Request By:
Ms. Valerie N. Blanton
Big Sandy Water District
Post Office Box 636
Catlettsburg, Kentucky 41129
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of July 25 in which you relate that you are a member of the Big Sandy Water District which is jointly operated by the Boyd and Carter County Fiscal Courts. The question has been raised as to whether or not you are eligible to be a commissioner of the District since you are an employee of the Boyd County Fiscal Court holding the position of Director of Community and Economic Development.
Since you are referring to a jointly operated water district, we assume that it is being operated under KRS 74.420 to 74.520. Under the membership statute, namely KRS 74.450(5), we find the following provision:
". . . However, no person shall be eligible for appointment, if he has held an elective office in the state, any county or city, until one (1) year after the expiration of the term for which he was last elected, and no officer or employe of any city, water district, political subdivision or other public body whether holding a paid or unpaid position shall be eligible for appointment as a commissioner. " (Emphasis added.)
The above statute prohibits an officer or employee of a city, water district, political subdivision or other public body from being eligible for appointment as a commissioner. The term "county" of which you are an employee is not specifically mentioned. However, you will note that the statute refers to employees of "political subdivisions or other public body. . . ." A county has been declared in a number of cases to be a political subdivison of the state. See Edwards v. Logan County, 244 Ky. 296, 50 S.W.2d 83 (1932). At the same time we find that a county has been defined to be a "public body" in a number of foreign cases, namely Harris v. Whiteside Co. Sup'rs., 105 Ill. 455.
Thus the phrase "political subdivision or other public body" is so broad that it would undoubtedly include counties which are political subdivisions of the state and at the same time public bodies. True the Legislature could have easily clarified the statute by specifically including counties. Nevertheless, we believe that the statute would in effect prohibit an employee of the county from serving on the joint water commission.
You also raise the question as to whether or not someone who is employed by the school board is eligible to serve on the commission.
Our response to the above question would also be in the negative since a school district board of education has been held to be a "public body" in the case of Camlet v. Board of Education Plainedge Union Free School Dist., 399 N.Y.S.2d 366, 91 Misc.2d 1105 and Spain v. Louisiana High School Athletic Assoc., La. App., 393 S.W.2d 226. The court in this case defined the term "public body" to mean an entity established by the state Constitution, by legislative act or an ordinance of some political subdivision. School boards are established by legislative act, Chapter 160 KRS.
Reference is also made to the Open Meetings Act, particularly the definition section, KRS 61.805 which defines "public agency" as including any county, city, school district, etc.
Under the circumstances, it would appear that neither an employee of the Boyd County Fiscal Court nor the school board would be eligible to serve on the joint water district in view of the provisions of KRS 74.450(5) quoted above.