Cain v. Warner — 45 A.D. 450

Majority

p. 450

Michael Cain, a Taxpayer of the City of Rochester, Respondent, v. George E. Warner, as Mayor of the City of Rochester, and Richard C. Cartwright, Appellants, Impleaded with Others.

Headnote

A salary indicates, but does not conclusively establish, the existence of an office — employment of a police surgeon by the police commissioners of Rochester.

The fact that a person holding a position under a city government receives a. salary is an indication that the position is an office, but is not conclusive upon that point.

The board of police commissioners of the city of Rochester has implied power to employ at ,a regular salary a police surgeon to' render services made necessary by the rules and regulations for the government and discipline of the force adopted by it pursuant to the charter, and such salary is a proper city charge.

The police surgeon so appointed is an employee of the police department andi not a public officer of the city.

Appeal by the defendants, George E. Warner, as mayor of the-city of Rochester, and Richard 0. Cartwright, from an order of the Supreme Court, made at the Monroe Special Term and entered in the office of the clerk of the county of Monroe on the 19th day of July, 1899, denying the said defendants’ motion to vacate a temporary injunction theretofore granted in the action.

This action was brought by the plaintiff, as a taxpayer, to restrain the defendants, the common council of the city of Rochester, from passing any resolution providing for the payment of the defendant Cartwright’s salary as police surgeon; to restrain the mayor from approving any such resolution; the city clerk from signing an order for the payment of the March salary of the defendant Cartwright or any future order, and the city treasurer from paying any salary to the said defendant.

In 1888 the board of police commissioners of the city of Rochester appointed one Dr. Pierce as police surgeon and his' salary was fixed at $50 a month. He acted until June, 1891, when the defendant Cartwright was appointed by the board of police commissioners surgeon of the police department and his salary fixed at $100 per month. ' Since that time he has acted as police surgeon and his salary has been included in making the estimate of the expenses of the department, and the same allowed each year by the common council. The salary for March, 1899, was approved by the common council, but before the same was paid this action was brought and a

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preliminary injunction order granted. The defendants moved at a Special Term, to set aside that injunction, and from a denial of that motion this appeal was taken.

By the affidavits, it appears that prior to 1888 the police department, as occasion required, employed surgeons to perform the duties that were afterwards performed by Dr. Pierce, and later by this defendant Cartwright. ’They found that it would be more economical to employ a surgeon regularly. It appears from the affidavits that the services actually rendered by the defendant Cartwright during the month of March were greater in value than $100, the salary claimed therefor.

Further facts appear in the. opinion. '

John Van Voorhis, for the appellants.

John F. Kinney, for the respondents Williams, Sheridan and Tracy.

C. C. Werner, for the other respondents.

The learned judge at Special Term has found that the services rendered by the defendant Cartwright were necessary, and that the police department had authority to employ him therefor, but has continued this injunction on the ground that to attach a fixed salary would be to create an office which would be repugnant to the rule of law forbidding the creation of offices without express statutory authority. His conclusion is not, we think, a logical sequence from his premises. If defendant’s employment were permitted, and his services were of the value of more than $100, he is clearly entitled to payment by whatever name the police commissioners have chosen to call it. Moreover, no reason is apparent why the police commissioners should not be authorized to pay to the defendant a regular salary if thereby they can obtain services at a less expense to the city. While a salary may be one of the indicia of an office, it does not make one.

The more difficult question, however, is the one involved in the conclusion of the Special Term, that these services were so far necessary to the performance of the duties of the police commissioners as to invest them with implied authority to procure the same. In Dillon on Municipal Corporations (4th ed. § 89) it is said: “ It is a general and undisputed proposition of law that

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a mwnicipal corporation possesses and can exercise the following powers, and no others: First, those granted in express ■ words; second, those necessarily or fairVy implied in or incident to the powers expressly granted; third, those essential. to the declared object and purposes of the corporation—.not simply convenient, but indispensable.” The power must be necessarily or fairly implied in or incident to some power expressly granted. By the charter it is provided that the police department of the city of Rochester shall be under the general control and management of the police commissioners. It is further provided that the police commissioners may adopt rules and by-laws for the government thereof, and may also establish, promulgate and enforce proper rules and regulations for the good government and discipline of the whole force. ■ Under this power the police commissioners have made a rule that in. case a member of the department is sick for ten days he shall receive one-half of his salary. The bona fides of the sickness is to be determined by the police surgeon. Applications for, absence on account of illness, and applications to be changed from the night force to the day force on account of sickness, are acted upon by the hoard after an examination by the police surgeon. There are other services rendered by'the police surgeon under bis employment required under the rules of the board of police commissioners. These rules have by the board been deemed’necessary for the good government and discipline of the force. It is urged hy the respondent that the police commissioners have no power to refuse pay to a member of the force while he is ill unless he is actually suspended. He cites as authority People ex rel. Ryan v. French ( 91 N. Y. 265 ). If this be true, so much the greater would seem the necessity for the services of a police surgeon. In - such a large force of policemen as comprise the department of the city of Rochester, if without loss of pay, the temptation to feign sickness would be strong. Whatever may be his specific duties, the fact,' remains that for more than eleven years he has been deemed by the municipal authorities a necessary adjunct to the police department. Moreover, the necessity of his service is not questioned in the complaint nor in the affidavits upon which this motion was granted. A number of statutes are cited wherein such necessity has been recog-, nized by the Legislature in places no larger than the city of Roches

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ter. The learned judge at Special Term has found that the services were reasonably necessary to the proper administration of the department, and that finding is fully sustained by the facts as they appear.

We are cited to no authorities which question the power of the department to procure this service if reasonably necessary for its proper administration. The counsel for the appellants makes no claim that he is an officer of the city. He clearly is not. The case of Twist v. City of Rochester ( 55 N. Y. Supp. 850 ) holds only that the city of Rochester is liable for the safety of its streets though made unsafe by one in the employ of the police department. The case of Miller v. Warner ( 42 App. Div. 208 ) only holds that an employee of the police department is not a public officer of the city of Rochester. As far as this case is any authority in the case at bar, it would seem to be an authority for the appellants as recognizing the status of the plaintiff in that case as an employee of the city. In People ex rel. Rae v. York ( 32 App. Div. 57 ) it was held that the New York and Brooklyn bridge trustees had no authority to create the office of police surgeon as a public office. The case seems to recognize the position of Dr. Lewis as that .of an employee and in no way questions the right of his employment.

We cannot assent to the claim of the respondent’s counsel to the effect that the duty to police is a State duty and that the city has not been made liable for this expense by legal enactment. We have found the right of employment to be necessarily implied in the charter powers of the city. It appears that the general scheme of the statute is to make the expense of the police 'department a charge upon the city. It then becomes a logical inference that the city is charged with the expense of the execution of this implied power.

If the employment of the defendant Cartwright had been' an illegal one, this action would have been properly brought to restrain the payment of his salary. The payment of a salary to one not entitled to the same constitutes an illegal act and a waste of the corporate funds. As the employment, however, was authorized and the moneys claimed are due to him therefor, the plaintiff can have no right of action to enjoin their payment. The order should be reversed and the motion granted.

All concurred.

Order reversed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements, and motion granted, with ten dollars costs.

Cases cited

People ex rel. Ryan v. French 91 N. Y. 265 N.Y. 1883-01-30 p. 452
Miller v. Warner 42 App. Div. 208 N.Y. App. Div. 1899-06-13 p. 453