Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-301

Opinion No. 301 Schools--School Trustees-- '.rransportation of Own Children. HELD: Where a member of a board of school trustees transports his own children instead of permitting them to ride with the person who has the tl'Unsportatioll contract, and then pre- sents a claim to the board for such transporta tion, such claim is illegal and because of his wrong-doing the member may be removed from office, but it is doubtful if he could be suc- cessfully prosecuted for a criminal of- fense. August 11, 19::1R You submit the following facts rela- tive to the transportation of pupils: "A contract for the school veal' lll3:! and 1933 was let to one Al Hurst for the transportation of chilc1ren in tl1(> district to and from school. For some reason one of the trustees, Peter Vie lie. hecame dissatisfiec1 with the sen-ices rendered hy Mr. Hurst and thereafter hauled his own children to school. cha rging the district therefor the sum of $15.00 per month. At the end of each month claims were filed with the school boa I'd for this amount and wa 1'- rants drawn in fa ,'or of Mr. Vielle. who is one of the memhers of til(> school board, for the same." You IllI- vise that interested parties urge the removal of :\11'. Vielle as a trustee and his prosecution. but you are at a loss as to the proper remedy. We cannot find any statute which we think makes the collection of monev under the circumstances outlined abO\-;' a crime. Section 10827 is the nearest statute in point. 'l'his section provides that every officer prohibited by the la ws of the state from being interested in contracts is guilty of a crime. However. the only statute ·prohibiting school trus- tees from being interested in contracts is Section ·1016, R. C. 1\1. 1921. and this does not clearly cover the mattf'r of transporta tion. Section 10828, It. C. M. 1!l21, in our opinion does not cover the case. be- cause it relates to a false or fraudu- lent claim. Under the statement of facts given us there is no fraud or deceit, neither is the claim false. The claim lUay be illegal, but there is no question but the services were rendered. 'Ve are satisfied that the claim is illegal and that lVIr. Vielle had no right to compensation for services in trans- porting his own children. First of all, Chapter 102, Laws of 1!l2ll, very defi- nitely requires contracts for transpor- tation to be let in a particular manner. This was done and Al HUrst got the contract. Neither the Board nor Mr. Vielle coul!! authorize anyone else after that to transport pupils for hire so long as 1\11'. Hurst's contract is in force. And without any statute it has gen- erally been held to be against public policy for a public officer to contract with himself for public works or serv- 206 OPINIOXS OF THE AT'l'ORXEY GENERAL ices to the public. (See Vol. 9 Report and Official Opinion of Attorney Gen- ('ral, ·page 243.) It is very likely that the violation of the law relating to contracts for tTanl';portation of students as well as the appro\'al and acceptance of pay on such illegal claim would be sufficient ground for the removal of the offend- i ng trustee from his office. You will note that Section 999, R. C. :\1. 1921, provides the procedure for such removal. Such a proceeding is rather important and I ,,"oul!1 advise rour running down the cases 011 the ~uhject before taking action.