Request By:
Honorable Edward Hahn
County Judge/Executive
Fayette County
302 West Main Street
Lexington, Kentucky 40507
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of recent date in which you refer to KRS 83.345 concerning the membership of the Tourist and Convention Commission, which apparently has been established in Fayette County, and raise the question as to whether or not the county judge/executive retains his appointing authority under said statute in view of the fact that Lexington and Fayette County are presently operating under the urban county government charter.
KRS 83.345, as amended effective January 2, 1978, provides that the county judge/executive and the mayor jointly appoint members of the tourist and convention commission. The "joint" appointment provision has always existed in the statute; however, the '78 amendment changes the term "county judge" to "county judge/executive".
Under the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Charter, the functions of the county judge/executive, pursuant to Article 11, with respect to his appointing authority [relating to the commission in question] is not clear, but we believe that such authority is retained pursuant to KRS 83.345, particularly in view of Article 5 of the Charter detailing the mayor's powers. Referring specifically to § 5.040 we find the provision that:
"Except as otherwise provided, the Mayor shall appoint all members of boards and commissions created by this Charter or by ordinance enacted pursuant thereto. . . ." (Emphasis added).
The above excerpt would clearly give the mayor the sole appointing authority with respect to all boards and commissions created pursuant to the urban-county charter; however, we do not believe it would extend to those boards and commissions established by statute that would be outside of the purview of the charter, such as the Tourist and Convention Commission established pursuant to KRS 83.345, except in so far as the mayor's specific authority to appoint members of the commission jointly with the county judge/executive.