City of Sioux Falls v. Kadinger

59 N.W.2d 631, 75 S.D. 86, 1953 S.D. LEXIS 25
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 13, 1953
DocketFile 9371
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 59 N.W.2d 631 (City of Sioux Falls v. Kadinger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota 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 Sioux Falls v. Kadinger, 59 N.W.2d 631, 75 S.D. 86, 1953 S.D. LEXIS 25 (S.D. 1953).

Opinions

RUDOLPH, J.

Following our decision in City of Sioux Falls v. Kadinger, 74 S.D. 217, 50 N.W.2d 797, the city commission. enacted an amended ordinance omitting therefrom that provision requiring that an applicant for a plumber’s li[88]*88cense must establish by the affidavit of a master or journeyman plumber that he has served at least three years1 as an apprentice. We held in the prior case that the portion of the ordinance requiring that the applicant for a license shall have served at least three years as an apprentice plumber was unconstitutional and because of this the entire ordinance was invalid.

Appellant refused to obtain a license under the amended ordinance, was fined for working as a plumber without such license, and has appealed.

The amended ordinance appears to be a complete act in itself. It first defines plumbing as follows:

“10.101. Definitions. Plumbing in this title shall be deemed to mean the profession, art or trade of, and all work done and all matters used in and for (a) introducing, maintaining and extending a supply of water through a pipe or pipes or any appurtenances thereof in a building, structure or establishment; (b) installing, connecting or repairing any system of drainage whereby foul waste, rain or surplus water, gas, odor, vapor or fluid is discharged or proposed to be discharged through a pipe or pipes from any building, structure or establishment; (c) connecting any building, structure or establishment with any service pipe, water pipe, public main or other underground structure; (d) performing all classes of work generally done by plumbers.
“The plumbing system of a building includes the water supply distributing pipes; the fixtures and fixture traps; the soil waste and vent pipes; the house drain and house sewer; the storm-water drainage with their devices, appurtenances and connections, all within or adjacent to the building, structure or premises.”

The next section of the ordinance classifies plumbers as master, journeyman and apprentice as follows:

“A Master Plumber is a person who assumes responsible charge and direction of other persons in the installation of plumbing as hereinbefore defined, and must hold a Master Plumber’s License, issued within the current calendar year by the Board of Plumbing Examiners of the city.
“A Journeyman Plumber is a person who performs the manual work of installing plumbing and drainage only under [89]*89the control of a licensed Master Plumber, and must hold a Journeyman Plumber’s License, issued within the current calendar year by the Board of Plumbing Examiners of the city.
“An Apprentice Plumber is a person who performs the manual work of plumbing and drainage under the immediate supervision, direction and control of a licensed Master Plumber or a licensed Journeyman Plumber.”

The ordinance then provides for a plumbing inspector, describes his duties and requires that before commencing any plumbing work in the city a plumber must obtain from the plumbing inspector a written permit. The ordinance also provides for a Board of Plumbing Examiners consisting of the plumbing inspector, the city engineer, a master plumber and a journeyman plumber licensed by the city. The Board of Plumbing Examiners is authorized to adopt such rules and regulations as shall be necessary for the examination of applicants for plumbing licenses and “to examine all such applicants as to their knowledge of the rules and regulations governing plumbing work and to determine the qualifications and fitness of such applicants for the license applied for and to grant licenses applied for and renewals thereof to qualified applicants.” It is further provided that “the examination of applicants for plumbing licenses shall be of such a character as to test the fitness and qualifications of the applicants for the licenses applied for and ability to properly carry on the plumbing business and work authorized under the license applied for in such manner as h> safeguard and preserve the public health, safety and general welfare, and in compliance with the regulations and ordinances governing such work.”

For the purpose of defraying expense of giving such examination it is required that a $10 fee accompany the application. A license fee of $50 per year is required of a master plumber and $10 a year of a journeyman plumber. Before a license issues to a master plumber it is required that he give a $1,000 bond in favor of the city conditioned for the faithful performance of all duties required by ordinance and that the obligors will hold the city harmless from all damage sustained by reason of neglect or incompetence of such master plumber or journeyman or apprentice working under [90]*90his supervision. All persons are prohibited from engaging in the business of plumbing without first securing a license and paying the license fee with the exception that persons holding a master or journeyman plumbers’ license at the time the ordinance became effective are not required to take the examination required by the ordinance to become licensed.

No fact question is presented. The questions raised by appellant go to- the validity of the ordinance.

We must premise our consideration of this ordinance upon the established law that a municipality acting pursuant to the power granted by SDC 45.0201(64) may in the interest of the public health require the examination and licensing of persons engaged in the business or occupation of plumbing. The restriction upon this power being that its exercise must be reasonable and not unduly abridge the right of a citizen to pursue a lawful vocation. City of Sioux Falls v. Kadinger, 74 S.D. 217, 50 N.W.2d 797. It is also fundamental in our law that all reasonable intendments must be indulged in favor of this ordinance, which should be upheld unless its infringement of constitutional restrictions is SO' plain as to admit of no reasonable doubt. Mundell v. Graph, 62 S.D. 631, 256 N.W. 121.

As stated above, although this ordinance purports to amend the prior ordinance held invalid, it is, nevertheless, complete in itself, and is in effect a new enactment with the part held objectionable omitted. It does not, therefore, fall within the rule that an amendment of a void ordinance cannot make the void ordinance valid. Board of Commissioners of the City of Newark v. Grodecki, 33 A.2d 115, 21 N.J.Misc. 241; City of LaCrosse v. Elbertson, 205 Wis. 207, 237 N.W. 99; Sutherland Statutory Construction, 3d Ed., § 1904.

The present ordinance provides that a license will issue without examination to a person holding a master or journeyman plumber’s license at the time the ordinance became effective. Appellant contends that this provision discriminates against him. This contention must be ruled adversely to appellant under the authority of State v. Doran, 28 S.D. 486, 134 N.W. 53.

[91]*91 It is further contended that there are no standards fixed for the examinations required, and that as a result the examining board may favor one applicant over another. We see no merit in this contention. The ordinance at the outset defines plumbing. Plumbers are classified according to certain work performed.

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City of Sioux Falls v. Kadinger
59 N.W.2d 631 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 N.W.2d 631, 75 S.D. 86, 1953 S.D. LEXIS 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-sioux-falls-v-kadinger-sd-1953.