Request By:
Honorable Glen Shepherd
Mayor, City of Cumberland
Cumberland, Kentucky 40823
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of June 1 in which you initially raise the question as to whether or not it is necessary, with respect to the city of Cumberland, for the subjects to be discussed and the action taken thereon at a special meeting to be listed in the notice of such meeting.
Our response to your request would be in the negative. KRS 87.030, which authorizes the calling of special meetings at any time by the mayor or by three (3) members of the city council, pursuant to written notice delivered at least three (3) hours before the time specified for the proposed meeting, contains no requirement that the agenda or the subjects to be discussed at said meeting be included in the notice. Referring to McQuillin, Mun. Corps., Vol. 4, § 13.08(c), we quote the following:
". . . At any meeting of which due notice has been given, the governing body may, in the usual course, act on any matter."
Next referring to the case of
City of Mt. Sterling v. King, 126 Ky. 526, 104 S.W. 322 (1907), pertaining to cities of the fourth class, the Court said and we quote:
"Section 3502, Ky. St. 1903, authorizes the mayor to call special sessions of the board of council whenever in his judgment it may be necessary, and at special sessions the council has the right to enact any ordinance within the powers of the council. There is no provision in the act for the government of cities of the fourth class prescribing the character of ordinances that may be enacted at special meetings of the council; and hence whatever the council may do at a regular session it may do at a special one. . . ."
Under the circumstances, it is not necessary for an agenda to be included in the notice of the time and place of a special meeting to be held by the city council.
Your next raise the question as to whether or not it is permissible to hold a special meeting at a place different from that which is spelled out by ordinance, assuming of course that proper notice of the time and place is specified.
KRS 86.070(2) provides the following:
"The council shall hold its regular meetings at such times and places as are fixed by ordinance. . . ." (Emphasis added).
You will note from the above requirement that the place of the meeting to be specified by ordinance refers only to regular meetings. Special meetings are not included and we find no comparable requirement elsewhere in the statutes with respect to special meetings. As a consequence, we believe that the legislature has left it up to the council members or the mayor authorized to call special meetings to determine the time as well as the place of said meeting in the notice so long, of course, as such meeting is held within the city limits.
By comparison it is noted in connection with both fifth and sixth class cities that KRS 87.030 and KRS 88.040, respectively, contain a provision requiring all meetings of the council be held at a place designated by ordinance.
As a consequence, unless the city has provided in its ordinance that special meetings as well as regular meetings shall be held at a specific place, special meetings may be held at a place other than that designated for regular meetings, provided the notice so specifies.