Request By:
Honorable Coy Downey
Mayor, City of Columbia
Columbia, Kentucky 42728
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of December 9 in which you request an opinion with respect to the city of Columbia, a city of the fourth class, concerning the following:
". . . Can the City Council of the City of Columbia, as well as the Mayor, be paid the sum of $10.00 for each special meeting of the legislative body if the council amends the existing ordinance to be effective immediately? The ordinance now existing does not allow for such compensation for special meetings.
"A vacancy on the City Council has recently been filled and the new member owns a service station. The City normally rotates among all city service stations for the purchase of gasoline for city vehicles. Does Kentucky law prohibit the city from purchasing gasoline from the new councilman's service station due to conflicts of interest."
Our response to your initial question would be in the negative. Members of the city council of those cities operating under the councilmanic form of government can no longer be paid so much per meeting. The statute so permitting was repealed by the enactment of KRS 82.070, which reads as follows:
"The compensation paid to members of the legislative bodies of all cities which operate under the councilmanic form of government shall be fixed by the legislative bodies of such cities in a sum not to exceed $3,000 per annum. This section shall not apply to cities of the first nor to cities of the fourth class. "
The above statute requires the city council to fix the compensation of its members at a sum not exceeding $3,000 per annum. At the same time KRS 64.580 requires the legislative body to fix the compensation of all elected officials, including themselves, not later than the first Monday in May of the year in which they are elected and said sum cannot be changed during their term of office. As a consequence, the proposed compensation of ten dollars ($10) for each meeting, which is over and above the compensation fixed by ordinance, would be invalid.
In response to your second question, KRS 61.270 prohibits city officers in cities of the fourth class, more particularly members of the city council and mayor, from being interested directly or indirectly in any contract with the city, and, if such officer does contract with the city while in office, he vacates said office and the contract is void.
Under the circumstances, the city could not purchase gasoline for its vehicles at the service station owned by one of its members without violating the terms of KRS 61.270.