367 Mass. 286 | Mass. | 1975
This is an appeal from a final decree entered in the Superior Court on October 18, 1973. The plaintiffs, all residents and registered voters in the city of Fall River, brought a bill for declaratory relief against the board of election commissioners of Fall River (board) seeking a declaration that their petition under G. L. c. 43, § 17D, was valid and, accordingly, requesting the court to order the board to place on the ballot for the November, 1973, municipal election the question, “Shall the term of office of the mayor of the City of Fall River be two years?” The decree of the Superior Court granted the relief requested.
Fall River has a Plan A form of government but departs from the provisions of G. L. c. 43, §§ 46-55, with respect to the term of office of mayor being for four years rather than for the two years prescribed by G. L. c. 43, § 48. This came about as a result of a special act of the Legislature in 1965 which, after approval by a majority of the voters of Fall River, changed the term of office of mayor in Fall River to four years. St. 1965, c. 346. In April, 1973, the plaintiffs and others filed a petition with the board pursuant to G. L. c. 43, § 17D, to place on the ballot the question of changing the term of office back to two years. In June, 1973, the city’s law department issued an opinion that the petition was invalid, whereupon the board refused to place the question on the ballot. After the Superior Court’s decree the question did appear on the ballot and was approved by a substantial majority of Fall River citizens.
The act we interpret is St. 1971, c. 311, codified as G. L. c. 43, §§ 17C and 17D.
The board emphasizes that § 17D, relied upon by the plaintiffs as authority for the referendum on a two-year
The board further argues that § 17D is inapplicable to Fall River because that section refers only to cities in which the term of office is four years “under the provisions of section seventeen C.” The four-year term of office in Fall River came about, of course, by way of a special act and not through exercise of the referendum procedure set forth in § 17C.
Some discussion of the background of §§ 17C and 17D is appropriate here. At the time Fall River approved the special act changing its term of office from two to four years, there was no mechanism available other than a special act to depart from the provisions of the optional plans of government set out in the General Laws, none of which provides for a term of office for mayor other than a two-year term. G. L. c. 43, §§ 48 (Plan A), 58 (Plan B), and 119 (Plan F). This circumstance was changed in 1966 with the approval of the Home Rule Amendment. Under § 2 of the amendment cities were given the power to adopt, revise, or amend a charter by following the procedures described in §§ 3 and 4. See G. L. c. 43R, §§ 1-19. Those procedures became the exclusive means by which a city could change its charter. G. L. c. 43R, § 18. Altering a term of office required a petition of fifteen per cent of the voters of a city, followed by election of a charter commission which had ten months to submit a new or revised charter to the city council which, in turn, was given two months to provide for a vote on whether to adopt the charter. Art. 89 of the Amendments to the Constitution, §§ 3 and 4.
The proposal which led to the enactment of G. L. c. 43, §§ 17C and 17D, as an additional mechanism for charter revision with respect to the mayor’s term of office, was initiated in 1971 by the Massachusetts Mayors’ Association. The bill of the Mayors’ Association, entitled “An Act to provide for an optional four-year term for
Viewing the provisions against this backdrop, we do not believe that the Legislature intended to deny the availability of the § 17D referendum procedure to a city in the situation of Fall River. As discussed above, Fall River plainly qualifies as one of the cities to which the legislation was meant to apply. It would make little sense to exclude Fall River from the operation of § 17D simply because that city took the initiative to obtain a special law having the effect of § 17C prior to the time that § 17C was enacted. Under these circumstances we do not read the opening clause of § 17D as limiting the availability of the referendum procedure outlined therein
“The object of all statutory construction is to ascertain the true intent of the Legislature from the words used. If a liberal, even if not literally exact, interpretation of certain words is necessary to accomplish the purpose indicated by the words as a whole, such interpretation is to be adopted rather than one which will defeat that purpose.” Lehan v. North Main St. Garage, Inc. 312 Mass. 547, 550 (1942). Cullen v. Mayor of Newton, 308 Mass. 578, 583-584 (1941). Price v. Railway Exp. Agency, Inc. 322 Mass. 476, 484 (1948).
Since we conclude that § 17D is applicable to Fall River, the referendum approving a two-year term of office for mayor conducted under the procedure prescribed in § 17D is valid and may properly override the 1965 special act. Under § 9 of the Home Rule Amendment, special laws in effect as of 1966 have the force of an existing city charter and may be revised as such. Further, §§ 17C and 17D by their terms are applicable notwithstanding the otherwise exclusive procedures for charter revision as described in G. L. c. 43B, § 18. Therefore, the decree of the Superior Court is affirmed.
So ordered.
“Section 17C. Upon the filing with the city clerk of a petition,
‘Shall the term of office of mayor of the city of be four years?’ -- YES.__ Tno. I
“If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question is in the affirmative, the term of office of the mayor of said city shall thereafter be for four years and until the election and qualification of his successor, beginning with the next regular city election following the acceptance of this question.
“This section shall apply only in cities which have adopted Plan A, Plan B or Plan F under this chapter and in cities which have, under the provisions of any special act or any charter adopted under the provisions of Article LXXXIX of the Amendments to the Constitution, a mayor, as defined in subsection (a) of section ten of chapter forty-three B.
“The provisions of this section shall be applicable notwithstanding the provisions of section eighteen of said chapter forty-three B. Nothing' contained herein shall be construed to prevent the amendment of a city charter by any method available under said Article LXXXIX of the Amendments to the Constitution or under said chapter forty-three B.”
“Section 17D. In any city in which the term of office of mayor is four years under the provisions of section seventeen C, upon the filing with the city clerk of a petition, which petition shall be subject to the provisions of section seven or section seven A of chapter fifty-three, signed by at least five per cent of the number of registered voters residing in said city at the last regular city election, the city clerk shall place upon the ballot for the next regular city election to be held not less than sixty days after the date of the filing of such petitions the following question: —
‘Shall the term of office of mayor of the city of be two years?’ YES. NO.
*289 “If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question is in the affirmative, the term of office of the mayor of said city shall thereafter be for two years and until the election and qualification of his successor, beginning with the next regular city election following the acceptance of this question.”
Article 89 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, replacing art. 2 of the Amendments.
Inserted by St. 1966, c. 734, § 1.