City of Hattiesburg v. Jackson

108 So. 2d 596, 235 Miss. 109, 1959 Miss. LEXIS 409
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 26, 1959
DocketNo. 40998
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 108 So. 2d 596 (City of Hattiesburg v. Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Hattiesburg v. Jackson, 108 So. 2d 596, 235 Miss. 109, 1959 Miss. LEXIS 409 (Mich. 1959).

Opinion

Gillespie, J.

Appellant, herein called City, by resolution of the May- or and Commissioners, abolished the office of City Pound Keeper. Appellee was the City Pound Keeper, and the City notified him of this action. Appellee offered to work at other jobs, but he was not employed by the City in any other position. He demanded that the Civil Service Commission make a full investigation of his discharge from employment in the police department “to determine whether or not my discharge was made for political or religious reasons and was or was not made in good faith for cause.” (Sec. 3825-11, Mississippi Code 1942).

The Civil Service Commission found that appellee was City Pound Keeper and not a member of the police department when the job of City Pound Keeper was abolished on October 15, 1957; that the City had a right to abolish the job and it “was not abolished for political or religious reasons, but was done in good faith.”

On appeal to the circuit court on the record made before the Civil Service Commission, that court held that the City had a right to abolish the job of City Pound Keeper; that the Civil Service Commission made its decision in good faith; but that as a matter of law, appellee was a member of the police department, and, under authority of City of Laurel v. Reddoch, 200 Miss. 259, 26 So. 2d 465, was entitled to other employment in the police department, subject to seniority rights, qualifica[114]*114tions, and rights of other employees, and was reinstated with salary retroactive to the date of discharge. From the judgment of the circuit court the City appeals to this Court.

An ordinance was adopted by the City on December 12, 1925, which provided in part as follows: “The pound keeper shall care for all the animals impounded and shall feed and water the same and shall receive such compensation as may be fixed by the mayor and board of commissioners by resolution, and he is hereby vested with the authority and power of police officer and subject to the orders and regulations of the chief of police as same as other policemen. (Ord. 752, No. 5, 12-31-25).”

On January 5, 1937, appellee was elected a policeman and required to give bond for $100.00, and he served as a policeman until he was injured in 1940. He then went on retirement for total disability until May 1,1942. Thereafter, appellee was privately employed until April 3, 1945, when he was employed under the following resolution passed by the City:

“WHEREAS, it is a violation of a City Ordinance for dogs and livestock to run at large within the City limits of the City of Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and
“WHEREAS, for the proper enforcement of said Ordinance it is necessary that the City employ a keeper for the dog and livestock pounds:
“NOW, THEREFORE, Be It Resolved by the Mayor and Commissioners of the City of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, that O. O. Jackson, be and he is hereby employed as City Pound Keeper for the City of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, at a salary of $200.00 per month which salary shall cover all expense incurred by his taking and impounding of all dogs and livestock and out of his salary he shall also maintain his car and pay all expenses thereof.
“Before entering upon his duty he shall enter into bond in the amount of Five Hundred ($500.00) Dollars [115]*115payable to tbe City of Hattiesburg, condition for tbe faithful performance of his duties, which bond shall be approved by the Mayor. ’ ’

Appellee was employed as City Pound Keeper until his discharge as a result of the pound keeper’s job being abolished on October 15, 1957.

On January 24, 1952, the City adopted Ordinance No. 1199 providing for the vaccination of dogs, prohibiting dogs from running at large, prohibiting the keeping of vicious dogs, the impounding of certain dogs, other regulations relating to dogs, and providing for fines for violating the ordinance. Sec. 11 provided that:

“The Chief of Police of said City shall designate one of the police officers of said City the primary duty and responsibility of enforcing the provisions of this ordinance, but any and all police officers of said City are fully authorized and empowered to enforce any and all of the provisions hereof.”

On October 15,1957, the City adopted a resolution abolishing the job of City Pound Keeper, and the record shows without dispute that this action was prompted by reasons of efficiency and economy. According to appellee, his duties as pound keeper were to pick up loose dogs and keep cows, horses and mules off the streets; that he was under bond for $500 as “dog catcher” and that is what he was paid for. He wore the police badges he used when he was a policeman from 1937 to 1940, having never turned them in. He also wore a uniform (blue shirt and trousers) and carried a gun with which to kill dogs. He was paid out of the City’s general fund, the same fund out of which the police were paid. For the last two years before the job was abolished, he drove a City truck on which was a picture of a dog’s head and the words, “Hattiesburg Police Dog Pound.” Appellee did not take orders from the Chief of Police or anyone else in the police department. He is not shown to have had the [116]*116power of arrest, unless it can be said the ordinances gave him that power.

Appellee made written application for a civil service examination on September 4, 1945, for the position of “Pound Keeper”, and it showed that he had been so employed since April 1, 1945. Appellee was never designated by the Chief of Police as an enforcement officer under Section 11 of Ordinance No. 1199.

On February 23, 1953, appellee made application for membership in the Mississippi Public Employees ’ Retirement System. A certified employment record, signed by the city clerk and appellee, was submitted to the Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System listing appellee as “Pound Keeper” for the period January 4,1945 to January 1,1953, and another such record listing appellee as “policeman” from January 1, 1937 to March 12, 1940. On March 1, 1955, the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System certified that appellee as a member of the said Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System was entitled to prior credit of 11% years for the periods covered by the two certified employment records, already mentioned. It was shown that appellee had not had any funds deducted from his pay as pound keeper for the Disability and Relief Fund for Firemen and Policemen, but that deductions had been made for the Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System.

It is first necessary to determine the scope of the inquiry on appeal to the circuit court from the order of the Civil Service Commission in this case. By statute (Sec. 3825-11, Code of 1942), the review is confined to the determination of whether the order of the Civil Service Commission “was or was not made in good faith for cause.” The legal equivalent of not acting in good faith for cause is acting without substantial evidence, or arbitrarily, or capriciously, or beyond the power of the Commission. City of Meridian v. Davidson, 211 Miss. [117]*117685, 53 So. 2d 48.

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Bluebook (online)
108 So. 2d 596, 235 Miss. 109, 1959 Miss. LEXIS 409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-hattiesburg-v-jackson-miss-1959.