Aylesworth v. McKesson

421 N.E.2d 422, 1981 Ind. App. LEXIS 1419
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 18, 1981
Docket3-1280A354
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 421 N.E.2d 422 (Aylesworth v. McKesson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aylesworth v. McKesson, 421 N.E.2d 422, 1981 Ind. App. LEXIS 1419 (Ind. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinions

HOFFMAN, Presiding Judge.

This appeal arises out of a public lawsuit under IC 1971, 34-4-17-1 (Burns Code Ed.) brought by James D. McKesson for injunc-tive relief to prohibit the sale of General Obligation Bonds in the amount of $2,900,-000 for the construction of a new Porter County Fairgrounds Complex.

On February 19, 1980 a petition consisting of 89 counterparts proposing the issuance of the bonds was delivered to the Board of Commissioners of Porter County, and it was given to the Porter County Auditor for the purpose of certifying the signa-tors of the petition as owners of taxable real estate in Porter County, Indiana. On March 13, 1980 the Auditor executed her certification specifying that the petition consisted of 1,119 owners of real estate in Porter County. On March 17, 1980 the Board of Commissioners accepted the petition and certification and passed Resolution 80-7, recommending that the County Council of Porter County authorize an appropriation for the construction of the Fairgrounds Complex and finance it through the issuance of General Obligation Bonds in the amount of $2,900,000.

On April 8,1980 the Porter County Council held a public hearing, at which time citizens were given an opportunity to speak regarding the proposal. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Porter County Council unanimously passed an Ordinance authorizing the additional appropriation and issuance of the bonds. A combined notice form was posted and published by the Auditor in the “Vidette Messenger” and “Porter County Herald” newspapers on April 17 and April 24, 1980.

On May 19, 1980 a remonstrance containing 34 counterparts was submitted to the Auditor which was against the issuance of the bonds. On May 27, 1980 additional counterparts of the remonstrance petition were submitted to the Auditor. On June 6, 1980 the Auditor certified that the remonstrance petition submitted on May 19, 1980 contained 896 signators who were owners of real property in Porter County. The Auditor refused certification of the counterparts filed on May 27, 1980, for the reason that they were not timely filed pursuant to IC 1971, 6-1.1-20^1 (Burns 1978 Repl.).

At the meeting of the Porter County Council on June 24, 1980, the Auditor’s certification of the remonstrance petition was presented to the Council. At that meeting, McKesson filed verified objections to the Auditor’s certification of both sets of petitions. The Council unanimously passed Resolution 80-5 stating that the certification was received and accepted, and declaring the remonstrance to be insufficient to prevent further proceedings toward the issuance of the bonds.

On June 13,1980 the Auditor’s certificate regarding the additional appropriation of $2,900,000 was sent to the State Board of Tax Commissioners along with the petition of the Auditor requesting approval of the issuance of Porter County’s “Building Bonds of 1980” in the amount of $2,900,000.

[424]*424A hearing was held by the State Board of Tax Commissioners for the approval of these requests. On July 8, 1980 the additional appropriation was formally approved by Order No. 80641633A and the issuance of Building Bonds was approved by Order No. 80641633. On September 2 and 9, 1980 the Board of Commissioners of Porter County published notice that a sale of the bonds would take place on September 29, 1980.

On September 12, 1980 McKesson filed suit seeking injunctive relief to prevent the sale of the bonds. On September 26, 1980 the Porter Superior Court, by the Honorable Bruce W. Douglas, issued a temporary injunction blocking the bond sale and ordered the Auditor to perform a recount of signatures on the proponents’ petition and upon all counterparts of the remonstrance. On October 16, 1980 the rechecking process was completed by the Auditor and the result was filed with the court. As a result of the rechecking, the number of names the Auditor found to be certifiable on the proponents' petition amounted to 1,354 and the number of certifiable names on the petition of the remonstrators amounted to 1,087.

On October 28, 1980 the Honorable Bruce W. Douglas issued an order permanently enjoining the issuance of the bonds for the construction of the Porter County Fairgrounds Complex and any further proceedings thereon until May 27, 1981. Judge Douglas based his order on his findings that no evidence was presented as to whether or not notice was posted in three public places, as required by law, and that an additional 267 signatures certifiable on the remonstrance counterparts filed May 27,1980 plus 40 certifiable signatures from remonstrance counterparts the Auditor had disqualified, should in fact, be added to the sum of remonstrance signators bringing the total to 1,394.

The issues raised in this appeal are as follows:1

(1)whether the trial court erred in finding that notice had not been posted pursuant to law by the Auditor;
(2) whether the trial court erred in finding that the counterparts to the remonstrance petition filed on May 27, 1980, were timely filed and the certifiable names contained therein should be counted toward the total; and
(3) whether the trial court erred in finding that 40 certifiable signatures from remonstrance counterparts which had been disqualified by the Auditor should be counted toward the total.

We find that the trial court did err in each issue presented on appeal and the order of the trial court granting the permanent injunction should be reversed.

In his order of October 28, 1980 Judge Douglas found as follows:

“That Indiana Code 6-1.1-20 — 4 also re-queres [sic] that the Notice be posted in three public places in the political sub-division which decides to issue the bonds. There has been no evidence submitted to the Court to show that this Notice was posted, nor to show, if it was posted, when it was posted. Owners of property that may wish to remonstrate also have thirty (30) days to remonstrate from the time the Notice was posted. There being no evidence in this case concerning the posting, the Court must rule against the Defendants on this particular point for only the Defendants would know if and when the Notice was posted.
“For these two reasons, either one of which would be sufficient, the Court does now consider the remonstrating petitions filed May 27, 1980, as timely filed.”

It is true that no evidence was presented by either party tending to prove that notice was posted in three public places. No evidence was presented concerning posting for the simple reason that posting was never at issue in this case.

The complaint filed by McKesson on September 12, 1980, stated as follows:

“8. That Notices of the Determination to Issue Bonds were prepared, posted and published which were intended to give [425]*425notice to both those who might object to such action and to those who might wish to remonstrate against such action, which notices were published as a single advertisement in the Vidette Messenger and The Porter County Herald, said publications being on April 17, 1980, and April 24, 1980.” (Emphasis added.)

McKesson again stated in his affidavit in support of complaint for injunction:

“13. That the notice given was posted and prepared two (2) times... . ” (Emphasis added.)

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Aylesworth v. McKesson
421 N.E.2d 422 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1981)

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Bluebook (online)
421 N.E.2d 422, 1981 Ind. App. LEXIS 1419, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aylesworth-v-mckesson-indctapp-1981.