Request By:
Honorable M. Greg Rains
Attorney at Law
P.O. Box 148
Paducah, Kentucky 42001
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of November 27 in which you relate that your law firm represents the Electric Plant Board of the City of Paducah which is operating under the Little TVA Act, namely KRS 96.550 to 96.900. You raise the question as to whether or not the Electric Plant Board is required to abide by the terms of the Kentucky Model Procurement Code, KRS 45A.345 to 45A.360, particularly with respect to the awarding of contracts.
Our response to your question would be in the affirmantative. When the city elects to operate under the Little TVA Act it is required to create an independent board with the powers expressed in KRS 96.570 which includes the right to exercise all powers conferred upon the municipality by the act which in turn, includes the construction and operation of the utility system. This independent authority would, in our opinion, make the board an agency of the city which is, in turn, a political subdivision of the state.
The Model Procurement Act, which becomes effective January 1, 1980 covers all local public agencies as defined in KRS 45A.345(8) which reads as follows:
"(8) 'Local public agency' shall mean a city, county, urban-county, school district, special district, or an agency formed by a combination of such agencies under KRS Chapter 79, or any department, board, commission, authority, office or other sub-unit of a political subdivision which shall include the offices of the county clerk, county sheriff, county attorney, coroner and jailer."
The above definition clearly includes any agency of a city and its boards or commissions which would include the board of the Paducah Power System established pursuant to the "Little TVA Act." Therefore, the utility board would be governed by the Model Procurement Act and particularly KRS 45A.365 to 45A.385 regarding contractual negotiations.