108 S.W.2d 181 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1937
Reversing.
In the streets and ways of Camp Zachary Taylor, in Jefferson County, constructed during the World War, the Federal Government laid about thirty-one miles of sewers. In 1921, after the abandonment of that cantonment, the property was sold in lots to many individuals with the grant of an easement to the purchasers, collectively, in the streets and the sewer, lighting and water systems. See Beutel v. Camp Taylor Development Co.,
On February 23, 1937, the Fiscal Court of Jefferson County entered an order reciting that an investigation made by the county road engineer revealed a break-in of the sewer at a certain place in one of the public ways of Camp Taylor (by which the community is still known); that it constituted a menace to the health of the citizens of the county and unless repaired would cause an epidemic of disease. It also recited that the persons whose property the sewer drained are financially unable to repair the same on their own behalf. It was therefore ordered that to prevent the spread of disease there should be and was appropriated $550 to be expended by the health department of the county to put the sewers in repair.
The county attorney, the Honorable Lawrence S. Grauman, by and in the name of Jefferson county, prosecuted an appeal from that order and asked the *537 circuit court to declare the rights and powers of the fiscal court respecting the appropriation of money for the purpose stated. The chancellor held the fiscal court had power to make the specific appropriation, but expressly withheld an opinion as to its future actions in this connection. The case is before us on appeal.
It is admitted in the pleadings that an expenditure of not less than $6,000, a year for five years, and $4,000 a year thereafter, would be required to maintain the sewerage system properly. The menacing and dangerous condition is likewise recognized. It is not denied that the county board of health has determined the conditions described to be "a source of filth and a cause of sickness which is injurious to the health of the inhabitants in the vicinity thereof and of Jefferson County, and that its continuance in its present condition is a menace to the public health and will probably result in the outbreak and spread of epidemic and communicable diseases; the said Jefferson County Board of Health has requested the Fiscal Court, composed of the defendants, to repair said sewer so as to prevent the outbreak and spread of diseases."
Nor is it denied that the authority of the county board of health, contained in section 2057 of the Statutes, to require the removal of such nuisances by those responsible therefor, is inadequate and ineffective in this instance. This, it is said, is because of the common ownership of the system and the responsibility of so many and because it would require the opening up of streets long since dedicated to the public. It is also admitted that the expense of investigating the titles would occasion great and dangerous delay, and the expense thereof would be greater than that of repairing the particular break in the sewer for which this appropriation has been made. Much of the territory served by the sewerage system is unimproved and the cost of repairing it through those sections would be prohibitive to the owners, with the result that it would be impracticable to require each individual owner to repair his section.
The appellant maintains that notwithstanding this situation, there is no power in the fiscal court to appropriate county funds to remedy it, and that the county board of health is vested with authority, by section 2057 of the Statutes, to require the citizens responsible for the conditions to remove them. The appellees find the authority of the fiscal court in that part of section 1840 *538 of the Statutes which gives it jurisdiction "to make provisions for the maintenance of the poor"; and in section 2054a-2, requiring the fiscal court to provide funds for the "creation, establishment and maintenance" of a county department of health, together with sections 2055, 2057, pertaining to the duties of that department.
The power of a county, both as a municipal corporation and as an arm or subdivision of the state government, emanates from constitutional provisions or legislative enactments. Fox v. Board of Louisville and Jefferson County Home,
"Implied restraints, as well as implied powers, must be respected. Powers not conferred are just as plainly prohibited as though expressly forbidden, and when powers are conferred to be exercised in a specified manner, there is an implied restriction upon the exercise of that power in excess of the grant, or in a manner different from that permitted. Every positive direction to a subordinate tribunal contains an implication against everything contrary to it, or which would tend to frustrate or disappoint the purpose of such direction." Bruner v. Jefferson County Fiscal Court,
Section 1840 of the Statutes is that which expressly confers many enumerated duties and powers upon the fiscal court. Only two provisions could possibly be regarded as covering the situation presented here, namely, those relating to the maintenance of the county roads and to the care of the poor. Although the roadway under which the defective sewer runs and in which there was a break is public in the sense that the public has acquired the right to its use, it is made to appear that none of the roads or streets in this former military reservation have ever been taken over by the county as a part of its system of roads and, therefore, *539
no public money may be used in keeping them in repair. Rose v. Nolen,
The county board of health is the statutory tribunal upon which is imposed the duty of protecting the general health of the people and the powers conferred upon it should be liberally construed to accomplish its purpose. Allison v. Cash,
Therefore, we are constrained to hold that the appropriation made by the fiscal court is not authorized and to reverse the judgment to the contrary.
Judgment reversed.