Attorney General Opinion No. 1986-121

Download or read book Attorney General Opinion No. 1986-121 written by Robert T. Stephan and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: K.S.A. 19-202 requires each member of the board of county commissioners to be a qualified elector and a resident of the district within the county that he or she represents. Such residency requirement is a continuing, as well as a preliminary qualification for the office. Accordingly, the office of county commissioner automatically becomes vacant upon the commissioner's moving to another commissioner district, even if his or her new residence is still located within the county in which said commissioner was elected to serve. Furthermore, a board of county commissioners has the authority to rearrange its commissioner districts by county resolution, as long as the commissioners comply with the broad guidelines for redistricting contained in K.S.A. 19-204 and Kansas case law. The statute requires the board of commissioners to divide the county into commissioner districts which are "as compact and equal in population as possible." Additionally, the Kansas Supreme Court has imposed the requirement that the integrity of the boundaries of voting precincts be maintained. Absent an intentional abuse of discretion, if a county adheres to these guidelines in rearranging its county commissioner districts, the commissioners may re-draw the commissioner district boundary lines as they see fit. Cited herein: K.S.A. 19-202; 19-204; 19-2608, repealed, L. 1976, ch. 129, section 1; K.S.A. 1985 Supp. 77-201, as amended by L. 1986, ch. 211, section 39; Gen. Stat. 1915, section 2539; Kan. Const., Art. 4, section 2; Art. 5, section 1.