Request By:
Honorable Philip D. McKenzie
Attorney at Law
240 East Main Street
P.O. Box 635
Grayson, Kentucky 41143
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of February 9 in which you raise the question as to whether or not the mayor of a city of the fourth class may simultaneously serve as a member of the city's utility commission.
You do not indicate the statutory authority for the establishment of the utility commission; therefore, it is difficult to determine whether or not membership on the commission would constitute a municipal office. Normally, a municipal utility commission is established pursuant to specific statutory authority, or where none exists, the Court of Appeals has indicated that the city can establish such a commission by ordinance. See
Keathley v. Town of Martin, Ky., 246 S.W.2d 152 (1951). Commissions so established would generally constitute municipal offices where the term is specified, duties are detailed, the oath of office is required to be taken, and they exercise some independent authority in the administration of the utility system. See
Commonwealth v. Howard, Ky., 379 S.W.2d 475 (1964).
The position of mayor is of course a municipal office and § 165 of the Constitution and KRS 61.080 prohibit a person from holding two municipal offices at the same time. As a consequence, it would appear that the mayor of a fourth class city could not serve at the same time as a member of the city's utility commission established by statute or ordinance as indicated above.