Request By:
Mr. Terry Williams
311 Sharon Avenue, Route 3
Danville, Kentucky 40422
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of October 29 in which you relate that you are running for the office of mayor at the coming election and you need some information concerning the powers of this office in a city of the fifth class, to which Junction City belongs.
You raise a number of specific questions which we will attempt to answer. However, we initially wish to point out that the mayor's powers are limited by statute and he has no authority except that which is expressly conferred upon him by the city charter or implied from some express provision in the charter. Of course, the city council may delegate certain powers to the mayor that are not given other municipal officers by statute. We refer you to KRS 87.130 detailing the powers of the mayor in cities of the fifth class, a copy of which we are attaching, and cite McQuillin, Mun. Coprs., Vol. 3, § 12.43.
You specifically ask if a mayor can suspend a partolman without a vote of the council on the charge of insubordination. Our response is in the negative since the mayor has no authority to hire or suspend any city employee, including a patrolman who is governed by Ch. 95 KRS in cities of the fifth class. Only the city council can do this unless a civil service commission is involved under KRS 95.763. The city council is vested with the administrative powers of the city which includes the power to hire and fire city employees as well as supervising their employment activities, however, such supervision can be delegated to other officials, such as the mayor [as mentioned above], except with respect to members of the city police department where the chief of police is in command of the department pursuant to KRS 95.730. See Griffin v. City of Paducah, Ky., 382 S.W.2d 402 (1964), and OAG 78-196, a copy of which we are attaching.
Your second question concerning whether or not the mayor or the chief of police can hire and fire employees has been answered in the negative above.
Concerning the meetings of members of the city council, we refer you to KRS 87.030, a copy of which we are attaching. You will note that this statute provides for regular meetings once a month, at a fixed time, by ordinance, however, special meetings may be called at any time by the mayor or by three (3) members of the council by written notice as therein provided. At such meeting, a majority of the members shall constitute a quorum which means that there must be four (4) members present of the six (6) member council in order to constitute a quorum for the purpose of conducting business. The mayor presides at all meetings but is not a member and may not vote except in case of a tie vote. Any meeting conducted outside of the terms of KRS 87.030 would not constitute a valid meetings.
Concerning the effect of the Sunshine Law on meetings of the city council, reference is made to this law, particularly KRS 61.805 and 61.810. The initial statute defines "meetings" to mean all gatherings of every kind regardless of where the meeting is held and whether regular or special, and informational or casual gatherings, held in anticipation of or in conjunction with a regular or special meeting. All such meetings coming under this definition must be governed by the provisions of the Sunshine Law regarding notice, etc. There are however certain exceptions under the Open Meetings Law found in KRS 61.810, a copy of which we are attaching.
We suggest that since you are presently a member of the city council and may occupy the office of mayor you contact the Legislative Research Commission located here at the State Capitol, which has published the laws of fifth class cities in a bound volume. This would be of considerable assistance to you as well as other city officials.