Cynthia Thompson, City Attorney to the City of Augusta, and Timothy Theissen, Attorney for the Bracken County Planning Commission
AGO OAG 17-26
No. OAG 17-026
Kentucky Attorney General Opinions
Commonwealth of Kentucky Office of the Attorney General
November 9, 2017
Subject:
Whether the offices of Augusta City Council and Bracken
County Planning Commission are incompatible if Bracken County
does not have zoning ordinances.
Requested
by: Cynthia Thompson, City Attorney to the City of
Augusta, and Timothy Theissen, Attorney for the Bracken
County Planning Commission
Written
by: Taylor Payne, Assistant Attorney General
Syllabus:
The offices of the Augusta City Council and the Bracken
County Planning Commission may be incompatible at common law
because the occupancy of the two offices may be against
public policy. This issue is, however, ultimately a question
for the courts to decide.
Statutes
construed: KRS 100.133; KRS 100.111; KRS 61.080; KRS
100.121
OAGs
cited: OAG 66-586; OAG 71-204; OAG 97-21; OAG 80-199
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Cynthia
Thompson, City Attorney to the City of Augusta, and Timothy
Theissen, Attorney for the Bracken County Planning
Commission, have requested an opinion from this office to
address whether a City of Augusta council member may also sit
on the Bracken County Planning Commission if Bracken County
does not have zoning ordinances. We advise that the offices
of the Augusta City Council and the Bracken County Planning
Commission may be incompatible at common law because the
occupancy of the two offices may be against public policy.
The issue of common law incompatibilities, however, is
ultimately a question for the courts to decide.
KRS
Chapter 100 authorizes the appointment of public officials to
a planning commission. See OAG 66-586, OAG
71-204.[1] Nonetheless, while public officials
may serve on a planning commission, a public official may not
fill two incompatible offices at the same time. See
LaGrange City Council v. Hall Bros. Co. of Oldham County,
Inc., 3 S.W.3d 765, 769 (Ky. 1999)...
