Request By:
Honorable Kenneth D. Catron
Mayor
P.O. Box 518
Monticello, Kentucky 42633
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of June 9, in which you raise the question as to whether or not there would be any legal objection to you appointing a state employee serving in the Department for Human Resources, Child Welfare section, to the Electric Plant Board of the city.
Our response to your question would be in the negative. There is no constitutional or statutory objection to a state employee holding at the same time a municipal office, which would be the case in this instance. See Section 165 of the Constitution and KRS 61.080.
There is, of course, always the possibility of a common law conflict where the person in question cannot at the same time perform the duties of both positions with care and ability. However, this is a question of fact that only the courts can determine. See Polley v. Fortenberry, 268 Ky. 369, 105 S.W.2d 143 (1937).