Request By:
Mr. Gerald E. Smith
222 Boone Street
Bromley, Kentucky 41016
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of November 7 in which you initially refer to the fact that the city of Bromley became a fifth class city in June, 1978 following its reclassification by the legislature. Prior to this time the city was that of a sixth class with four councilmen and a mayor. A Mr. Roberts was elected to the city council in November, 1977 and took office in January, 1978. He was later appointed mayor by the other elected officials. On July 1, 1978 Mr. Roberts resigned and Mr. Ransom was appointed to fill his vacancy. Mr. Ransom ran in November, 1978 for the unexpired term of Mr. Roberts. It is your position that Mr. Ransom should have run for a four (4) year term this last November. The city, on the other hand, is under the impression that Mr. Ransom was elected for a four (4) year term at the November, 1978 election.
There is an apparent mixup in the facts presented which we will attempt to straighten out. To begin with there is no such office as mayor of a sixth class city. There are five (5) members of the board of trustees elected, one (1) of which is selected as chairman of the board by the other members when they take office which in your case was the first Monday in January, 1978. The office of trustee and that of city council, when the city was reclassified to a fifth class city, carries a term of two (2) years which in this instance will end on the first Monday in January, 1980. This means, of course, there should have been a regular election for members of the city council at the past November election for regular two (2) year terms.
When the city became a fifth class city in June '78, the office of mayor was automatically created, and this office has a four (4) year term which began in January, 1978 and ends January, 1982.
It is not clear as to whether Mr. Ransom ran for Mr. Roberts unexpired term as a member of the board of trustees or whether he ran for the unexpired term of the office of mayor at the November, 1978 general election. If Mr. Ransom ran for the unexpired term of office of city council in November, 1978 which Mr. Roberts vacated, he ran for an unexpired term ending in January, 1980, Const. 152. On the other hand, if he ran for the vacancy in office of mayor which also existed at the November election 1978, then he ran for the unexpired term which does not end until January, 1982. See KRS 87.170 concerning the election and appointment of city officers in cities of the fifth class and KRS 88.180 which applies to the election and appointment of city officers in sixth class cities
There also exists the question of whether there was a regular election in November '78 embracing the city of Bromley which is required under Constitution 152 in order for the respective vacancy to be filled for the unexpired term. Assuming, however, that there was such an election, then the law covering the filling of the vacancies in the council and mayor's office, that we have stated above would apply.