Request By:
Ms. Beverly Thompson
609 Elm Street
Ravenna, Kentucky 40472
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of August 25, in which you refer to the fact the City of Ravenna has entered into a contract with the City of Irvine for water service and you raise several questions concerning the legality of certain individuals serving on the Irvine Water Commission. An ordinance governing the water commission and its members provides in part as follows:
"No person shall be eligible for membership on said Commission, and no person shall be appointed a member thereof, who has, within the last two years before his appointment, held any City, County, State, or Federal office, or who, within said period, has been a memberof any committee of any political party, or who is related within the third degree to the Mayor or any member of the City Council of said City."
Under the circumstances you raise the following questions:
"(1) Can a person who is married to the niece of the Mayor of City of Irvine be lawfully appointed to serve as a member of the City of Irvine Utility Commission?
(2) Can a person who is the Master Commissioner of the Circuit Court in the county in which the city is located be lawfully appointed to serve as a member of the Utility Commission, since the office of Master Commissioner is an appointed office?"
Our response to your initial question would be in the affirmative. The ordinance in question prohibits a person serving on the commission who is related within the third degree to the mayor or any member of the city council. In OAG 66-140 and OAG 61-688 we pointed out that the third degree relationship includes uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces and grandparents of an individual, citing as authority 16 Am.Jur., Descent Distribution, § 55. Under the circumstances the fact that the individual member is simply married to the niece of the mayor would not constitute a violation of the ordinance. A violation would occur only if the niece of the mayor were appointed to the water commission.
Our response to your second question would also be in the affirmative. The office of master commissioner is neither a state, county nor city office but merely a position filled by and under the jurisdiction of, the circuit court. See Shannon v. Ray, 280 Ky. 31, 132 S.W.2d 545 (1939) and KRS 31A.010. If the office of master commissioner were a state or local office, an incompatibility would exist under the terms of Section 165 of the Constitution and KRS 61.080 which prohibit a state or county officer from holding a municipal office. It also prohibits a person from holding two municipal offices at the same time. However, since the position of master commissioner is neither a state, county nor municipal office, no incompatibility would exist.