Request By:
Mr. Bobby Roots
Magistrate, Fifth District
834 West Main Street
Campbellsville, Kentucky 42718
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your questions about fiscal court delegation of power read:
"Can the Fiscal Court as a body authorize a supervisor to purchase materials that the Fiscal Court wants purchased?
"Can the Fiscal Court delegate duties to the County Road Supervisor such as for the purchasing of materials and requesting and directing the maintenance to be done on county roads?"
In answer to your first question, the county judge/executive is the chief executive of the county. He is responsible for the administration of county purchasing, working under the established policies and authorizations of purchases of fiscal court. His deputy can assist him in that function. See KRS 67.710 and 67.080 and 67.083, as amended by H.B. 152 [Ch. 118, 1978 Acts, §§ 2 and 3]. The fiscal court, if necessary, can appoint a person to assist the county judge/executive in the administration of purchases. Note that KRS 68.160 and 68.175 provide for a purchasing agent in counties containing a first or second class city. These statutes suggest a central purchasing agent. However, they would be subject to the overall executive supervision of the county judge/executive.
The fiscal court has a legislative role in providing for county purchases. The fiscal court has no executive authority except as specifically assigned by statute. KRS 67.080(3), as amended by H.B. 152 [Ch. 118, 1978 Acts, § 2]. The legislative role of fiscal court includes: (1) the authorizing of specific purchases; (2) the determination of the method and manner of making the purchases in the implementation of statutory law.
Turning to question no. 2, and as concerns the county road supervisor, he cannot be given duties which are not authorized by the General Assembly. See KRS 179.070, as amended by H.B. 607 [Ch. 384, 1978 Acts, § 316]. By that statute he is the supervisor over the county road program. But he is subject to the overall executive supervision of the county judge/executive. The county judge/executive exercises the chief executive power relating to county matters and specifically as relating to county roads. KRS 67.710(1) and 67.083(3)(t) and (4). In our opinion the county road supervisor cannot legally be delegated any authority as a purchasing agent.
It must be borne in mind that the fiscal court, in its legislative or administrative capacity, cannot delegate to others any power or authority to exercise a discretion which the law has confided to the fiscal court. See