Request By:
Mr. Sevier Austin
P.O. Box 101
Junction City, Kentucky 40440
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of January 24 in which you raise the following question:
"Is it legally possible for a person to serve as mayor of a municipality and also serve as Financial Secretary to the Planning and Zoning Board?"
You do not indicate whether the planning and zoning commission is strictly a city commission or a joint city-county commission. However, we believe the answer would be the same and to the effect that there would be no conflict of interest or incompatibility. True, the mayor appoints members of the planning and zoning commission pursuant to KRS 100.141 or at least those members of a joint commission which are to represent the city. However, under KRS 100.173 the commission itself employs its own staff which would include the position of financial secretary. The fact that the mayor may by virtue of his having appointed members of the commission have some impact on their decision to employ him as financial secretary is too remote, in our opinion, to constitute a common law conflict, Commonwealth v. Withers, 266 Ky. 29, 983 S.W.2d 24 (1936).
Next, concerning the question of incompatibility, the position of financial secretary would not in our opinion constitute a municipal office since there is no statutory authority for creating such position as an office under Chapter 100 KRS which governs planning and zoning. In this respect, neither Section 165 of the Constitution nor KRS 61.080 prohibits a municipal officer from holding municipal employment at the same time and receiving compensation from both sources.
Under the circumstances, we believe that the mayor could legally serve as financial secretary to the planning and zoning commission whether it be strictly a city commission or a joint city-county commission, which incidentally is a hybrid agency. See OAG 66-777 and City of Louisville Municipal Housing Authority v. Public Housing Admin., Ky., 261 S.W.2d 286 (1953).