Request By:
Ms. Betty P. Catlett
The Sebree Banner
Box 36
Sebree, Kentucky
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of April 11 in which you refer to a March 18 meeting of the city council of the city of Sebree and question the legality of the vote taken on a motion before the council. You relate the following facts:
". . . All council members and the Mayor were present for the meeting. When the vote was taken there were two yes votes, two no votes and two abstaining. The Mayor voted in favor of the motion and stated it had passed and the property would be leased to the company."
KRS 83A.060 (6) provides in effect that a majority of a legislative body shall constitute a quorum and a vote of a majority of a quorum shall be sufficient to take action. KRS 83A.130 (5) provides that the mayor presides at meetings of the council and may participate in council proceedings but shall not have a vote, except that he may cast the deciding vote in case of a tie.
At the meeting in question an obvious quorum was present. On the motion in question the vote was two in favor of the motion and two against the motion, with two abstentions. This means that a tie vote existed because the two abstaining members could not be counted either "for" or "against" the motion because of the tie.