Request By:
Mr. Donald L. Armstrong
Executive Director
Kentucky Press Association, Inc.
332 Capitol Avenue
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of January 8 in which you raise the question as to whether or not cities must publish summaries of resolutions passed by the legislative body.
The term "resolution" is not mentioned in the Municipal Code except by way of reference to those in effect prior to its adoption in 1980. See KRS 83A.020(2). The term "resolution" is, however, considered synonymous with the term "order" as pointed out in McQuillin, Municipal Corps., Vol. 15, Sec. 15.08. The Code does define "municipal order" under KRS 83A.010(8) as meaning an official act of the legislative body that is binding upon the officers and employees of the municipality and any governmental agency over which the municipality has jurisdiction. Under KRS 83A.060(13), it is further provided that a municipal order may be used in lieu of an ordinance for matters relating to the internal operation and function of a municipality, and to appoint or remove or approve the appointment or removal of members of boards, commissions and other agencies over which the city has control.
On the other hand, a resolution or legislative order is not an ordinance unless enacted with the formalities of an ordinance in which event it will be treated as an ordinance and under the code, of course, must be published to be effective. See
Massey v. City of Bowling Green, 206 Ky. 692, 268 S.W. 348 (1925), and
Robertson v. Southern Bitulithic Co., 190 Ky. 314, 227 S.W. 453 (1920). Thus, the distinction between an ordinance and a resolution depends to some degree on the formalities attending their adoption.
Masonic W & O Home v. City of Corbin, 229 Ky. 375, 17 S.W.2d 215 (1939). The distinction is more specifically described in the
City of Owensboro v. Board of Trustees, 301 Ky. 113, 190 S.W.2d 1005 (1945), which states in part:
". . . The distinction between the functions of an ordinance and a resolution not adopted as an ordinance is obvious. A resolution is ordinarily ministerial and temporary in character, while an ordinance prescribes a permanent rule of conduct and is the mode of expressing the legislative acts of the municipality. The resolution may have been an expression of intendment, but in order to become effectual, it must have been expressed by legislative enactment, that is, by ordinance. . . ."
From McQuillin, Municipal Corps., Vol. 5, Sec. 15.02, we quote the following:
"Furthermore, publication may be a prerequisite with respect to ordinances but not with respect to resolutions." (Emphasis added.)
The Municipal Code requires only ordinances to be published in order to be effective under the terms of KRS 83A.060. Therefore, legislative orders or resolutions enacted for the purposes described in KRS 83A.010(8) and 83A.060 are not, in our opinion, required to be published in any form.
Of course, any attempt on the part of a city to enact, by resolution or legislative order, matters other than those involving the internal operation of city government mentioned in the above referred to statutes, without following the statutory procedure for the enactment of ordinances including publication, would be invalid and thus ineffective in our opinion.