In Re Incorporation of Village of Godfrey

612 N.E.2d 870, 243 Ill. App. 3d 915, 183 Ill. Dec. 943, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 528
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 13, 1993
Docket5-91-0894
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 612 N.E.2d 870 (In Re Incorporation of Village of Godfrey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Incorporation of Village of Godfrey, 612 N.E.2d 870, 243 Ill. App. 3d 915, 183 Ill. Dec. 943, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 528 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

JUSTICE LEWIS

delivered the opinion of the court:

Appellants, Robert L. Higgins, William J. Preis, and Rand J. Springman, appeal from the circuit court of Madison County’s order denying their petition to intervene, objecting to the court’s order setting municipal officer elections, and asking the court to vacate all orders previously entered in this case. We affirm for the reasons set forth below.

The facts and history of this case are as follows: A petition to form a new municipality, the Village of Godfrey, and an affidavit and a copy of the published notice of the intent to file the petition were filed on November 20, 1990, in the circuit court of Madison County pursuant to the Illinois Municipal Code. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 24, pars. 2 — 3—5a, 2 — 3—6.) A hearing was held on the petition, and no objections were presented. The court ruled that the proposed area of incorporation constituted a village in fact, and the court certified the question of incorporation for submission to the electors at the election to be held on April 2, 1991. At the election of April 2, 1991, the electors voted in favor of incorporation of the Village of Godfrey.

Subsequently, on April 10, 1991, pursuant to a petition to set municipal elections filed by the incorporators, the court entered an order setting the election of the municipal officers of the village for November 5, 1991. The appellants filed their petition to intervene on September 4, 1991. In their petition, the appellants objected to the court’s order setting the election of the municipal officers and to the court’s order submitting the question of incorporation of the village, asserting that the court had no jurisdiction to enter these orders. The court permitted the appellants to intervene, and following a hearing on the petition to intervene, the court denied the appellants’ petition. This appeal followed.

On appeal, the primary concern is the reconciliation of certain provisions of the Election Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 46, par. 1 — 1 et seq.) with certain provisions of the Illinois Municipal Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 24, 1 — 1—1 et seq.). While several sections of each code come into consideration in this decision, the sections which are to be reconciled are section 28 — 2 of the Election Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 46, par. 28 — 2) and sections 2 — 3—6 and 2 — 3—7 of the Illinois Municipal Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 24, pars. 2 — 3—6, 2 — 3—7). It is the appellants’ contention that the court exceeded the statutory authority of section 28 — 2 when it set the referendum of the question of incorporation on April 2, 1991, as the notice of the intention to file the petition to incorporate was defective under the statute. The appellants’ second contention is that the court exceeded its statutory authority provided in section 2 — 3—7 when it set the election of the municipal officers for November 5, 1991, as this date was not a scheduled date for a general municipal election. The appellants assert that because the court exceeded its statutory authority and the statute is the sole basis of the court’s jurisdiction, the petition for incorporation and the subsequent referendum flowing from the petition were null and void, and that the election of the municipal officers must be vacated for lack of jurisdiction.

Because it necessarily follows that if the referendum considered by the electors at the April 2, 1991, election was null and void, the subsequent election of officers was also void, we first consider whether the court had jurisdiction to order the referendum for incorporation under the statute. As the appellants correctly assert, a court derives its jurisdiction from the statute alone when considering the establishment of a municipal corporation; therefore, the conditions of the statute must be complied with or the court has no jurisdiction and the elected officers are not justified in holding their offices. (People ex rel. Moran v. Teolis (1960), 20 Ill. 2d 95, 169 N.E.2d 232.) Because the issue requires this court to reconcile the Election Code with the Illinois Municipal Code, our consideration of necessity entails statutory construction of the pertinent sections of the codes involved.

Generally, to construe a statute, a court must ascertain the intent of the legislature and give it effect. (City of Springfield v. Board of Election Commissioners (1985), 105 Ill. 2d 336, 473 N.E.2d 1313.) The entire statute must be examined for guidance as to that intent. (City of Springfield v. Board of Election Commissioners (1985), 105 Ill. 2d 336, 473 N.E.2d 1313.) In considering the statute, language is given its plain and ordinary meaning. (Roser v. Anderson (1991), 222 Ill. App. 3d 1071, 584 N.E.2d 865.) Also, the statute as a whole must be considered, and each word, clause and section should be attributed some reasonable meaning. (Roser v. Anderson (1991), 222 Ill. App. 3d 1071, 584 N.E.2d 865.) It is also a rule of construction that an interpretation that renders any part of a statute superfluous or produces an absurd result must be avoided. (Roser v. Anderson (1991), 222 Ill. App. 3d 1071, 584 N.E.2d 865.) A court must also consider the objective of the statute and the evils it remedies when construing the statute. (City of Springfield v. Board of Election Commissioners (1985), 105 Ill. 2d 336, 473 N.E.2d 1313.) It is presumed that the legislature intended its enactments to be consistent and harmonious, and where provisions are in pari materia, the provisions must be construed in reference to each other and in harmony with each other. (Robinson v. Jones (1989), 186 Ill. App. 3d 82, 542 N.E.2d 127.) It has been held that the Election Code and the Illinois Municipal Code are to be considered in pari materia when construing the provisions of these codes. (United Citizens v. Coalition to Let the People Decide in 1989 (1988), 125 Ill. 2d 332, 531 N.E.2d 802.) With these principles in mind, we now consider the pertinent provisions of the statutes involved.

Section 28 — 2 of the Election Code provides in pertinent part as follows:

“A petition for the incorporation or formation of a new political subdivision whose officers are to be elected rather than appointed must have attached to it an affidavit attesting that at least 108 days and no more than 138 days prior to such election notice of intention to file such petition was published in a newspaper published within the proposed political subdivision, or if none, in a newspaper of general circulation within the territory of the proposed political subdivision in substantially the following form:
NOTICE OF PETITION TO FORM A NEW_

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Bluebook (online)
612 N.E.2d 870, 243 Ill. App. 3d 915, 183 Ill. Dec. 943, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 528, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-incorporation-of-village-of-godfrey-illappct-1993.