Request By:
Honorable James Hite Hays
Shelby County Attorney
501 Main Street
Shelby County Court House
Shelbyville, Kentucky 40065
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of March 31 in which you relate that you anticipate appointing an assistant county attorney whose duties will be to assist you in criminal matters in the district court. Under the circumstances you raise the following questions:
"1. It is a conflict of interest or otherwise illegal for an individual who is in a law partnership with a member of the General Assembly to accept or hold the position as Assistant County Attorney?
"2. Is it a conflict of interest or otherwise illegal for an elected member of the City Council of a City of the Fourth Class to accept or hold the position as Assistant County Attorney?"
In response to your initial question, we do not believe that a conflict of interest would exist in so far as the individual attorney is concerned were he to also serve as assistant county attorney except in the field of criminal law, which would involve the question of legal ethics that must be cleared through the Kentucky Bar Association. You should contact Mr. Leslie Whitmer, Director of KBA, located in the Bush Building, 403 Wapping Street, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601.
In response to your second question, a member of the city council who is a municipal officer could not hold the position of assistant county attorney which would be considered a county office in the same category as the county attorney. See KRS 15.770. Reference also OAG 77-779.
As you know, KRS 61.080 prohibits a person from holding a municipal office and a county office at the same time. As a consequence, the office of city council and that of assistant county attorney are incompatible, one with the other.