Macrum v. Board of Supervisors

141 Misc. 358, 252 N.Y.S. 546, 1931 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1686
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 2, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 141 Misc. 358 (Macrum v. Board of Supervisors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Macrum v. Board of Supervisors, 141 Misc. 358, 252 N.Y.S. 546, 1931 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1686 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1931).

Opinion

Johnston, J.

Plaintiffs are taxpayers. Defendants are members of the board of supervisors and the treasurer and superintendent of highways of the county of Suffolk.

Plaintiffs seek an injunction enjoining the issue of $5,000,000 in bonds and the expenditure of their avails and also pray for a declaratory judgment decreeing among other things that the ordinances creating the funded debt are invalid. The proof is largely documentary and nearly all the facts conceded.

The ordinances provide for public improvements throughout the county, more particularly (1) for the construction of county roads and two bridges to connect Shelter Island with the mainland; (2) for the construction of a county road and bridge at Smith’s Point; (3) for the acquisition of land for parks and parkways in connection with the program of the Long Island State Park Commission; (4) for dredging certain harbors, rivers, inlets and waters in the various towns, and (5) for the development of the Holtsville Tuberculosis Sanitarium. Each ordinance also provides that bonds be issued to meet the cost of the improvement.

While it is conceded the supervisors had the power to adopt these ordinances, it is urged their action was hasty and ill-advised and also that so comprehensive and expensive a program of public improvements should not have been undertaken without first submitting it to a referendum of the electors. These, however, are matters with which the court has nothing to do. The board of supervisors is the local legislative body and within the limits of its delegated power is clothed with the sovereignty of the State to legislate as to all details precisely the same as the Legislature [360]*360might have done. It is presumed that legislative action has been devised and adopted upon adequate information. (See Kittinger v. Buffalo Traction Company, 160 N. Y. 377.)

In the absence of fraud the discretionary acts of public officials are not subject to judicial review or control. There is no evidence of fraud, corruption or dishonesty on the part of any supervisor. Therefore, the question to determine is were the ordinances legally adopted.

The board consists of ten supervisors. On March 30, 1931, each ordinance was passed by a vote of nine to one. Plaintiffs contend, however, the ordinances are invalid because the defendants Warta, Neville and Hildreth were not eligible to vote, and, therefore, the ordinances did not receive the vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to the board as required by section 6 of the General Municipal Law. This claim is predicated upon the fact that one year prior to the adoption of the ordinances and pursuant to chapter 539 of the Laws of 1925 (General Municipal Law, section 239-b), the board of supervisors established a county planning board and appointed the three defendants above named members of it.

It is urged when they qualified as members of the planning board they ipso facto resigned or vacated their offices as supervisors. There is no constitutional inhibition or statutory restriction against supervisors holding other public offices. Plaintiffs, however, invoke the common-law rule that when two public offices or trusts are incompatible with each other a person holding the one is not disqualified to be appointed or elected to the other, but his acceptance of the second is in law an implied resignation of the first. This principle is firmly established and generally recognized by the courts of England and this country. (See notes L. R. A. 1917A, pp. 216-250.) It has also been enforced in this State. (See People ex rel. Sulzer v. Sohmer, 211 N. Y. 565; People ex rel. Kelly v. Common Council, 77 id. 503; People ex rel. Ryan v. Green, 58 id. 295; People ex rel. Earwicker v. Dillon, 38 App. Div. 539; Matter of Gilroy, 11 id. 65.)

It may be helpful to pass for the moment the question of incompatibihty and consider the statute. It reads:

§ 239-a. Establishment of regional planning boards. Any county or counties and the cities, towns and villages in such county or counties may establish a regional planning board to consist of representatives of such county or counties and of such cities, towns and villages. The members of the board shall receive no salary or compensation for their services as members of such board.”

It will be observed the statute provides the regional planning [361]*361board is “to consist of representatives of such county or counties and of such cities, towns and villages.” It is not necessary to decide if the term representatives includes all those bearing an official relation to the municipalities specified, but only, are members of the board of supervisors representatives of the county within the meaning of the statute. Webster defines representatives as “ those who represent a people or community in its legislative or governing capacity.” Surely the supervisors are the legislative and governing officials of the county. Therefore, I am inclined to the view that the statute expressly authorizes the appointment of supervisors as members of the county planning board. That such was the intention of the Legislature I have no doubt. This is clear from an examination of the statutes enacted prior and subsequent to section 239-b.

Article 12-B of the General Municipal Law (added by Laws of 1925, chap. 539) — of which section 239-b is a part — has never been the subject of judicial interpretation and is not a model of accurate statutory draftsmanship. The powers and functions of the regional planning board, which it permits cities and villages to establish, appear to overlap the powers and functions of the planning commission, which by article 12-A they are empowered to create. But in the solution of the question as to who is eligible for appointment, the overlapping does not obscure identity. Indeed, it almost demonstrates it.

Article 12-A, enacted in 1913 (Laws of 1913, chap. 699), and article 12-B, enacted in 1925, are general acts and relate to the same subject — city and village planning. They are in pari materia. It is a fundamental rule that such statutes, although enacted at different times, should be read and construed together for the purpose of learning and giving effect to the legislative intention. It is implied “ they are governed by the same spirit and are intended to be harmonious and consistent.” (Statutes and Statutory Construction, vol. 1, McKinney’s Consolidated Laws, § 67; Smith v. People, 47 N. Y. 330, 339.) The prior statute expressly permits city and village officials to be members of the planning commission, providing they do not exceed one-third of the total membership.

It is also the rule that subsequent acts in pari materia while not of the same value as prior acts, may afford some aid and should be considered in determining the legislative intent of the earlier statute. (Statutes and Statutory Construction, vol. 1, McKinney’s Consolidated Laws, § 69.)

The Village Law (section 179-f, added by the Laws of 1926, chapter 719, and amended by the Laws of 1929, chapter 60) also [362]*362relates to the same subject — village planning. It empowers the village trustees to appoint a planning board of five members.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Siton
29 Misc. 3d 438 (Criminal Court of the City of New York, 2010)
Opn. No.
New York Attorney General Reports, 1976
In re Rosom Utilities, Inc.
25 F. Supp. 626 (E.D. New York, 1938)
People v. Irwin
166 Misc. 492 (New York Court of General Session of the Peace, 1938)
Twin City Service Station, Inc. v. City of North Tonawanda
162 Misc. 271 (New York Supreme Court, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
141 Misc. 358, 252 N.Y.S. 546, 1931 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/macrum-v-board-of-supervisors-nysupct-1931.