188 Iowa 757 | Iowa | 1920
■ Such a record compels us to select for specific mention and discussion only those facts and legal propositions which appear to us of controlling importance and necessary to our understanding of the essential issues presented.
I. It is proper at the outset to expand the preliminary statement of facts by adding thereto the following, concerning most of which there is no dispute:
(1) At an election held on Mai’ch 29, 1915, there weir submitted to the voters of the Independent District of Jeff erson two propositions, as follows:
(a) The first question was upon issuance of bonds of the distinct in the sum of $60,000, “for the purpose of constructing and equipping a new schoolhouse.”
“ □ I favor the present site; meaning the present school grounds or ground adjacent thereto.”
í(q I favor some other site away from the present school site to be selected by the board.”
This election resulted in the defeat of the bonding proposition, while a very considerable majority of the voters indicated their preference for the old site.
(2) Thereafter, on May 26, 1915, a second election was held, on the question of issuing bonds to the amount of $70,000, “for the purpose of constructing and equipping a new schoolhouse,” and the proposition was carried by a substantial majority. No vote was taken at this election upon the choice of location for the new building.
(3) Owing to some irregularity in the last-mentioned election, the bonds authorized could not be marketed, and a third election was held on May 29, 1916, at which a proposition for a bond issue of $80,000 was submitted, and carried by a large majority. There was no attempt at this election to vote upon a choice of site for the building. It appears, however, that the subject of the location of the proposed building was a matter of much discussion, pending the call for the second election, and that four of the five members of the board signed a statement or circular for public distribution, to the effect that they felt bound by the vote at the first election, and that, if the bond issue was carried, said directors would locate the building on the site so designated. In the campaign preceding the third election, the subject of locating the site of the proposed building was, perhaps, less prominent, but was still the subject of public discussion; and, for the purposes of the appeal, it may be conceded that the directors, or some of them, repeated or renewed their expression of purpose to adhere to the choice of the old site.
(4) When the bond issue was finally settled, the directors, in apparent good faith, sought to obtain title to the additional grounds deemed necessary to make the old site suitable for the location of the new building, and to that end contracted for the purchase of one tract, and began proceedings to condemn another. The situation then became complicated by litigation involving the right of the district to condemn the property last mentioned, and by the act of the owner of another desired tract in refusing to carry out his contract to convey it, thus necessitating a suit to enforce his specific performance. About this time, new public interest in the question was excited by an offer by Captain Head, a citizen of Jefferson, to convey to the Independent District a site of 5 acres of land for the sehoolhouse, and to dedicate an adjacent tract of 10 acres as a park, without cost or other consideration, except the location of the sehoolhouse on the 5-acre tract. This discussion materialized in a petition to the directors, signed by over 700 citizens and voters of the Independent District, constituting a decided majority of the voters, asking the board to consider the question of abandoning the old site and accept ■ ing the offer of Captain Head. A largely attended public meeting was also held, to induce the board to change the location from the old site. The board having declined to so act, and having indicated its purpose to retain the old site, certain citizens and taxpayers of the district appealed from its decision regarding the location of the new building, to the county superintendent of schools.
Trial of said appeal before the superintendent was begun; but, before its conclusion, the board of directors and the appellants in that proceeding entered into a written
The stipulation further provided that, when such recommendation should be made, a judgment or finding conforming thereto should be entered by the county superintendent, the same to be final as against all parties to said appeal.
Acting upon this stipulation, the state superintendent did visit Jefferson, and, after an examination of the situation, made a written finding, recommending that the new building be located upon a tract of land described as Block 34 of the original town of Jefferson, and stating the reasons leading him to such choice. Pursuant to the stipulation aforesaid, the county superintendent adopted said choice of location as his own, and designated said Block 34 as the site upon which the building should be constructed. This order was entered on February 27, 1917.
(5) Following said decision, the board of directors adopted Block 34 as the site of the building, and proceeded to acquire title thereto. A part of said block was thereupon acquired by the district, by purchase, and the remainder was already in course of condemnation, when this action was begun, May 14, 1917, to enjoin such proceedings, and to prevent the use of the moneys of the district for the construction of the schoolhouse at any other location than what is known as the old site.
The temporary injunction obtained by the plaintiffs
(6) After the occurrence of the matters and things complained of by the plaintiffs’ petition, and after the selection of Block 34. to be the site of the new building, the matter of increasing the appropriations for the expense thereof was twice submitted to the electors of said district, and the issuance of additional bonds for that purpose, to the aggregate amount of $95,000, ivas approved by a majority vote.
II. In addition to matters above stated, there is a large volume of evidence which is of little probative value, except, perhaps, as side lights upon the origin and development of the controversy. Eliminating from our consideration all matters which aré wholly foreign or merely collateral to the central issue in the case, the result turns upon the simple question of the validity of the act of the board of directors in locating the new schoolhouse on Block 34: not whether such action was irregular or erroneous, but was it without authority and void ? It is not within the province of the court to inquire into the wisdom of the choice so made, but it may inquire into the power and authority by which it was made.
Stated as briefly as practicable, the position of the appellants is that the bonds for building the schoolhouse were voted by the district upon the express and implied pledge or promise of the directors to make use of the old site, and that the board thereby became legally and equitably bound to place the building there, and not elsewhere. Referring to this phase of the case, the trial court, in dismissing the plaintiff's’ petition, stated its finding: that, while the question of voting the bonds was still before the people of the district, the members of the board did make public promise or statement of their purpose to build upon the old site, and that such was, at that time, the wish or preference of a majority of the voters. The court further stated its opinion that good faith upon part of the directors required them to make an honest and reasonable effort to locate the building on the old site, or on lands adjacent thereto, but that such
“I believe, from the evidence in this case, that the defendant board did make such effort to carry out these pledges which had been made to the voters, and that its failure to secure such a location is due to no fault of the board, which found itself in a position where such selection could not be made and adhered to, with any reasonable prospect of success. The action of the board in selecting the site here complained of was not taken in bad faith, but was prompted by a desire to provide the school building of which the school district was greatly in need, under circumstances which seemed to make any other solution of the problem impossible.”
It appears to have been taken for granted from the outset, by all concerned, that the old site, as it then existed, was inadequate for the purposes of a new and enlarged building, and that, if it were utilized for that purpose, other and additional adjacent ground would have to be procured. The record fairly shows that, when the bond proposition was finally adopted by the district, the board did proceed with .an apparently diligent and earnest effort to secure the additional grounds so needed, and became involved in litigation which promised indefinite delay in securing the necessary title. In the presence of this complication, and the offer of other alleged desirable sites, it is further quite evident that public sentiment, an ever uncertain and fickle element in human affairs, veered from the choice of the old site, and found expression in a petition to the board, signed by more than three fourths of the voters of the district, asking that the choice of another site be considered. Still feel
The district was in sore need of a schoolhouse. The. old building had been condemned, as unfit for use. It was unwise, if not unlawful, to expend the money of the district, in constructing a building upon grounds to which title had not yet been obtained, and there was no immediate or certain prospect of obtaining it. The board was charged with the duty, as well as the power, to provide a site for the building, a power of which it could not divest itself, and a duty to the district which it could not properly refuse to perform. Having encountered an obstacle to the use of the old site which could not be promptly and effectively removed, we agree with the trial court that the directors cannot be charged with having exceeded their statutory power, in locating the building upon other convenient grounds. That, in so doing, they succeeded in finding the best way out of the factional quarrel which had disturbed the harmony of the district, appears to be demonstrated by the cheerful acquiescence of their constituents generally in the construction of the building upon Block Hi; a fact- which is made apparent by the circumstance already mentioned, that, in two successive elections, held since the choice of that site, the voters have approved the issue of additional bonds to the amount -of $95,000, to carry the work to completion.
In affirming the conclusion of the trial court, we do not wish to be understood as deciding that the vote cast for the choire of site at the first election, held in 1915, at which the proposed bond issue was defeated, was of any legal force or binding effect to control the action of the directors in the matter of selecting a site after the third election in 1916, at
The case of Rodgers v. Independent School Dist., 100 Iowa 317, on Avhich appellants largely rely, is not controlling here. In that case, the board .of directors submitted to the people the question of -a proposed bond issue. Controversy had arisen between advocates of building on the old site, and others desiring a change; and the bond issue had been defeated. Another election was then called, in the notice of which the people were advised that the question would be for the issue of bonds “to build a schoolhouse on old site;” and, at the election, the ballot upon its face expressly declared that the question to be decided was on the “issuing of bonds for $12,500, to build schoolhouse on old site,” and this proposition was carried. In view of such showing, it was held by this court that the proceeds of the bonds could not lawfully be diverted to the building of a’ schoolhouse on another site — a decision the correctness of which may here be conceded; but the case before us presents a very different situation. The only vote taken by the electors of Jefferson on the subject of a site for the proposed schoolhouse was at the one held in March, 1915, when the building project was defeated. At the later elections, the question of site was not voted upon, nor was the use of the funds to be derived from the bond issue in any manner limited to the old site, in the call or notice or form of ballot for such elections. There were no conditions attached td
“Shall the Independent School District of Jefferson, in the county of Greene, state of Iowa, issue bonds not to exceed eighty thousand dollars ($80,000.00) for the purpose of constructing and equipping a new schoolhouse and procuring a site therefor?”
This is not only consistent with the unrestricted exer-1 cise by the board of directors of all their statutory authority and discretion in the matter of selecting a site for the schoolhouse, but is quite inconsistent with the assertion that it had, in some unofficial manner, abdicated its authority.
Under the record, we think it quite immaterial whether the superintendent had any controlling authority in the matter. The material inquiry, as already said, is whether the board of directors exceeded its jurisdiction and authority in selecting the site, or in adopting the site recommended by the superintendent. We think it unnecessary to inquire or decide whether the action of the superintendent was authorized. If his action in the premises was valid, the board did not exceed its power in acting upon it. If his action was invalid, the board’s selection of the site was still within the scope of its own discretion and authority. Its decision, as we have seen, not being in excess of the power conferred
We are not persuaded that the distinction is either unnatural or arbitrary. To constitute a violation of the constitutional provisions in this respect, the unreasonable character of the discrimination must clearly appear. It is n-enough that it may seem to the court unwise or unnecessary, but its arbitrary character must admit of no reasonable doubt. Hunter v. Colfax Cons. Coal Co., 175 Iowa 245, 288; McLean v. Arkansas, 211 U. S. 539, 547; State v. McGuire, 183 Iowa 927.
There is a manifest distinction between the. exercise
It is argued that the statute here in question was enacted by tlie legislature at the instance or by the management of counsel for appellees, to facilitate the purpose of the district or of its board of directors in the selection of the new site for the school building. This is a question which in no manner affects the merits of the case. The enactment of the statute was clearly within the power of the general assembly, and the motives of the legislators and the reasons or arguments leading them to such action are not a matter into which we can properly inquire.
Further discussion of the case is unnecessary. For the reasons hereinbefore stated, we are satisfied that the board of directors of the defendant district did not exceed its jurisdiction and authority in fixing the site of the new schoolhouse, nor in appropriating the proceeds of the bond issué for the erection of the building on the site so fixed. The equities are with the appellees, and the decree of the district court dismissing the bill is — Ajfé'med.