Bauer v. City of Berkeley

282 S.W.2d 154, 1955 Mo. App. LEXIS 182
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 20, 1955
DocketNo. 29351
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 282 S.W.2d 154 (Bauer v. City of Berkeley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bauer v. City of Berkeley, 282 S.W.2d 154, 1955 Mo. App. LEXIS 182 (Mo. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

ANDERSON, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal by plaintiffs from a final judgment dissolving a temporary injunction and denying a permanent injunction, and discharging the defendant City of Berkeley and John D. Taylor, City Clerk, on a citation for contempt.

The action was brought by Lawrence J. Bauer and Robert J. Carpenter, residents and taxpayers of the City of Berkeley, on their own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, against the City of Berkeley, Wilfred Bangert, Mayor of said city, Roy H. Heitman, City Treasurer, and the following named members of the Board of Aldermen of said city: Louis Broyles, Henry Tungate, Glennon Ryan, Glennon Harris, Norman Champ, Fackney Smith, Bernard Gerling, Edward Walsh, Kenneth Grob, and Richard Loraine. Also joined as defendants were: Missouri Petroleum Products Company, a corporation; St. Charles Quarry Company, a corporation; Westlake Quarry and Material Company, a corporation; Asphalt Mix, Inc., a corporation ; and Wilfred Bangert in his individual capacity.

The object of the suit was to enjoin the City of Berkeley and its officials from entering into any contracts for the improvement of the streets of said city under an alleged unlawful authority granted by the Board of Aldermen on April 15, 1953, from expending city funds, and from issuing special tax bills for work performed on certain streets of said city. By said petition plaintiffs also sought a restraining order against the private corporations above named, and Wilfred Bangert in his individual capacity, from doing further work under said alleged unlawful authority and from issuing any special tax bills as contractors for said improvement. The petition prayed that on final hearing the defendants, and each of them, be permanently enjoined from acting or proceeding under or in accordance with said alleged unlawful authority.

Relief was sought on the ground that the Mayor and Board of Aldermen in authorizing and making said improvements had proceeded contrary to law in that they had failed to comply with the provisions of Sections 8.250, 88.687, and 88.700 RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S., thus depriving plaintiffs and other taxpayers of due process of law in that they had not been accorded the opportunity, as provided by said statutes, (a) to be notified that said improvements were a necessity; (b) to protest the improvements if they so desired; (c) to receive the benefits to be derived from competitive bidding for the aforementioned improvements; and (d) to have public funds expended according to law.

The theory of the defense was that the work performed on said streets, under the authority granted by the Board of Aider-men, consisted merely of repairs which, under Section 88.703 RSMo 1949, V.A. M.S., could be lawfully made without any of the formalities required by the statutes upon which plaintiffs rely.

It appears from the evidence that prior to the events which gave rise to this lawsuit the streets of the City of Berkeley had been in very bad condition. On June 23, 1952, the Board of Aldermen adopted a [156]*156resolution concerning the repair of said streets which provided “that all stre'ets in the said City of Berkeley will hereafter be repaired by the tax bill method either by the prior request of the resident property. owners or by the order of the Board of Aldermen according to the due process' of law established by the statutes of the State of Missouri, except for those streets which may be deemed arterial highways by the Board of Aldermen of the City of Berkeley, Missouri.”

Thereafter, at a meeting of the Board of , Aldermen held April 15, 1953’, defendant Bangert requested authority from said Board to take over and operate the .street department, and to outline and choose the work to be done on the streets, under the 60‡ tax bill methbd.. Mr. Bangert stated. that there would be no compensation to him, and that he would be responsible to the aldermanic committee in carrying on said work. The Board, by a majority voté, granted the authority requested, and on the following morning the Mayor started to work on the streets. The following streets were'worked on: Graham Road, Carson Road, Country Day Lane, Evans Lane, and Berkeley Drive.

The manner and method of performing the work on said streets was detailed by defendant Bangert in a statement offered in evidence at the hearing below, the material portions of which are as follows:

“Berkeley Drive needed repairs over its entire length of some 2,700 feet. At the time that the work was commenced, this street was in very bad condition. The pavement was broken and irregular over its entire length. However, the original base rock of the street was still intact. On this street, as on all others, we went over the street in the condition in which we found,it’and applied a penetrating coat of MC-O as-phaltic binding, material. This material is more or less compact and solid in a cooled condition. It was delivered to the job on a trailer truck, heated to 300 deg. Fahrenheit, and applied under 150 pounds per square inch pressure through spray nozzles across the entire surface of the street in a quantity of .2 gallons per square yard. Thus, the street was sprinkled with very hot asphalt under pressure.
“After the first step was complete,, that is, after the first sprinkling of binding material was applied, the street was still in an uneven and rough condition. The next procedure consisted of allowing the binding material’ to. saturate the surface and impregnate the surface material .for approximately a 24-hour period.
“On the day following, a Barber-Green asphalt spreader was used to-spread the asphalt material on top of the binder coat. This machine is so-constructed that we were able to spread the asphalt to .a level surface graded-out from..zero to the required thickness-of several inches in some depressions, depending upon the irregularities found in the surface of the. street. The material used in this operation was-known as pre-mixed asphaltic concrete, heated to the right degree, and. applied in hea.ted form to the. surface of the street by the spreader, after which it was rolled with a ten ton roller-within a matter of hours. These pror cedures were all that was done to Berkeley Drive.
“The -holes in the street were not filled with rock or any other material by hand. The spreader took care of this in .a single operation. No man power was used other than that required to .operate the first sprinkling machine or tank truck and those used to operate, the spreader and roller.
“ * * * * * *
“It will be -noted that no rock was-used on the Berkeley Drive project. On Country Day and Harmon Lane-, (formerly Brown Road), Evans Lane,. Carson-Road and Graham Road varying amounts of rock were used and purchased from the Westlake Quarry- and the St. Charles Quarry.
«* * * * * *
[157]*157“The procedures as to the application of asphaltic binding material and asphaltic concrete mix and .the eventual rolling thereof were followed exactly in the latter four projects after the deeper holes had been filled and leveled off with rock by hand labor consisting of city employees * * *.
* ■ * * * ■ * ■ * "
“In all instances, whether rock was used to fill the chuck holes or not, the work was done and the material applied to the streets in the condition in which they were found.

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Bluebook (online)
282 S.W.2d 154, 1955 Mo. App. LEXIS 182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bauer-v-city-of-berkeley-moctapp-1955.