63 Wash. 271 | Wash. | 1911
On- May 3, 1909, the city of Seattle, by ordinance, provided for a temporary increase in its police department to meet an emergency then existing. The ordinance provided for the appointment of one captain, three sergeants, and thirty-six patrolmen, to serve for a period of five months. One L. J. Stuart was appointed to the temporary captaincy so created, and served until about the middle of August, 1909, when,he was made a permanent captain of the police force. On August 20, 1909, the appellant, who was then a sergeant'on the regular police force, was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the promotion of Stuart. His appointment was designated in the order as a temporary appointment to fill out an unexpired term of two months and five days.
The appellant contends that there was no sufficient legal reason assigned for the order of the chief of police of December 29, 1909, by which he undertook to reduce the appellant from the rank of captain to that of a sergeant of police, and hence the order of the civil service commission is reviewable in the courts, under the authority of Price v. Seattle, 39 Wash. 376, 81 Pac. 847. But we think there was a sufficient legal reason. The office of captain, which he was filling, was a temporary creation, and expired by its own limitation upon the day he was ordered to report for duty as a sergeant.