Request By:
Mr. Gerald C. Callis
451 Pickett Drive
Fort Wright, Kentucky 41011
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of November 12 in which you relate that you presently hold the rank of Captain of the Covington Fire Department and, as such, seek an opinion as to your right to be employed as a part-time deputy sheriff.
As far as your position with the Covington Fire Department, we believe that would constitute merely a form of employment. As pointed out in OAG 66-469 [copy enlcosed] firemen generally are classified as municipal employess rather than officers. Though the position of a part-time deputy sheriff would constitute a county office, there would exist no constitutional or statutory conflict between the two positions.
KRS 61.080 prohibits a person from holding a county office and a municipal office at the same time; however, it does not prohibit a person from holding a county office and municipal employment at the same time. As a consequence, we see no conflict of interest with respect to the two positions outside of a possible common law conflict where the duties of both positions cannot be performed with care and ability at the same time. This, however, is a question of fact that only the courts can decide.