Request By:
Honorable Velva Hanson
Mayor, City of West Point
208 Main Street
West Point, Kentucky 40177
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of April 14 in which you desire an opinion as to what effect Senate Bill 26 will have with respect to the hiring and firing of police officers within the city of West Point.
Senate Bill 26 which deals with reorganization of municipal government becomes effective on July 15, 1980. The city of West Point is a city of the fifth class operating under the councilmanic form of government and pursuant to Section 13 (9) [SB 26], the mayor is declared to be the appointing authority with the power to appoint and remove all city employees except as tenure and terms of employment are protected by statute, ordinance or contract, and except for employees of the city council.
On the other hand, under Section 8 (2) all nonelected city officers are appointed by the executive authority [the mayor under the definition of the term, Section 1 (6)] but only with the approval of the city legislative body. A police officer is of course a nonelected municipal officer as held in a number of cases, among them being Lexington v. Rennick, 105 Ky. 577, 49 S.W. 787 (1899). Also reference OAG 74-781.
KRS 95.700, relating to the appointment and term of members of the police department in cities of the fifth class wherein such members were appointed by the legislative body for terms and were given tenure until retirement subject only to removal for cause was repealed by Senate Bill 41 [the Municipal Home Rule bill], also effective July 15. The repeal of this statute, among others, would apparently give the city legislative body the power, following the effective date of the Act, to adopt under its home rule power, legislation pertaining to the appointment of police officers except those presently covered by civil service under KRS 95.761 to 95.784 or Ch. 90 KRS.
Thus, the appointment, tenure and removal of police officers would be determined by municipal ordinance following the effective date of the referred to legislation conditioned on the fact that the appointment and removal of such officers would be controlled by Section 8 (2) which gives the mayor the power of appointment with the approval of the city legislative body. This section would also give the mayor the power to remove such officers at will unless otherwise provided by law which would include an appropriate ordinance providing otherwise.