Both the Kentucky Constitution and Kentucky Revised Statutes have protections for the integrity of government operations by banning officers from holding certain multiple offices simultaneously. While a city official can hold more than one job, certain city positions cannot be held in addition to the primary one. This also pertains to governmental units (city, county, state, or any combination) outside of the primary unit of employment so that, for example, an individual cannot be both a city council member and a member of the General Assembly or mayor of a different town.
Common law incompatibility is less clear in its definition, though it involves two offices in which one has oversight or review privileges over the other. For instance, one could not be on both the planning and zoning commission and the city council because the former is subject to the latter.
Typically, when an individual accepts an incompatible office, by default he or she resigns the former office for the acceptance of the new one. The definition of "office" is laid out in several statutes and Kentucky attorney general opinions to clarify what offices can and cannot be held simultaneously.
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