Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2021-002

August 6, 2021
ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2021- 2
David E. Waters, City Attorney
City of Eudora
10851 Mastin Boulevard, Building 82
Suite 1000
Overland Park, Kansas 66210-1669
Re: 	Cities and Municipalities—Libraries—Eudora Community Library District
Act; 	Library 	District 	Creation; 	Appointed 	Board 	as 	Provided 	by 	Joint
Resolution
Synopsis: 	Members of the Eudora Township Public Library Board must be appointed,
not elected, pursuant to a joint resolution between the City of Eudora and
the Eudora Township. 	Cited herein: K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 12-1294, 12-1295,
12-1296, 12-1298.
* 	* 	*
Dear Mr. Waters:
As counsel for the Eudora Community Library District (District) and City Attorney for the
City of Eudora (City), you ask for our opinion regarding membership on the Eudora
Township Public Library Board. Specifically, you ask whether the joint resolution between
the City and the Eudora Township (Township) adopted pursuant to K.S.A. 2020 Supp.
12-1298 permits the District to hold an election for new members of the Eudora Township
Public Library Board.
As discussed below, we conclude that state statute, not the joint resolution, governs the
selection of members of the Board. K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 12-1298(a) prescribes that Board
members be appointed, not elected.

David E. Waters
Page 2
In 2019, the Kansas Legislature passed the Eudora Community Library District Act (Act) 1
to allow the City to continue to be a part of a library district previously established between
the City and the Township because, due to reclassification, the City was no longer a part
of an existing library district. Pursuant to the Act, the City and the Township are to adopt
a joint resolution that includes specific provisions. 2 Among those provisions must be one
providing for the appointment of members to the board. 3 “Board” is defined as the “board
of directors of the Eudora community library district appointed pursuant to the provisions
of this act.”4 The Legislature included a provision for the members of the current board to
continue serving until such time as the joint resolution was adopted.
K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 12-1298(a) provides:
A library district created pursuant to this act shall be governed by a library
district board. The board shall consist of five directors who shall be qualified
electors of the library district and shall have terms of office as established
by the joint resolution. Board members appointed by the Eudora township
library board shall continue to serve in their offices as directors of the
Eudora community library district board until their respective terms expire
and until their successors are appointed by the city of Eudora and the
Eudora township as provided in the joint resolution. 5
To analyze this statute, we begin with the rules of statutory construction established by
the Kansas Supreme Court:
The most fundamental rule of statutory construction is that the intent of the
legislature governs if that intent can be ascertained. We first attempt to
ascertain legislative intent by reading the plain language of the statutes and
giving common words their ordinary meanings. When a statute is plain and
unambiguous, we do not speculate as to the legislative intent behind it and
will not read into the statute something not readily found in it.6
The language of K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 12-1298(a) is plain and unambiguous; current board
members are to serve until their “successors are appointed by the City of Eudora and the
Eudora township as provided in the joint resolution.” The term “appointed” is not defined
in the statute, so in accordance with the fundamental rule of statutory construction quoted
above, we give that word its ordinary meaning, which is “chosen for a particular job; an
appointed official.”7 In contrast, "elected” means “to select by vote for an office, position,
1 K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 12-1294 et seq.
2 See K.S.A.2020 Supp. 2-1296.
3 K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 12-1296(a)(1).
4 K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 12-1295(b).
5 Emphasis added.
6 Northern Natural Gas Co. v. ONEOK Field Services Co., 296 Kan. 906, 918 (2013), quoting Stewart Title
of the Midwest v. Reece & Nichols Realtors, 294 Kan. 553, 564-65 (2012) (internal citations omitted).
7 Appointed, Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/appointed
(last accessed July 26, 2021).

David E. Waters
Page 3
or membership.” 8 The statute allows the City and the Township to determine, by joint
resolution, the specific details on how many board members will be appointed by the City
and by the Township and the lengths of their terms, but does not allow the members to
be elected. 9
The joint resolution, which is in essence a contract, purports to establish a mechanism to
elect successive Board members. Governmental entities cannot have contract provisions
that exceed their authority. 10 Because K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 12-1298(a) does not authorize
an election to the library board, a provision in the contract between the City and the
Township for such election is unlawful and void.11
For these reasons, it is our opinion that, pursuant to K.S.A. 12-1298, members of the
Eudora Public Township Library Board must be appointed, rather than elected, despite
contrary language in the joint resolution adopted by the City and Township.
Sincerely,
Derek Schmidt
Kansas Attorney General
Sarah L. Shipman
Deputy Attorney General
DS:SLS:sb
8 Elected. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elected (last
accessed July 26, 2021).
9 The Kansas Legislature differentiates between “appointed” and “elected” in other statutes. See e.g.,
K.S.A. 15-201 (“the mayor, by and with the advice and consent of the remaining council members, shall
appoint an elector to fill the vacancy until the next election for that office”); K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 25-2023
(“Each member elected to a board of education shall hold office until a successor is elected or appointed
and qualified”).
10 See Templeton v. Kansas Parole Board, 27 Kan. App. 2d 471, 473-74 (2000).
11 See Attorney General Opinion No. 2001-26 (“A valid election cannot be called and held except by
authority of the law, whether that authority is conferred by constitution or by some statute enacted pursuant
thereto. An election held without affirmative constitutional or statutory authority, or contrary to a material
provision of the law, is a nullity, notwithstanding the fact that such election was fairly and honestly
conducted.”).