Request By:
Honorable Douglas Carter
Monroe County Judge/Executive
Courthouse
Tompkinsville, Kentucky 42167
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Deputy Attorney General
Your question involves KRS 160.180 which has to do with the qualifications and disqualifying acts of a member of a board of education. You ask if under that statute a school board member may vote to employ a brother-in-law and if he could vote for a raise for his borther-in-law. You also ask if any other statutes would prohibit such an act.
There is no statutory provision against a school board member voting to employ or give a raise to his brother-in-law. KRS 160.180(4) provides as follows:
"No member of a board of education shall cast a vote regarding the appointment or employment in any capacity of any person related to him as father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, son, daughter, nephew, niece, aunt, uncle, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or first cousin, except when the majority vote of the remainder of the board is in the affirmative regarding the appointment or employment of such persons."
Since the above-quoted statute enumerates specifically the relatives a school board member is precluded from voting to employ and "brother-in-law" is not included, a board member may vote for the employment of his brother-in-law. See OAG 79-91, copy attached, wherein we reached the same conclusion as to "father-in-law."
Although the above is dispositive of your question, we do wish to point out that with the 1980 amendment to KRS 160.180(4), a board member can legally vote for even a relative within the categories enumerated provided there exists a majority vote of the remainder of the board. That is, the board member's vote cannot be one of the votes making up the majority for a motion to pass involving the relative. We also point out that if a board member is in a position of not being able to vote on a matter involving a relative, the proper procedure is to disqualify oneself from voting. A board member should not state they are abstaining on the motion since in Kentucky, by case law, an abstention vote is counted as acquiescing with the majority of those present and voting. See Payne v. Petrie, Ky., 419 S.W.2d 761 (1967) and OAG 78-159, copy attached.
We trust the above information will be of assistance to you.