Board of Commissioners v. Northeastern Indiana Building Trades Council

954 N.E.2d 937, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1648, 2011 WL 4908378
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 29, 2011
Docket02A03-1009-PL-534
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 954 N.E.2d 937 (Board of Commissioners v. Northeastern Indiana Building Trades Council) 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
Board of Commissioners v. Northeastern Indiana Building Trades Council, 954 N.E.2d 937, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1648, 2011 WL 4908378 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

[939]*939OPINION

ROBB, Chief Judge.

Case Summary and Issues

In April 2009, the Board of Commissioners of Allen County (“Commissioners”) met and determined the common construction wages for the renovation of the Keystone Building, an Allen County public work project. In response, the Northeastern Indiana Building Trades Council (“Trades Council”), Kent Prosser, Mark Jarrell, Gregory Stoller, and Michael Kinder & Sons, Inc. (collectively, “Appellees”) brought this action for judicial review.1 The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the Appellees and set aside the Commissioners’ common wage determination. The Commissioners appeal and raise three issues, which we reorder and restate as: 1) whether the Appellees have standing to pursue this action; 2) whether the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction to review the Commissioners’ common wage determination; and 8) whether the trial court correctly determined that the Commissioners’ common wage determination was not supported by substantial evidence. We conclude the Trades Council has associational standing to sue on behalf of the affected members of its constituent unions, the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction, and the Commissioners’ common wage determination was not supported by substantial evidence. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.2

Facts and Procedural History

On February 10, 2009, a wage committee was appointed to determine the common construction wages to be paid for the Keystone Building renovation project (“Keystone Project”). The Keystone Project is an Allen County public work subject to the common construction wage statute, Indiana Code chapter 5-16-7. Due to a conflict' of interest by one wage committee member, the wag;e committee was subsequently reconstituted. On March 23, 2009, the wage committee met and considered wage scales proposed by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, the Trades Council, and Associated Builders and Contractors, Indiana Chapter, Inc. (“ABC”).3 The committee reached a tie vote, with two members voting to adopt the Trades Council’s proposed wage scale, two members voting to adopt the ABC wage scale, and the other member abstaining. As a result of the deadlocked vote, responsibility for the common wage determination passed to the Commissioners as the “awarding agency” pursuant to Indiana Code section 5-16-7-l(g).

On April 3, 2009, two of the three Commissioners, Commissioner F. Nelson Peters and Commissioner Linda K. Bloom, met as the awarding agency. The Commissioners received information from Ken Neumeister, a representative of ABC, and from Michael Avila, representing the Trades Council. The Commissioners also received the transcript and exhibits from the March 23, 2009 wage committee meeting. At the conclusion of the April 3 meeting, the Commissioners voted to adopt the wage scale proposed by ABC as the common construction wages for the Keystone Project.

[940]*940On April 15, 2009, the Appellees filed their amended complaint, alleging that the Commissioners’ common wage determination was arbitrary and capricious given “the lack of any evidence substantiating that the ABC wage scale represented the mode wages paid in Allen County” and requesting, among other relief, that the Commissioners’ decision be voided and set aside. Appellants’ Appendix at 49. The Commissioners filed motions to dismiss, arguing that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to review the Commissioners’ common wage determination and that the Appellees lacked standing to bring the action. The trial court denied both motions to dismiss. The Appellees and the Commissioners filed cross-motions for summary judgment, and ABC was granted permission to file an amicus curiae brief. Following a hearing, the trial court issued its order granting summary judgment to the Appellees and setting aside the Commissioners’ common wage determination.4 As the basis for setting aside the Commissioners’ decision, the trial court held the decision was “unsupported by substantial evidence.” Id. at 19. The Commissioners now appeal. Additional facts will be supplied as appropriate.

Discussion and Decision5

Indiana’s common construction wage statute provides that any entity awarded a contract for the construction of a public work, as well as any subcontractor, “shall pay for each class of work ... on the project a scale of wages that may not be less than the common construction wage.”6 Ind.Code § 5-16-7-l(a). The awarding agency, in this case the Commissioners, is required to compose a five-person committee for the purpose of ascertaining the common construction wage.7 Ind.Code § 5 — 16—7—1 (b). As soon as appointed, the committee shall meet and classify the labor to be employed in the project as skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled and determine the hourly wage to be paid for each class. Ind.Code § 5-16-7-l(e). “The rate of wages determined ... shall not be less than the common construction wage for each of the three (3) classes of wages ... that are currently being paid in the county where the project is located.” Ind.Code § 5 — 16—7—1 (d); see also Ind.Code § 5-16-7-4(1) (defining “common construction wage” as “a scale of wages for each class of work described in section 1(c)(1) of this chapter that is not less than the common construction wage of all construction wages being paid in the county where a project is located”). The committee shall make and file its common wage determination with the awarding agency at least two weeks prior to the date fixed for letting of the contract. Ind.Code § 5-16-7-l(f). If, as occurred here, the committee fails to meet this deadline, “the awarding agency [941]*941shall make the determination, and its finding shall be final.” Ind.Code § 5-16-7-1(g)-

I. Appellees’ Standing

The Commissioners raise the threshold issue of whether the Appellees lack standing to pursue this judicial review action. In response, the Appellees argue they have both associational and public standing. The trial court resolved the standing issue in the Appellees’ favor in denying the Commissioners’ motion to dismiss. When reviewing the grant or denial of a motion to dismiss for lack of standing under Trial Rule 12(B)(6), we must take the allegations of the complaint as true, we are presented with a pure question of law, and our standard of review is de novo. State ex rel. Steinke v. Coriden, 831 N.E.2d 751, 754 (Ind.Ct.App.2005), tram, denied. If, however, affidavits or other materials are attached to the motion to dismiss, it is treated as a motion for summary judgment under Trial Rule 56. Thomas v. Blackford County Area Bd. of Zoning Appeals, 907 N.E.2d 988, 990 (Ind.2009).

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954 N.E.2d 937, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1648, 2011 WL 4908378, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-commissioners-v-northeastern-indiana-building-trades-council-indctapp-2011.