State ex rel. Newspapers, Inc. v. Showers
| Decision Date | 04 December 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-0471,85-0471 |
| Citation | 128 Wis.2d 152,382 N.W.2d 60 |
| Parties | STATE of Wisconsin ex rel. NEWSPAPERS INC., a Wisconsin corporation, and Karen S. Rothe, Plaintiffs-Appellants, * v. Dean A. SHOWERS, Edwin J. Laszewski, Jr., Mary M. Wilkinson and Theodore J. Fadrow, Defendants-Respondents. |
| Court | Wisconsin Court of Appeals |
Meissner, Tierney, Ehlinger & Whipp, S.C. by Dennis L. Fisher, (argued), Milwaukee, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Michael J. McCabe by Patrick Halligan (argued), Milwaukee, for defendants-respondents.
Before MOSER, P.J., and WEDEMEYER and SULLIVAN, JJ.
Newspapers, Inc. and Karen S. Rothe (Newspapers) appeal from a judgment denying their motions for summary judgment and granting summary judgment to four members of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission: Dean A. Showers, Edwin J. Laszewski, Jr., Mary M. Wilkinson and Theodore J. Fadrow (commissioners). Newspapers asserts trial court error in interpreting the open meetings law, secs. 19.81-98, Stats. Because under the facts of this case we conclude that the legislature did not intend the gathering of the four commissioners on December 1, 1983, (after the adjournment of a regular meeting) to be a "meeting" under the law, we affirm.
The undisputed facts contained in the record reveal the following. The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission, pursuant to secs. 66.88-66.918, Stats., is the governing body of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. It consists of eleven members; seven representing the city of Milwaukee and four representing the included suburbs. 1 In conducting its business of designing, constructing, maintaining and operating the sewerage system within the district, it holds public meetings. Each year the commission has the duty to adopt both an operating budget and a capital budget. Generally, a two-thirds vote of the total membership of the commission (or eight members) is required to pass any financing measure. Sec. 66.886(2)(a)1.
In late 1983, a pressing issue arose as to which method of funding was to be utilized for the 1984 budget year. Until December, proposed plans to finance the budget had been uniformly rejected, with the suburban commissioners voting against the Milwaukee commissioners' proposals and vice versa. To exacerbate this impasse, tax bills were to be mailed to the residents of some of the suburban municipalities in the district by early December, 1983. Not to include a charge for sewerage service would pose additional problems, so the commission met four times during the week of November 28-December 2 in an effort to establish a tax levy and thereby meet the mailing deadline. During these meetings, suburban commissioners Fadrow and Wilkinson offered resolutions to finance the capital budget, as did city commissioner Laszewski. All of these resolutions failed to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority vote.
December 1, after a regular meeting of the commission, these three commissioners, along with chairperson Showers, a city appointee, met privately for about an hour to discuss the impasse. It is not clear from the record how these four individuals happened to attend the meeting or how the meeting was organized. It is uncontroverted, however, that the general purpose of the meeting was to discuss governmental business. The next day, at a scheduled meeting of the commission, upon a resolution offered by Laszewski and seconded by Wilkinson, a tax levy was enacted by a vote of nine to one.
Newspapers filed a declaratory judgment action alleging that the four commissioners violated the open meetings law, secs. 19.81-98, Stats. On the basis of the undisputed facts recounted above, both sides moved Interpretation of a statute is a question of law which we review without deference to the trial court. Town of Seymour v. City of Eau Claire, 112 Wis.2d 313, 319, 332 N.W.2d 821, 823 (Ct.App.1983). Newspapers contends that the gathering of the four commissioners to discuss issues immediately pending before the commission constitutes a "meeting" under sec. 19.82(1) and (2), Stats. To support this contention it advances four arguments:
for summary judgment. The trial court, in concluding that the meeting of the four commissioners was not a "meeting" as defined in the open meetings law, based its decision on a combination of factors: the absence of corporate capacity to conduct business, spend money or establish policy; the lack of a quorum; and the failure to meet the two-prong balancing of interests test set forth in sec. 19.81(1). Newspapers appeals.
(1) The plain language of the statute clearly covers meetings of less than a quorum;
(2) If there is ambiguity in the statutory definition of "meeting", then the legislative history indicates that the statute was designed to reach a gathering of less than a quorum;
(3) A construction which fosters the purpose of the statute is to be favored over a construction which would defeat the manifest object of the statute; and
(4) The closed meeting on December 1 is subject to the open meetings law because it constituted a "negative quorum."
We shall examine these arguments seriatim.
First, Newspapers asserts that the statutory language clearly includes gatherings of less than a quorum. The primary purpose of statutory interpretation is to determine and give effect to legislative intent. Ball v. District No. 4 Area Board, 117 Wis.2d 529, 537-38, 345 N.W.2d 389, 394 (1984). To achieve this task, we initially examine the language of the statute itself. If the meaning of the statute is clear on its face, this court will not look outside the statute in applying it. Id. at 538, 345 N.W.2d at 394.
"[W]hether ... the words of a statute are clear is itself not always clear." N. Singer, 2A Sutherland on Statutes and Statutory Construction § 46.04 at 86 (Sands rev. 4th ed. 1984) (footnote omitted). Our supreme court has held that a statute, or any sentence, clause or word thereof, is ambiguous only when it is capable of being understood by reasonably well-informed persons in either of two or more senses. The test is whether well-informed persons could have been confused. Department of Revenue v. Nagle-Hart, Inc., 70 Wis.2d 224, 227, 234 N.W.2d 350, 352 (1975) (citations omitted). "An ambiguity can be created by the interaction of two separate statutes as well as by the interaction of the various words and the structure of the statute itself." Morrissette v. DeZonia, 63 Wis.2d 429, 436, 217 N.W.2d 377, 381 (1974).
Wisconsin's open meetings law provides in relevant part:
OPEN MEETINGS OF GOVERNMENTAL BODIES
19.81 Declaration of policy. (1) In recognition of the fact that a representative government of the American type is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the policy of this state that the public is entitled to the fullest and most complete information regarding the affairs of government as is compatible with the conduct of governmental business.
(2) To implement and ensure the public policy herein expressed, all meetings of all state and local governmental bodies shall be publicly held in places reasonably accessible to members of the public and shall be open to all citizens at all ....
times unless otherwise expressly provided by law.
(4) This subchapter shall be liberally construed to achieve the purposes set forth in this section, and the rule that penal statutes must be strictly construed shall be limited to the enforcement of forfeitures and shall not otherwise apply to actions brought under this subchapter or to interpretations thereof.
19.82 Definitions. As used in this subchapter:
(1) "Governmental body" means a state or local agency, board, commission, committee, council, department or public body corporate and politic created by constitution, statute, ordinance, rule or order; a governmental or quasigovernmental corporation; or a formally constituted subunit of any of the foregoing....
(2) "Meeting" means the convening of members of a governmental body for the purpose of exercising the responsibilities, authority, power or duties delegated to or vested in the body. If one-half or more of the members of a governmental body are present, the meeting is rebuttably presumed to be for the purpose of exercising the responsibilities, authority, power or duties delegated to or vested in the body. The term does not include any social or chance gathering or conference which is not intended to avoid this subchapter.
....
19.83 Meetings of governmental bodies. Every meeting of a governmental body shall be preceded by public notice ... and shall be held in open session. At any meeting of a governmental body, all discussion shall be held and all action of any kind, formal or informal, shall be initiated, deliberated upon and acted upon only in open session except as provided in s. 19.85.
Newspapers argues that this statutory language clearly covers the meeting that occurred on December 1, 1983. In particular, Newspapers focuses on the clause "convening of members of a governmental body for the purpose of exercising the responsibilities ... or duties delegated to or vested in the body," sec. 19.82(2), Stats. (emphasis added), and argues that one of the responsibilities of public officials is the obligation to discuss the important issues confronting them. To Newspapers, it is irrelevant whether the size of the group is sufficient to make policy decisions. Rather, Newspapers claims that the purpose of exercising responsibility at its lowest level, i.e. a discussion by two or more members of any subject matter with which they are legislatively charged, is the paramount concern of the statute. Newspapers further argues that the first sentence of sec. 19.82(2) neither requires a minimum number of attendees nor mandates that members in attendance have the...
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State ex rel. Newspapers, Inc. v. Showers, 85-471
...decisions are reached. Newspapers Inc. appealed. The court of appeals affirmed the trial court's decision. State ex rel. Newspapers v. Showers, 128 Wis.2d 152, 382 N.W.2d 60 (1985). In its opinion, the court concluded that sec. 19.82(2), Stats. was ambiguous and interpreted it to cover thos......