Request By:
Honorable Arthur L. Schmidt
Minority Floor Leader
House of Representatives
134 Winters Lane
Cold Spring, Kentucky 41076
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 22, in which you relate that county commissioners are required to live in their respective districts but are voted for on a countywide basis. Under the circumstances you raise the following questions:
"(1) Does the commissioner have to maintain his residence in the district where he lives after the election?
(2) If the district is expanded because of redistricting during his term of office, can the commissioner move into the newly added area and still retain his office?"
In response to your initial question we refer you to KRS 67.060(4), which reads as follows:
"(4) To be eligible for election as a commissioner representing one (1) of the three (3) districts, a person shall have been a bona fide resident of the district he proposes to represent for at least one (1) year immediately preceding the election, and, upon election, shall continue to reside within the district he was elected to represent for the duration of his term of office, under penalty of forfeiture of the office." (Emphasis added.)
The above statute clearly requires a county commissioner to be not only a bona fide resident of the district at the time of his election but he must continue to reside within the district for the duration of his term. See also Hazelrigg v. Hazelrigg, 169 Ky. 345, 183 S.W. 933 (1916) as well as OAG 62-425, copy attached.
In response to your second question where the district is expanded due to redistricting during the commissioner's term of office, we see no legal objection to said commissioner moving into that part of his district that has been added by virtue of redistricting and thereby continuing to remain a legal resident of the district, even though he no longer resides within the particular area of the district as constituted at the time of his election. Once territory has been added by virtue of a change in a district's line, it automatically becomes a part of the district; and those individuals residing in that area automatically become qualified residents of the district. There is no waiting period. In this respect we refer you to KRS 61.015, which reads as follows:
"No person shall be disqualified from election or appointment to any public office or position of employment, for which the law requires a term of prior residence in a district or city, solely because of alterations in city or district boundaries; and he shall be deemed to meet such residence requirements if he has resided during the period required by law in the geographic area encompassed by the boundaries of the city or district from which he was elected or appointed."
Thus, since the commissioner in question simply must continue to reside within his district throughout his term to remain qualified, the mere act of moving his residence into the newly added portion of his district during his term would not disqualify him, as he continues to legally reside within his district. The one-year residency requirement prior to his election would have no application with respect to his continued residency within his district.