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OFFICIAL OPINION NO. 74-39, Board of Jury Selectors-may deputy clerk of circuit court or deputy auditor serve on board of jury selectors?

STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA
OFFICE OF
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

September 9, 1974

Jack Klauck
State's Attorney
Pennington County
Rapid City, South Dakota

OFFICIAL OPINION NO. 74-39

Board of Jury Selectors-may deputy clerk of circuit court or deputy auditor serve on board of jury selectors?

Dear Mr. Klauck:

You have made reference to SDCL 16-13-2.1 and have requested an opinion of the following specific questions:

1. May a deputy clerk of circuit court or a deputy auditor serve on the board of jury selectors?

2. Can a member of the board of county commissioners serve in place of the chairman of the board of county commissioners on the board of jury selectors?

SDCL 16-13-2.1 reads as follows:

For the purposes of this chapter, the board of jury selectors shall be the clerk of the circuit court, the chairman of the board of county commissioners and the county auditor, or if there be no person holding anyone or more of such offices in the county, the circuit judge shall designate a person to fill the vacancy.

SDCL 7-7-20 as amended allows the county commissioners to fix the number of deputies or clerks to be employed in the office of the county treasurer, county auditor, clerk of courts, or register of deeds.

SDCL 7-7-22 reads as follows:

Such deputies are authorized to sign all papers and do all other things which the officers themselves may do respectively, and the respective officers shall be responsible for the acts of their respective deputies.

In answer to your question No.1, it is my opinion that a deputy clerk of circuit court or a deputy auditor may serve on the board of jury selectors. Your second question is related to the first, but is dissimilar in one important aspect. The chairman of the Board of County Commissioners has no deputy whose powers and responsibilities are defined by statute. Even though one of my predecessors in an opinion found in 1921-22 AG R 298 has said that SDCL 7-7-15 must be construed liberally so as to permit a temporary "vacancy" to be filled by a temporary chairman, this early opinion spoke in terms of transacting county business.

SDCL 16-13-2.1 provides for this vacancy situation by allowing the circuit court judge to designate a person to fill the vacancy on the board of jury selectors.

Therefore the answer to your question No.2 is NO.

Respectfully submitted,

Kermit A. Sande
Attorney General

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