Request By:
Mr. Dan Oesch
3306 Kirby Lane
Louisville, Kentucky 40299
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Richard O. Wyatt, Assistant Attorney General
Please reference your letter to this office dated September 17, 1980.
You have requested our opinion as to whether the Model Procurement Code would prohibit you, an assistant school principal, from submitting a competitive bid to the school board for services as a professional auctioneer.
First it should be noted that the 1980 session of the General Assembly has amended Chapter 45A of Kentucky Revised Statutes, so that the provisions of the Procurement Code are permissive rather than mandatory for local public agencies such as a local school board. 45A.010(2)(a); 45A.343.
If the Code is adopted by a local school board, the circumstances you have described are not prohibited. The pertinent statute is KRS 45A.455(1), a copy of which is enclosed for easy reference. You will note that the employee whose actions are subject to a conflict of interest is one "with procurement authority." An assistant school principal does not have that requisite procurement authority as regards competitive bids let by the school board.
The other statute applicable to the circumstances you described is KRS 156.480, a copy of which is enclosed for easy reference, which generally prohibits employees of a school district from receiving compensation in excess of $25.00 per year from the local board for the provision of goods or services. However personal services of the employee are specifically excluded from this limitation. Your personal services as auctioneer would fall within this exempted category. However, a school employee who owns an auction company and hires another to perform the auctioneering would not be considered within the "personal service" exemption.
This opinion is in harmony with OAG 80-32; 69-515; and 66-715, copies of which are enclosed for your information. OAG 65-63 and 63-736 are no longer applicable to this issue.
We trust this information is helpful.