City of Newport v. Newport National Bank

146 S.W. 377, 148 Ky. 213, 1912 Ky. LEXIS 403
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedMay 7, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 146 S.W. 377 (City of Newport v. Newport National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Newport v. Newport National Bank, 146 S.W. 377, 148 Ky. 213, 1912 Ky. LEXIS 403 (Ky. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

Opinion op the Court by

William Rogers Clay, Commissioner —

Affirming.

The city of Newport, a municipal corporation of the second class, brought this action for specific performance against the Newport National Bank, to compel it to take and pay for, in accordance with its bid, an issue of street improvement, bonds, amounting to $100,000. A demurrer was sustained to the petition as amended, and the petition and the amended petition were dismissed. From that judgment, the city appeals. .

It appears from the petition and amended petition that on September 9, 1909, the Board of Aldermen of the city of Newport passed a resolution authorizing the submission to a vote of the people at the following November election, the question whether or not street improvement bonds to an amount not exceeding $100,-000 should be issued for the purpose of reconstructing the streets and alleys of the city. The clerk of Camp[214]*214bell County was1 directed to place tbe question upon tbe ballot, and tbe city clerk was directed to transmit to tbe county clerk a certified copy of tbe resolution. On September 16, 1909, tbe resolution was passed by tbe Board of Councilmen by tbe requisite vote. On September 18, 1909, tbe resolution was signed and approved by tbe Mayor. At tbe following November election, tbe question directed by tbe resolution to be submitted to tbe people was placed upon tbe ballot. On November 10, 1909, tbe election commissioners1 of Campbell County certified to tbe general council that tbe vote upon the $100,000 bond issue was as follows: Yes, 2,140; no, 845. Tbe bond issue was carried, as more than two-thirds of those voting on tbe question voted in favor of it. On February 24, 1910, an ordinance providing for tbe issual of street improvement bonds by tbe city of Newport, Kentucky, for tbe sum of $100,000, was passed by tb.e Board of Councilmen. On March 24, 1910, it was passed by tbe Board of Aldermen. On March 15, tbe ordinance was approved by tbe Mayor.

On September 28, 1910, tbe city of Newport instituted an ex parte proceeding in tbe Campbell Circuit Court for tbe purpose of testing tbe validity of tbe proposed bond issue. Tbe proceedings were held valid by tbe trial court, and on appeal to this court, tbe judgment was affirmed. Ex parte Newport, 141 Ky., 329.

During the month of July, 1911, there was passed by tbe two boards of tbe General Council an ordinance repealing the ordinance approved March 15, 1910, providing for the issue of tbe bonds. Tbe repealing ordinance was approved by tbe Mayor on July 13, 1911. During tbe same month, an ordinance providing for tbe issual of street improvement bonds for tbe city of Newport for tbe sum of $100,000, was passed by both boards of tbe General Council, and approved by tbe Mayor on July 13, 1911. By this ordinance, tbe bonds were to be of tbe denomination of $500, were to run for thirty years, and to bear interest at 4 per cent, payable semiannually. The ordinance further provides for the levy of a tax on tbe assessed value of all property subject to taxation, sufficient to pay tbe interest on tbe bonds, and to ^ create a sinking fund for tbe payment thereof within thirty years from the date of issue. Another provision directed that tbe proceeds of tbe bonds were to be used exclusively for tbe city’s proportionate part of street improvements. There was a still further provision to tbe [215]*215effect that the Sinking Fund Commissioners were authorized and empowered to carry the ordinance into effect.

Thereafter, the Sinking Fund Commissioners advertised for bids. On August 23, 1911, it opened the bids, and the bid of the Newport National Bank, being the highest and best bid, was accepted. By its bid, the Newport National Bank agreed to pay a premium of $801.50, and accrued interest to date. The bank deposited a check for $5,000 as a guarantee of its good faith. Thereafter, the Sinking Fund Commissioners prepared the bonds and tendered them to the bank, which declined to accept and pay for them.

It further appears from the amended petition that the ordinance pursuant to which the bonds were issued was never published, the only publication of it being a reference to it in an abstract of the proceedings of the Board of Aldermen, and of the Board of Councilmen. In the abstract of the proceedings of the Board1 of Councilmen is the following: “An ordinance providing for the issual of $100,000 street improvement bonds of the city of Newport. Adopted.” In the abstract of the proceedings of the Board of Aldermen is the following: “An ordinance providing for the issual of $100,000 street improvement bonds. Adopted.”

We deem it unnecessary to discuss the authority of the city to issue bonds under the resolution of 1909, the subsequent vote, and the ordinance approved March 15, 1910, authorizing the bonds to be issued. While it is true that the only question actually considered by this court on the appeal of Ex parte Newport, 141 Ky., 329, was whether or not, in determining the amount of the indebtedness of the city, the indebtedness of the Board of Education should be included, yet the judgment entered therein was conclusive of the validity of all the proceedings therein involved. It will not do to say thalTX .a city may file a proceeding to test the validity of the bonds, and because only certain questions are raised and discussed, that the city, or any taxpayer, may thereafter attack the bonds upon other grounds not actually passed on and determined. If this were the rule, a judgment would never be res adjudicata. We ‘are, therefore, of the opinion that the judgment in question is conclusive both upon the city and appellee, a taxpayer of the city, not only upon the questions actually decided, but upon all questions affecting the val[216]*216idi ty of the bonds which might have been raised1 and decided. Home Construction Co. v. Duncan, 111 Ky., 914.

We shall proceed, therefore, to a discussion of the proceedings had by the General Council after the ordinance was approved March 15, 1910. As stated before, the ordinance under which appellee purchased the bonds was never published, but simply a reference was made to it in the abstract of the proceedings of the two boards of the General Council. Section 3045, Kentucky Statutes, which is a portion of the charters of cities of the second class, provides, in part, as follows :

“Each board shall keep 'an accurate journal of its proceedings, and immediately after adjournment, a fair abstract of its proceedings shall be published once in one or more daily newspapers, in different languages, if necessary. The ordinances shall be published in like manner before they are in force.”

While there are many cases holding that charter provisions with reference to the publication of ordinances are merely directory, such is not the rule where publication is made a prerequisite to the ordinance’s taking effect. In Bybee v. Smith, 22 R., 1684, an action brought to test the validity of an ordinance annexing territory to the city of Glasgow, a city of the fifth class, the court said:

“Section 3638, Kentucky Statutes, provides: * * * ‘Every ordinance shall be signed- by the Mayor, attested by the clerk, and published at least once in a newspaper published in such city. * * * And shall be in force from and after such publication.’
“It is admitted a newspaper was published in the city, but it is averred in the petition that the ordinance annexing the proposed additional territory was never published.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
146 S.W. 377, 148 Ky. 213, 1912 Ky. LEXIS 403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-newport-v-newport-national-bank-kyctapp-1912.