Request By:
Honorable Charles R. Hazle
Mayor
City of Hodgenville
Hodgenville, Kentucky 42748
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of June 17, in which you raise the question as to whether or not a candidate who was nominated in the primary for the office of city council and who presently holds the position of Director of the Larue County Parks and Recreation Board would be eligible to continue to serve as director if elected to the council in November. The additional facts related further indicate that this Board is in reality a joint city-county board, composed of members appointed jointly by the city and county which also jointly furnishes funds for the operation of the park and recreation center.
We presume the joint board was created pursuant to KRS 97.035, which creates a hybrid board whose members are neither city nor county officers. In this respect we refer to OAG 66-777, copy attached.
As you know, KRS 61.080 and Section 165 of the Constitution prohibit a person from holding two municipal offices at the same time, as well as a municipal office and county office at the same time; however, in this instance, where the board members are considered hybrid officers, so to speak, as concluded in the enclosed opinion, which would include the director, there would be no question of violating the terms of KRS 61.080 or Section 165 of the Constitution. It is possible that the position of director is a form of employment; however, the answer would be the same, to the effect that there would be no constitutional or statutory conflict.
On the other hand, if the director is elected to the city council, he should refrain from both participating in and voting on any matter relating to the operation of the joint board, for to do so would appear to create a common law conflict of interest as pointed out in the case of