BENTON – For state Rep. David Cotta, it comes down to a simple principle: “You can’t be your own boss.”

For Benton Selectwoman Melissa Patterson, however, there’s an important distinction.

“I don’t mix the two — ever,” she said. “One job is one, and one is the other. There’s no conflict of interest.”

Those competing views are colliding now that Cotta has proposed legislation, L.D. 1297, prohibiting an elected municipal officer from simultaneously working as a town employee.

Patterson, 34, was first elected to the three-member Benton Board of Selectmen last year, while she was working as a clerk at the Town Office. She handles car registrations, processes the mail and bills, handles accounts payable, photocopying and filing, and other office duties.

Patterson, still in the same job after 4½ years, was re-elected to the board last month.

Cotta, a Republican from China, has introduced a bill that prevents a municipal officer from also serving as the same community’s employee, except for communities organized under a town manager plan.

If approved, the legislation proposes that any person in violation of the new law could serve out the remainder of the municipal officer’s term.

Although Patterson’s positions were brought to his attention by other citizens, Cotta said the bill is not intended to single out Patterson, but rather “add clarity” to an issue about which there have been contradictory state and court rulings. Incredibly, Cotta said, there is no existing state law that specifically addresses the issue.

“Clearly, Ms. Patterson’s position represents an example cited in the legislation,” Cotta said. “But there’s no vendetta here. We’re here at the Legislature . . . to make sure it is clear and it is fair, because what we do affects all of us.”

The Maine Municipal Association has not taken a position on the proposed bill, but the organization’s policy committee is scheduled to discuss the legislation at its next monthly meeting on April 14, according to spokesman Eric Conrad.

Even so, association staff members have been discussing the bill and they have at least one concern.

“Small communities sometimes have a hard time finding people to run for office and to perform municipal roles,” Conrad said.

For example, would the legislation affect a selectman who is also a town firefighter who’s paid on a per-diem basis? Or someone who is also a part-time animal-control officer?

Further muddling the matter are a pair of contradictory opinions — separated by 31 years — from the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

In an opinion written Feb. 8, 1980, then-Assistant Attorney General Paul Macri concluded that a selectman could not simultaneously be a town employee.

“In the situation of an employee and a selectman, it is clear that the selectman would have power over the employee in the areas of hiring, firing, and determining compensation,” Macri wrote. “Hence, we find that these two offices are incompatible.”

After Patterson learned of Cotta’s proposed legislation, she and First Selectman Ryan Liberty sought out guidance from the Attorney General’s Office.

Assistant Attorney General Phyllis Gardiner wrote an informal opinion saying the two positions do not constitute incompatible offices and there’s no legal barrier to Patterson serving in both positions.

It cites a 2008 Superior Court decision, Town of Harpswell v. Wallace, which found a person could serve as a selectman and be a town transfer station employee at the same time. And even in cases where a conflict of interest might arise, the municipal officer could recuse himself from making decisions that affect his town job, the letter states.

Herbert Thompson, who ran against Patterson in the recent election and lost, said he and other Benton residents have been concerned about Patterson’s dual roles since she began serving.

“It’s a clear issue of fairness; people don’t like the double-dipping,” Thompson said. “It’s a matter of principle. It has nothing to do with the personalities involved.”

Thompson is critical of the recent letter from the assistant attorney general, saying it’s not an official opinion like the one written in 1980. He said he is seeking an official legal opinion from Attorney General William Schneider.

Cotta said the legislation has not yet been referred to the Committee on State and Local Government and a public hearing hadn’t yet been scheduled.

Patterson said she plans to testify at such a hearing.

“They need to put a name to a face,” she said. “I ran for select board because I was interested in it. I thought I could make a difference. I thought I could be a benefit for the townspeople, knowing more and seeing more at the town office.”