the one above