Municipal Corner

The Attorney General examines whether a County Commissioner can also serve as Fire Chief of the County’s Volunteer Fire Department. Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. KP-0487 (2025).

The Andrews County Attorney requested an opinion from the Texas Attorney General to resolve whether a county commissioner may simultaneously serve as the fire chief of the county’s volunteer fire department. The County Attorney examined whether the common-law doctrine of incompatibility would prohibit this person from holding both positions due to the relationship between the Andrews Volunteer Fire Department (“AVFD”) and Andrews County and the fact that the County maintains a trust account where all AVFD funds are deposited, and the County disburses those funds on request of the AVFD. Funds provided by the County are used for expenses, such as training, emergency callout pay, and half of the retirement pension.

While the Texas Constitution does prevent individuals from simultaneously holding dual offices of civil emolument, county commissioners are exempt from this prohibition under Article XVI, Section 40(a) of the Texas Constitution.

Next, the Attorney General analyzed the three elements of the common law doctrine of incompatibility, finding none of the three elements persuasive. The first element, Self-appointment, was not at issue here because fire chiefs and county commissioners are both elected positions, thereby ensuring neither position can appoint the other. While the second element, Self-employment, includes voluntary positions, the fundamental consideration under the self-employment element is whether there is any supervision of the subordinate by the officer. Merely providing funds and equipment, without any specific authority to approve or disapprove line-item requests like the circumstance in Andrews County, is not enough to create a conflict under the common law doctrine of incompatibility in the Attorney General’s view. The third element, Conflicting-loyalties, an incompatibility involving the individual serving in two simultaneously held public offices, also fails here according to the Attorney General because past Attorney General opinions have found volunteer firefighters are not public officers. The Attorney General concluded that neither the Texas Constitution nor common law incompatibility doctrine prevented the county commissioner from simultaneously serving as the fire chief of the AVFD.

However, the Attorney General cautioned that other state law provisions, especially those that relate to the financial relationship between certain public offices, may be relevant when inquiring about limitations on simultaneous public service.

Jake Steen is an Associate in the Firm’s Water, Districts, and Litigation Practice Groups. If you would like additional information or have questions related to these or other matters, please contact Jake at 512.322.5811 or jsteen@lglawfirm.com.