Request By:
Mr. Dale Wright
Anderson County Attorney
Main and Court Place
Lawrenceburg, Kentucky 40342
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
On the following question, you request our opinion:
"Does the superintendent of county buildings, specifically in our case the Anderson County Courthouse, have the absolute right to have access to any and all of the offices and rooms of said Courthouse by possessing keys to each of said offices or rooms, specifically keys to those offices and rooms which are leased to the Office of Administrative Courts or the State, such as the Circuit Clerk's Office and in our case, the separate District Court Clerk's Office, all in order to carry out the duties as required by KRS 67.130 and 67.140 as superintendent of such county building? "
KRS 67.130 reads:
"The fiscal court of each county shall be responsible for the maintenance and operation of all county buildings, grounds and other properties. The county judge/executive shall execute the policies of the fiscal court relating to buildings, grounds and other properties. The county judge/executive, with the approval of the fiscal court, may employ the jailer as superintendent of such county buildings, grounds and other properties at the county seat as he leems appropriate. The fiscal court of each county shall annually appropriate a sum sufficient to purchase the labor and materials necessary to maintain and operate county property, including the jailer's residence if owned by the county, and to keep the jailer's residence in repair and in clean, comfortable and presentable condition. Any sum appropriated for maintenance and operation of the jailer's residence shall be expended by the jailer. The county attorney shall bring civil action in the name of the county to recover possession of or for injury to or intrusion or trespass upon any such county property, and the net proceeds of any such recovery shall be paid into the county treasury."
KRS 67.140 provides:
"The fiscal court shall have authority and jurisdiction to levy and collect property taxes necessary for the purpose of keeping and maintaining the courthouse and grounds in proper condition and repair, to prevent injury thereto, to keep them in a proper state of cleanliness and sanitation, to provide heat and lights for them, and to provide sufficient water for the courts and offices therein."
The county judge executive, with approval of fiscal court, may employ the jailer, or some other suitable person, as superintendent of county buildings, which would include the courthouse. KRS 67.130. Importantly, the statute explicitly provides for the proper maintenance and operation of such county buildings, especially as relates to their being maintained in good repair and clean condition. To put it plainly, the statute envisions that the Superintendent of County Buildings, under the administrative supervision of the county judge executive, has a precise janitorial role to perform, which necessary expense must be borne by the county. KRS 67.140. See also KRS 67.080(2)(b). The burden to keep the courthouse in a proper state of cleanliness and sanitation is clearly upon the fiscal court, the county judge executive, and the superintendent of buildings, in that order of hierarchy of governmental function.
Faced with the above responsibilities, it is reasonable to conclude that if the superintendent of buildings is to properly carry out his janitorial function, he must have access to all of the rooms in the courthouse. How can he clean them up unless he has ready access to them? The court, in Pulaski Fiscal Court v. Floyd, Ky., 374 S.W.2d 863 (1964) 864, conceded that the fiscal court could not enter an order effectively disabling the county building superintendent from performing his statutory duties. The court in that case ruled that a fiscal court order requiring the courthouse to be locked at night was valid, provided the jailer is given a key to the building.
Therefore, the janitor must have access to all of the rooms in the courthouse, either by key or in some other manner which is reasonable under the circumstances. Of course implicit in the selection of a building superintendent is the requirement that such person be of a good moral character. The proper operation of government inevitably involves the element of trust.