49 Ga. App. 568 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1934
(After stating the foregoing facts.) When the plaintiff was appointed.to the position of superintendent of streets and drains for the city of Augusta by the mayor of said city, under the ordinance of March 8, 1927, which ordinance designated him as an employee of the city, and provided that he should work under the direct supervision and control of the mayor, the provisions of
This court is not unaware of the decision in Wright v. Gamble, 136 Ga. 376 (71 S. E. 795, 35 L. R. A. (N. S.) 866, Ann. Cas. 1912C, 372), that “Where the tenure of an office is not prescribed
The ordinance providing that the mayor of said city could appoint a person as superintendent of streets and drains was not invalid and without legislative authority. Tietjen v. Savannah, 161 Ga. 125 (129 S. E. 653). The contract under which a- person is given employment by a municipal corporation may fix the term of his employment, by making it for a stated time, and in such a case the employment terminates upon the expiration of the time. 43 C. J. 901. The tenure of an employee, unlike that of an officer, is not automatically terminated by a termination of the tenure of the appointing power. Id. “An officer is distinguished from an employee in the greater importance, dignity, and independence of his position; not being required to take an official oath, and perhaps give an official bond; in the liability to be called to account as a public offender for misfeasance or nonfeasance in office.” City of Baltimore v. Lyman, 92 Md. 591 (48 Atl. 145, 52 L. R. A. 406, 84 Am. St. R. 524); and see Lentz v. Augusta, 48 Ga. App. 555 (173 S. E. 406). Until the passage of the ordinance of March 8, 1927, it may be that it would have been proper to look upon the superintendent of streets and drains as an officer of the city; but upon the passage of that ordinance, by its express terms, as well as by the manner of the performance of his duties, the superintendent of streets and drains, being under the direct supervision and control of the mayor, became an employee of the city.
It follows that the court below erred in dismissing plaintiff’s petition on general demurrer.
Judgment reversed.