County of Shelby v. Blanton

595 S.W.2d 72, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 362
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJuly 25, 1978
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 595 S.W.2d 72 (County of Shelby v. Blanton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
County of Shelby v. Blanton, 595 S.W.2d 72, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 362 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinions

MATHERNE, Judge.

This lawsuit tests the constitutionality of Chapter 260, Private Acts 1974, which restructures the government of Shelby County, Tennessee.

The plaintiffs appeal from all findings of the chancellor upholding the constitutionality of chapter 260, and they also insist that the statute can not stand with the provisions found to be violative of the constitution deleted therefrom. The defendants appeal from the findings of the chancellor that certain portions of the act violate the constitution. We will not treat the assignments of error individually, but will cover the issues presented under appropriate headings.

I. CHAPTER 260, PRIVATE ACTS 1974

The record reveals that for approximately five years prior to the passage of chapter 260, various citizens, officials, and legislators of Shelby County had attempted to have enacted a private act to restructure the government of the county. During the 1974 legislative session the legislators of Shelby County presented a proposed act to the quarterly county court. That body approved the proposed statute. The legislators then had the proposal enacted into law as Chapter 260, Private Acts 1974.

This statute changes the form of Shelby County government from a commission/county court government to may- or/county court government. The Act vests the executive function in the county mayor, separating it from the legislative function vested in the county court. It was noted in Farris v. Blanton (Tenn.1975) 528 S.W.2d 549, that the form of government thus created for Shelby County is unique and stands alone among the 95 counties of the state. Section 2 of the Act provides that it shall have no effect unless it is approved by a majority of the voters voting in an election to be held for such purpose in the August 1974 general election. If the Act were to be approved in the referendum, an election was to be called October 9,1974, for the election of the first mayor, who would take office on January 1,1976. During the interim period from September 1, 1974, until the new mayor would take office, the Act created a County Executive Committee and named thereto Jack W. Ramsay, James W. Moore, and Lee Hyden, the then commissioners of Shelby County. This executive committee was to perform all functions previously performed by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners during the period from September 1, 1974, through December 31, 1975. Section 11 of the Act provides that the Act shall have no effect unless it is approved by a two-thirds vote of the quarterly county court within forty-five days after its passage. The Act was signed by the Governor of Tennessee on March 21, 1974.

The Shelby County Quarterly Court unanimously ratified chapter 260 on April 22, 1974. The question of ratification was submitted to the people in the August 1974 general election. The vote was 44,115 for [76]*76the Act and 25,784 against. The executive committee set up by the Act began to function and the first county mayor was elected on October 9, 1974. The county mayor assumed his duties on January 1, 1976, and the executive committee named in the Act was dissolved.

The plaintiffs in the present lawsuit are the County of Shelby, acting by and through its quarterly county court; the Chairman of the quarterly county court, as chairman and individually; and six members of the quarterly county court, suing as members and individually.

The defendants are the Governor of the State of Tennessee, the secretary of state and the attorney general of the State of Tennessee, the Executive Committee of Shelby County set up by chapter 260 and the members thereof, and various elected and appointed officials of Shelby County, Tennessee.

The complaint seeks a'declaratory judgment as to the constitutionality of chapter 260; an adjudication on certain portions of the Act claimed to be ambiguous and vague; an injunction prohibiting the executive committee from functioning; an order determining what officials may sign bonds and warrants of Shelby County; and general relief.

On two prior appeals to this court from two interlocutory orders of the chancellor we held that: (1) the plaintiffs were not barred from bringing this action because of laches, judicial estoppel or equitable estop-pel; (2) the statute was upheld by a majority of votes cast in an election held for that purpose; (3) the statute does not embrace more than one subject, and it recites in its caption, or otherwise, the title or substance of the laws sought to be repealed or amended; (4) the issue of whether the appointment of the executive committee for the interim period prior to the election of the mayor was proper had become moot because their interim term had expired. This court refused to accept all other questions of law certified by the chancellor and remanded for final judgment on all issues. There was no petition for writ of certiorari filed with the supreme court, and those holdings have now become final.

On remand no additional proof was presented. The chancellor treated the issues as rejected by this court on the prior appeals as the issues to be determined on remand. Those issues are:

(1) Is it within the power of the Tennessee General Assembly to enact legislation by Private Act affecting a county in the form or instrumentalities of its government, which legislation may have the effect of excluding said county from the operation of the general law of the State controlling the government of counties, or is such legislation unconstitutional as viola-tive of Article 11, Section 8, of the Tennessee Constitution?
(2) Does the veto power granted in Chapter 260 of the Private Acts of 1974 by the Legislature to the Executive Branch of Shelby County Government violate the separation of powers doctrine contained in Article 11, Sections 1 and 2 of the State Constitution?
(3) Is Chapter 260 so vague and ambiguous that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and is it therefore void for vagueness under the due process clauses of the Tennessee Constitution and Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution?
(4) Is paragraph 10 of sub-section 5 of Section 4.03 of Chapter 260 constitutional?
(5) Who under existing law is authorized to sign and co-sign' general county warrants?
(6) Who under existing law is required to sign and co-sign county bonds, tax anticipation notes and bond anticipation notes?
(7) Who is entitled to establish a depository for county funds?
(8) Can the fee-officers establish their own bank accounts in their own chosen banks pursuant to T.C.A. § 5-816, 817 and 818?

[77]*77II.THE 1978 AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION

The defendants insist that on March 7, 1978, the citizens of Tennessee approved amendments to the constitution which calls for the same form of county government as is set out for Shelby County by Chapter 260, Private Acts 1974. The defendants claim that the implementing legislation, Chapter 934, Public Acts 1978, repeals all statutes in conflict therewith and sets up a form of county government as required by the amendment to the constitution.

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Related

County of Shelby v. McWherter
936 S.W.2d 923 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1996)
Shelby County Civil Service Merit Board v. Lively
692 S.W.2d 15 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
595 S.W.2d 72, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/county-of-shelby-v-blanton-tennctapp-1978.