City of Radcliff v. Hardin County

607 S.W.2d 132, 1980 Ky. App. LEXIS 376
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedOctober 17, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 607 S.W.2d 132 (City of Radcliff v. Hardin County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Radcliff v. Hardin County, 607 S.W.2d 132, 1980 Ky. App. LEXIS 376 (Ky. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

BREETZ, Judge.

These consolidated appeals present a clash of authority between city and county governments. In question is the extent of the county’s authority to grant an exclusive franchise for garbage and solid waste collection.

The facts as stipulated by the parties are as follows: On March 5, 1979, the Hardin County Fiscal Court adopted a resolution to advertise for bids for the granting of an exclusive franchise for garbage and solid waste collection and disposal within the entire area of Hardin County, Kentucky; this included the area within the city limits of the appellants and other incorporated municipalities which have elected not to appeal. On April 2, 1979, Elizabethtown adopted an ordinance to establish an exclusive franchise for garbage collection within its municipal limits. Three days later, Rad-cliff adopted a similar ordinance. Vine Grove at that time had a contract for the collection of garbage and solid waste within its boundaries.1

The county admits that before 1978 it did not have the authority to grant a franchise for garbage collection and disposal within the incorporated areas of the cities. It argues, and the lower court so held, that the passage of KRS Chapter 109 and KRS 67.-083 now gives it the authority to grant such a franchise. We reverse.

We first address the county’s argument that its authority to grant the questioned franchise emanates from Chapter 109 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes. This chapter was initially enacted by the legislature in 1966 but the act was rewritten by the 1978 General Assembly. 1978 Acts, Chapter 115.

The legislature noted that the practice of dumping solid wastes on open soil and in landfills could be detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the citizens2 and, following the lead of Congress, declared that the state, regional and local agencies should function in the area of management [134]*134of solid wastes.3 The statute authorized the creation of responsible planning and management agencies to define the requirements of solid waste management with emphasis on the regionalization of such functions. It declared that the Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection would have regulatory power over the agencies.4 It further declared that the counties, or combinations of cities and counties, have the primary responsibility for the collection, management, treatment, disposal and resource recovery of solid waste.5

Under the agreed facts of this case, we reject the county’s argument that it has a unilateral right to grant an exclusive franchise for garbage collection in the entire area of Hardin County. By the terms of the statute,6 a county has only three options. It may, in conjunction with the cities in that county, function as a solid waste management area under the terms of KRS 109.061. This option is not available here because Hardin County is not attempting to exercise its rights “in conjunction with the cities” in Hardin County nor does it appear from this record that Hardin County has ever been approved by the Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection as a solid waste management area.

The second option of a county is to join with other counties by contract under KRS 109.020 and to function as a multi-county area. Hardin County has not alleged, nor do the agreed facts state, that it is operating under a contract with any other county.

The third option is the same as the second except that two or more counties, instead of joining with each other by contract, may operate as a district under the terms of KRS 109.071. Hardin County is not operating as a district with any other county.

Absent any showing by the county that it is proceeding under any of the three options granted to it, we find no provision in the statute which would authorize the county to proceed unilaterally as it has attempted in this case.

The county further argues that KRS 109.-250 empowers it with the right to grant an exclusive franchise for garbage collection. That statute, insofar as it is applicable to the instant case, states:

Any county or solid waste district may require the use of any solid waste management facility or other facility meeting the standards of the department under KRS Chapter 109 by all persons, firms and governmental entities situated within the geographical boundaries thereof;

There is neither allegation nor proof that Hardin County has a “solid waste management facility” or any “other facility meeting the standards of the department.” Even if the county did have such a facility, KRS 109.250 speaks only to the required use of that facility and does not speak to the issue of garbage collection. We hold that KRS Chapter 109 does not grant Hardin County the right to grant an exclusive franchise for garbage collection within the incorporated areas of the cities.

We now turn to the question of whether KRS 67.083, the Home Rule statute, vests the county with such a grant of right. The statute, we believe, must be read against the backdrop provided by the Supreme Court in Fiscal Court, etc. v. City of Louisville, Ky., 559 S.W.2d 478 (1977). In that decision, the predecessor KRS 67.083 was declared unconstitutional because it granted to fiscal courts carte blanche authority to administer county governments as though the legislature had expressly granted them all authority that could be granted to them. The present KRS 67.083 does not contain such a broad grant of authority to county governments. In the course of that opinion, it.was stated:

[135]*135Although the Fiscal Court of Jefferson County concedes that a county should not be permitted to enforce its ordinances within a municipality under many circumstances, it nevertheless contends that there are some matters where the fiscal court can supersede the powers of a city. This position would create numerous problems. The overlapping of governmental boundaries in Jefferson County creates a maze of jurisdictions. The overly broad grant of authority to fiscal courts would magnify those problems. With more that (sic) 80 incorporated cities in Jefferson County, each having its officers, ordinances and regulations, the problems engendered by KRS 67.083 would be increasingly more complex. 559 S.W.2d at 481.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
607 S.W.2d 132, 1980 Ky. App. LEXIS 376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-radcliff-v-hardin-county-kyctapp-1980.