Request By:
Dr. S. Louis Clarkson, Chairman
Jeffersontown Water and Sewerage Commission
P.O. Box 99367
Jeffersontown, Kentucky 40299
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter asking whether the employment of an attorney by the Jeffersontown Water and Sewerage Commission, to advise on various legal matters concerning the commission, is the prerogative of the commission or is it necessary for the commission to employ the city attorney and pay him for such work out of commission funds.
You have enclosed a copy of the "Rules and Regulations of the Jeffersontown Water and Sewerage Commission," and under the heading "Organization and Purpose of Commission" the following extract from the ordinance relative to the powers and duties of the commission appears:
"From and after the appointment of the Commissioners as herein provided, the management, custody, and control of the waterworks and sanitary sewerage systems of the Town of Jeffersontown shall be exclusively vested in said Commission, with full power in said Commission to make and revise from time to time, rates for water and sewer system service, to employ and fix the compensation of such employees as the Commission may determine necessary for the operation of said system. . . ."
You have not furnished us with a complete copy of the ordinance creating and establishing the water and sewerage commission and controlling the operation of the water and sewerage systems. You also have not furnished us with any statutory references so we have to assume that KRS 96.350 is applicable to your situation. That statute in part authorizes a city of the fourth class to acquire and operate a combined waterworks and sewerage system. Although the statute does not provide for the creation of a utility commission to operate the facility, the Kentucky Court of Appeals (now the Supreme Court) held in the case of
Keathley v. Town of Martin, Ky., 246 S.W.2d 152 (1951), that a city has the legal authority to create an administrative board or commission to acquire and operate such a facility. See OAG's 70-407 and 74-83, copies enclosed.
The ordinance creating the commission could authorize the commission to employ necessary personnel to operate the waterworks which could include an attorney. Our response to your question would, therefore, depend upon the specific terms and provisions of the ordinance which created the commission, a complete copy of which we do not have. Unless that ordinance provides otherwise, the commission could probably employ an attorney to represent its interests rather than relying upon the city attorney for advice and counsel. See OAG 67-219, copy enclosed.