Request By:
Hon. Frank A. Wichmann
Attorney at Law
710 Coppin Bldg.
Seventh & Madison Avenue
Covington, Kentucky 41011
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of April 19 in which you relate that you represent the city of Edgewood, and seek an opinion on the following:
"If the Mayor of a fourth class city refuses to remove the appointee to the Planning Commission or Board of Adjustment for the city, is there any method by which the legislative body of the city can cause removal of the appointee for any of the statutory reasons?"
As you have pointed out, the statutes involved are KRS 100.141 and 100.217 concerning the appointment of members of the Planning Commission and Board of Adjustment. Both of these statutes provide that such appointments shall be made by the mayor, insofar as municipal members are concerned, subject to the approval of the legislative body. The removal of such officers, however, can only be done by the appointing authority which is the mayor under the terms of KRS 100.157 relating to the commission itself and subsection (8) of KRS 100.217 insofar as the Board of Adjustment is concerned. However, no member of either board can be removed except for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance, or conflict of interest. Obviously, any member so removed can appeal to the circuit court.
As pointed out in OAG 75-518, copy attached, the city council has no authority or responsibility concerning the removal of any member of either body. Thus the mayor is given complete discretion in determining whether a member of the Commission or Board of Adjustment member is in fact guilty of inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance, or a conflict of interest. Also, we might add no hearing is required to be conducted since the statute makes no provision for this. See Wilson v. City of Jeffersontown, Ky., 511 S.W.2d 115 (1974). However, it is pointed out in this case that the circuit court is the forum and the issue before it would be whether or not the removal was arbitrary.
Thus, in answer to your specific question, there is no method by which the legislative body can remove an appointee for any reason as such is left to the discretion of the mayor. Of course, any civil officer can be impeached through the state Legislature under Sections 66 and 68 of the Constitution, and the procedure for such removal is detailed in KRS 63.020, etc. This appears to be the only alternate method for removing these officers.