OAG 80-16 | KOGC

Request By:

Mr. Finis Pyles
112 Montgomery Street
Columbia, Kentucky 42728

Opinion

Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General

This is in answer to your letter of December 29 in which you raise the question as to whether or not you could continue your employment with the Adair County Fiscal Court to keep books on the county's road account expenditures, etc., if you were appointed as trial commissioner for the district court.

Our response to your question would be in the negative. The office of trial commissioner under the new court system is a state office pursuant to the terms of KRS 24A.100 and the Judicial Article itself. See also OAG 77-101 and OAG 77-661. On the other hand, your employment with the Adair County fiscal Court would be considered county employment.

Section 165 of the Constitution and KRS 61.080(1) specifically provide that no state officer or deputy state officer can hold any county office or employment at the same time. Under the circumstances, the two positions in question are incompatible, one with the other.

LLM Summary

In OAG 80-16, the Attorney General responded to an inquiry about whether an individual could continue employment with the Adair County Fiscal Court while also being appointed as a trial commissioner for the district court. The opinion concluded negatively, stating that the positions are incompatible due to constitutional and statutory provisions that prevent a state officer from holding a county office or employment simultaneously. The decision cites OAG 77-101 and OAG 77-661 for additional legal context on the incompatibility of such positions.

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