Sauk County v. Industrial Commission

273 N.W. 515, 225 Wis. 179, 1937 Wisc. LEXIS 199
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMay 25, 1937
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 273 N.W. 515 (Sauk County v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sauk County v. Industrial Commission, 273 N.W. 515, 225 Wis. 179, 1937 Wisc. LEXIS 199 (Wis. 1937).

Opinion

Martin, J.

In November, 1933, the county board of supervisors of Sauk county adopted the relief program provided by ch. 363, Laws of 1933, and appointed three persons, who were members of the poor committee, to act as a relief committee with whom the WERA (Wisconsin Emergency Relief Administration) co-operated in setting up the county’s relief administration. The pommittee selected a relief administrator. She later resigned and the committee then appointed a successor from among four candidates nominated by the Industrial Commission.

On August 2, 1934, Edward O. Triggs, aged thirty-eight, became the acting work secretary for Sauk county. He was directly under the supervision of the relief director of the county. Fie supervised projects entirely within the county. His salary was paid by the county, but the county was reim[181]*181bursed. The county had the power to engage or discharge him. His traveling expenses were paid by the county and in part reimbursed by the state. Requisitions for reimbursements by the state to the county did not bear the names of any individuals for whom the salary was paid, and reimbursement checks were issued directly to the treasurer of Sauk county. The county appropriated $30,000, which it used to aid in defraying administrative and relief expenses.

On August 13, 1935, Mr. Triggs was summoned to Lancaster by H. J. Kuelling, director of District No. 10 of the WPA (Works Progress Administration), to discuss the continuation by the WPA of unfinished WERA projects in Sauk county, and to receive technical advice on the completion of such projects. While returning to Baraboo on a direct route from Lancaster, Mr. Triggs was struck by a train and killed.

It appears that since 1929 the county operated under the county system of maintaining its poor. That prior to the action of the county board of supervisors adopting the WERA poor relief system, it appointed a committee of five of its members to discuss the matter with a representative of the Industrial Commission to make full inquiry concerning the WERA program and system of operation. On November 23, 1933, that committee reported in writing to the county board of supervisors, recommending that Sauk county adopt the proposed relief system as outlined. The committee report was adopted by a vote of ayes 26, nays 12, and the finance committee was directed to prepare the necessary resolution to transfer from various funds -to the general fund sufficient moneys to take care of outdoor poor relief on the basis of the plan adopted. No useful purpose will be served by further reference to details of the WERA relief system.

Mr. A. O. Tuhus, the chairman of the county board of supervisors, testified that the representative of the Indus[182]*182trial Commission told how the program was going to work out; what employees would be necessary to carry on the program in the county; that the county would have to have a relief director; and that the selection of employees would have to be approved by the Industrial Commission. He further testified that the county poor committee was directed to take up all matters with the Industrial Commission after the county had adopted the program.

In May, 1933, the Federal Emergency Relief Act was passed by the congress. The purpose of the act was to relieve unemployment, and it was to be administered under the supervision of a federal emergency relief administrator. By chs. 194 and 401, Laws of 1933, the state accepted the provisions of the Federal Emergency Relief and Construction Act. By ch. 363, Laws of 1933, the Industrial Commission was empowered to administer the relief funds. Sec. 5 of that chapter provides:

“There shall be allotted by the Industrial Commission to county and local relief agencies administering relief in accordance with the provisions of section 6, not less than fifty per cent of the total local relief expenditures out of public moneys from all sources. ...”

Sec. 6 provides:

“Administration. (1) Relief shall include . . . wages paid in cash or in kind for public work provided to dependent persons where the amounts paid are determined upon the basis of actual need and where the conditions prescribed in subsection (2) of this section are observed. . . .
“(2) The Industrial Commission and the public relief agencies shall co-operate with other state and local officials who can furnish public employment to the end that those in need of relief shall be given an opportunity to work for such relief. . . .
“(3) Relief shall be administered in accordance with rules and regulations to be adopted by the Industrial Commission, to insure adequate home investigations of the needs of applicants, the keeping of proper case records, and the purchase [183]*183and distribution of aid in an economical manner calculated to preserve the self-respect of the recipients.
“(4) Local units of government responsible for furnishing relief shall join together for the administration of such relief, when such combination is necessary to accomplish the purposes of this section.
“(5) The Industrial Commission may make such inyesti-gations and adopt such rules and regulations as are necessary to insure the observance of the conditions prescribed in this section, and the proper accounting and reporting of relief receipts and disbursements by public relief agencies. Such rules and regulations shall conform with the requirements of the federal government in allotting moneys appropriated by congress for relief purposes to this state. . . .
“(8) In all other respects, relief under this act shall be governed by chapter 49 of the statutes.”

In order to be eligible for state aid under sec. 5, ch. 363, Laws of 1933, it was necessary that Sauk county be engaged in "administering relief in accordance with the provisions of section 6.” Under the latter section, relief included so-called “work relief” which must be administered in accordance with “rules and regulations to be adopted by the Industrial Commission,” which, in turn, “shall conform with the requirements of the federal government.” The local agencies were required to co-operate with other officials able to furnish public employment.

The federal allotment of funds to Wisconsin to aid in meeting the unemployment situation had certain regulatory conditions attached. The state accepted such allotments with the conditions and set up the necessary machinery for the redistribution of the funds to the several counties of the state, also with certain regulatory conditions. Sauk county was advised of the conditions upon which it might receive funds, and it accepted the money subject to such conditions.

The examiner found, in part, as follows :

“Deceased was chosen as secretary of the ‘work division,’ and as such, he had charge of the work program involving [184]*184setting up projects, supplying men from relief rolls, making up pay rolls and generally supervising the relief work of the county.

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Related

Donnelly's Case
24 N.E.2d 327 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1939)
In re the Settlement of Matruski
169 Misc. 316 (Broome County Court, 1938)
Marathon County v. Industrial Commission
272 N.W. 374 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1937)

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Bluebook (online)
273 N.W. 515, 225 Wis. 179, 1937 Wisc. LEXIS 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sauk-county-v-industrial-commission-wis-1937.