Request By:
Mr. Bernard H. Sandfoss
Campbell County Sheriff
Courthouse
Newport, Kentucky 41071
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
A controversy has arisen about the functions of the new position of county judge/executive in 1978. You believe that he will no longer have any judicial powers, and that his responsibility will involve such things as road repairs, county police etc.
Under the Judicial Amendment [S.B. 183, Ch. 84, 1974 Session] the quarterly and county courts as judicial bodies shall continue until the first Monday in January, 1978. Thus as of January 2, 1978, the county judge will have no judicial functions. See § 109, Kentucky Constitution. Section 124 of the Constitution provides in part that "nothing in such amended sections shall be construed to limit the powers otherwise granted by this constitution to the county judge as the chief executive, administrative and fiscal officer of the county . . ."
In implementation of the constitutional amendment, the special session of the legislature of 1976 enacted Senate Bill 18, which sets forth specific functions of the county judge/executive, who will take office on January 2, 1978. We are enclosing a copy of S.B. 18 for your information. As Section 3 [now KRS 67.710] indicates, the county judge/executive shall be the chief executive of the county. Included among his duties will be: (1) provide for the execution of ordinances and resolutions of fiscal court, and execute all fiscal court contracts; (2) prepare, for fiscal court approval, a county administrative code of operating procedure; (3) furnish fiscal court with information about county governmental operations; (4) require county officials handling county money to make financial reports; (5) prepare, under KRS Chapter 68, the annual budget and administer it when passed; (6) keep fiscal court advised as to county's financial condition and needs of the county and make reports thereon; (7) exercise with approval of fiscal court the authority to appoint, supervise, suspend, and remove county personnel, unless otherwise provided by state law; and (8) with approval of fiscal court, make appointments to or remove members from various boards, commissions etc.
The county judge/executive under KRS 67.715 has certain reorganization powers and power to create special districts, with approval of fiscal court.
Note that under KRS 67.720 wherever the words "county judge" appear in previously existing statutes, the language shall be changed by the revisor of statutes to read "county judge/executive." This simply means that the county judge/executive will continue to perform nonjudicial statutory functions previously performed by the county judge.