Request By:
Honorable Manuel Crawford
Mayor Pro Tem
City of Carlisle
309 Douglas Court
Carlisle, Kentucky 40311
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 27 in which you raise the following question:
"We will be hiring a new city clerk-treasurer in a few days and I need your legal opinion on the following situation. The mayor's daughter has applied for this job. Would it be a conflict of interest to even consider her for this position?"
Our response to your question would be in the negative.
We initially refer you to the case of Chadwell v. Commonwealth, 288 Ky. 644, 157 S.W.2d 280 (1941). This case involved the question of a possible conflict of interest where a son and daughter of a school board member were employed by the board. The court held that the school board member was not disqualified and concluded as follows:
". . . Nor are we impressed with the argument that the service the daughter renders the board are services in which the defendant was directly or indirectly interested. We are of the opinion the Legislature intended such interest to be confined to monetary considerations and that the consideration must be such as would move directly or indirectly to the board member himself, and not to include mere emotional interest that a member of the board might have in the person rendering the services . . ."
It is a well settled rule of law with respect to the question raised, that the interest of an officer which will render void a contract with a city, must be a present, personal and pecuniary interest, and consequently transactions between the city and the mere relatives of such officers have generally been sustained with certain exceptions not pertinent to your question. See McQuillin, Mun. Corps., Vol. 10, § 29.97.
You will also note the case of Commonwealth v. Withers, 266 Ky. 29, 98 S.W.2d 24 (1936), wherein it was pointed out that in general the disqualifying interest of the municipal officer must be pecuniary or proprietary by which he stands to gain or lose something and falling within these principles are contracts with firms in which the member of the municipal body is a partner, or a corporation of which he is an officer, or in some cases a stockholder or employee.
Though no conflict of interest would exist under the circumstances, the mayor must refrain from participating in any way in the hiring of his daughter.