83 Wash. 108 | Wash. | 1914
The appellant, a citizen and taxpayer of the city of Seattle, brought this action against the city to restrain it from issuing and delivering certain negotiable bonds, purporting to have been authorized by ordinance of the city of Seattle, and by the vote of the electors of the city at a special election at which the question of the issuance of such bonds was submitted. The court below, after a trial of the issues made by the pleadings, adjudged the action unfounded, and ordered its dismissal. This appeal followed.
The principal question suggested by the appellant is the sufficiency of the proceedings of the city council leading up to the enactment of the ordinance. It is contended that such proceedings were so far irregular, and so far a departure from the requirements of the city charter relative to the enactment of ordinances of this character, as to render the ordinance void. To make clear the precise contention, the facts must be briefly recited. On May 8, 1914, at an adjourned session of the city council, a member thereof intro
“An Ordinance submitting to the qualified voters of the City of Seattle at a special election to be held in said city on the-day of-, 1914, the proposition of the issuance and sale by said city of its general bonds in the sum of One Million One Hundred Twenty-five Thousand ($1,125,000) Dollars, for the purpose of providing money for the construction of a system of bridges for the City of Seattle across the Government Canal, Lake Union and Salmon Bay Waterway.”
The council journal shows that the instrument was then “read first time and referred to Finance and Streets and Sewers committee.” On May 18, 1914, at a regular meeting of the city council, the committees before named reported back the instrument to the council with the recommendation “that the same be amended to conform to Exhibit ‘A’ attached hereto and when so amended the same do pass.” The report of the committees was adopted, and the exhibit referred to the judiciary committee for engrossment. Subsequently, at the same meeting, the judiciary committee reported the same as properly engrossed, whereupon it was “read second and third times and passed,” as ordinance No. 33,133.
The exhibit was in form a completed ordinance. It contained a title which in outline -substantially conformed to the instrument originally introduced. The date of the proposed election-, however, was specified in the title; the amount of the bonds proposed to be issued was $1,328,000 instead of $1,125,000 as first named, and seemingly a body of water other than any of those mentioned in the original instrument was named across
The propositions were submitted to the electors in accordance with the terms of the ordinance. Two of them only, however, met with the approval of the electors; these authorized the issuance of bonds in the sum of $829,000. It is this issuance that the appellant seeks to enjoin.
The provisions of the city charter thought to be violated in the passage of the ordinance are found in sections 10, 11, 26 and 27, of art. 4, of that instrument. These in substance provide, that every legislative act of the city shall be by ordinance; that no ordinance other than an ordinance providing for appropriations for salaries or current expenses, shall be passed on its final reading at the meeting on which it is introduced; that, when loans shall be created exceeding one and one-half per centum of the taxable property of the city, and bonds therefor issued, the proposition for creating the indebtedness shall be first submitted to the electors of the city, and the mode and manner of submitting such proposition to the electors shall be prescribed by ordinance; and that no debt or obligation of any kind against the city shall be created by the city council except by ordinance specifying the amount and object of such expenditure.
It is our opinion that the appellant’s contention to the effect that the charter provisions of the city were violated
We do not, of course, intend to deny the power of the council to amend an ordinance properly introduced, and pass it at the meeting at which it is amended. This can be done where the amendment is in matter of form, or in the addition of new matter which does not alter the effect and scope of the ordinance; but it does not permit the substitution of an entirely new and different ordinance for the one originally introduced, nor does it sanction the gross attempt at subterfuge practiced in this instance. The requirement that an ordinance shall not be passed at the meeting at which it is introduced has a purpose. .It is intended to prevent hasty and ill-advised legislation. The record before us bears evidence of the salutory design of the rule. It shows that this ordinance could have with advantage received more careful consideration. Two of the propositions submitted met with the entire disapproval of the electors, and the others succeeded with no very considerable margin.
It is clear to our minds, therefore, that the city council, in the passage of the ordinance in question, did not comply with
“We believe it to be the law that, where a municipal charter prescribes a definite method for the enactment of ordi nances, such requirements are mandatory, and no authority is vested in the law-making body of the municipality to pass ordinances except in the manner required by the charter. Dillon, Municipal Corporations (4th ed.), § 309; Abbott, Municipal Corporations, § 525; Smith, Modern Law of Municipal Corporations, § 506; State, Gleason Pros. v. Bergen, 33 N. J. L. 72; Avis v. Vineland, 55 N. J. L. 285, 26 Atl. 149; Danville v. Shelton, 76 Va. 325. The ordinance being void, no authority was thereby vested in the commissioner of public works to enter into the contract, and the contract, or its breach, could not be made the basis of an action at law; . . .”
The foregoing case concludes the question against the validity of the ordinance, unless the question is taken without the rule by the fact that the incurrence of the indebtedness was subsequently approved by the electors of the city. But we cannot think this alone sufficient. An invalid ordinance is no more effective to authorize a bond issue than is the want of an ordinance, and, as we have shown, the city charter expressly provides (art. 4, § 27) that no debt or obligation
“The findings of fact show that there were many meetings of the city council during the month of January, 1906, and while it is true that those meetings were pursuant to adj ournment, it does not necessarily follow that they were adjourned or continued meetings in the sense that they all constituted one and the same meeting. It is conceded that the council had a right to call special meetings, and it is settled by authority that any business may be transacted at a special meeting, and that the purpose of the meeting need not be stated unless the law requires it, and it is conceded that the charter of Seattle does not require it. What the council did,*115 in effect, when it adjourned on motion, was to call a special meeting. This intention was simply expressed by the motion for iadj ournment to a certain time. It is true that ordinarily this might technically constitute an adjourned meeting, but the facts show that such was not the intention in- this case, for the council met regularly every Monday evening, and, instead of commencing the business where it left off at the previous meeting, the manner of transacting the business showed that it was intended to be treated as a regular meeting, the business being transacted as follows: 1. Roll call. 2. Approval of the journal. 3. Special order. 4. Communications and reports from city officers. 5. Petitions and remonstrances. 6. Reports of standing committees. 7- Introduction of resolutions. 8. Introduction of bills by committees. 9. Introduction of bills by members. 10. First reading of bills. 11. Second reading of bills. 12. Third reading of bills. 13. Unfinished business. 14. Other business. The court also found that it was generally known throughout the city of Seattle and' by its citizens that the city council of the city of Seattle regularly held its meetings on Monday evening of each week, and that the council only adjourned sine die on the last meeting of each two years’ term. So that the council evidently did not give much consideration to the parliamentary language used in the motion to adjourn, and, if bound to the technical meaning of such language, could be held to have had only one regular meeting in two years, a construction which, of course, the council did not place upon its proceedings, and which a court would not be authorized to place upon them.”
The respondent further claims that it is beyond the power of the court to inquire into the manner in which the ordinance was introduced and passed, but that the enrolled bill is in itself conclusive evidence of the fact that it has been regularly enacted by the city council. This is the rule this court has applied to acts of the legislature, and is undoubtedly the rule usually applied by courts to such enactments. But we cannot think it applicable to ordinances or laws of inferior bodies. The legislature is, in virtue of the constitution, “the judge of the election, returns, and' qualifications of its own members,” and has power to prescribe “the rules
The foregoing considerations require a reversal of the judgment entered by the court below, and we could properly end the discussion here. But the appellant has suggested other questions going to the power of the city to issue bonds for this particular purpose, and it may simplify any further
The city charter, in art. 4¡, § 18, subd. 7, provides:
“That whenever the city of Seattle or the Port of Seattle shall have presented to the qualified electors of either municipality for adoption or rejection, and there shall have been adopted by vote of the electors voting thereon a comprehensive plan or scheme of harbor or port improvement, that the control of such streets and the title to any lands belonging to the city which shall fall within the limits of such proposed improvement shall pass to or be vested in the Port of Seattle within thirty (80) days after said Port of Seattle is prepared to proceed with the improvement so authorized and shall have so certified to the city council.”
It is contended by the appellant that under this provision of the charter, the Port of Seattle has some right in, or authority over, the waterway across which the bridges intended to be constructed out of the funds derived from the bond issue in question would extend, and that the city could not properly proceed with the construction of such bridges, without an agreement with or consent from the Port of Seattle. But we agree with the city that this provision of the charter is not self-executing; that the Port of Seattle’s interest will only accrue when the “comprehensive plan or scheme” therein mentioned has been adopted, and that until then the city’s power over its streets is absolute.
It seems, also, that the city has not acquired, up to the present time, from the individual owners, all of the land necessary to be used in the construction of one of the contemplated bridges, and it is thought that bonds cannot properly be issued for the construction of the particular bridge until such land' is obtained by the city. But since it is not shown that there is any impediment in the way of the city which will prevent it from ultimately obtaining the property, we cannot think the obtaining of the property anything more than a mere detail of the general scheme which will be accomplished in due season. The obtaining of real property on
For the reason first suggested, the judgment of the trial court is reversed, and the cause remanded with instructions to enter a judgment in accordance with the prayer of the complaint.
Crow, C. J., Ellis, Mount, and Main, JJ., concur.