Blades v. Board of Water Com'rs of City of Detroit

• Decision Date: 21 December 1899
• Citation: 81 N.W. 271,122 Mich. 366
• Parties: BLADES, Comptroller, v. BOARD OF WATER COM'RS OF CITY OF DETROIT.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

81 N.W. 271

122 Mich. 366

BLADES, Comptroller, v. BOARD OF WATER COM'RS OF CITY OF DETROIT.

Supreme Court of Michigan

December 21, 1899

Certiorari to circuit court, Wayne county; Byron S. Waite, Willard M Lillibridge, William L. Carpenter, and George S. Hosmer Judges.

Petition for writ of mandamus by Francis A. Blades, comptroller of the city of Detroit, against the board of water commissioners of the city of Detroit. Writ denied, and relator brings certiorari. Affirmed.

In 1853 the legislature passed an act entitled titled 'An act to amend the laws relative to 'An act to amend the laws relative to wholesome water,' which act was approved February 14, 1853. Under this act the present board of water commissioners of the city of Detroit was organized, and it has ever since conducted its affairs under that act and acts amendatory thereof. The material provisions of that act are as follows:

'Section 1. The people of the state of Michigan enact, that Shubael Connt, Henry Ledyard, Edmund A. Brush, William R. Noyes and James A. Van Dyke, be and they are hereby named and constituted as a board of water commissioners of the city of Detroit, who, and their successors in office, shall be known by the name and style of the 'Board of Water Commissioners of the City of Detroit,' and by that name shall have power to contract, sue and be sued, to purchase hold and convey personal and real estate, to have a common seal, to alter and change the same at pleasure, to make by-laws and ordinances, and do all legal acts which may be necessary and proper to carry out the effect, intent and object of this act.

'Sec. 2. The said commissioners shall hold their offices respectively for the term of three, four, five, six and seven years from the first Tuesday in May, of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three; said commissioners shall, within sixty days after the passage of this act, decide by lot their respective terms, which decision shall be notified by a written statement to the common council of said city, which shall be entered of record on the books of said common council; and at their first regular meeting in the month of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, and annually thereafter, the said common council shall elect and appoint a citizen of said city, being a qualified voter and freeholder, as a commissioner, who shall hold his office for five years from the first Tuesday in May the next following: provided, that this section shall not be so construed as to disqualify any member of the said board for reappointment; and in case of the death or resignation, or removal from the city, of any of said commissioners, the common council shall, as soon thereafter as possible, appoint to fill such vacancy, for the remainder of the term, some citizen of said city, being a qualified voter and freeholder.'

'Sec. 4. The said commissioners shall have power to loan, from time to time, upon the best terms they can make, after giving public notice by advertising in the city papers for sixty days, and in one paper in Boston, and two in New York, for such time as they shall deem expedient, a sum of money not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, upon the credit of said city of Detroit, and shall have authority to issue bonds pledging the faith and credit of said city for the payment of the principal and interest of said bonds; which bonds shall issue under the seal of said board of commissioners, and shall be signed by them, or a majority of them, and bearing interest not exceeding eight per cent. per annum. And it shall be the duty of said commissioners to cause to be kept an accurate register of all the bonds issued by them, showing the number, date and amount of each bond, and to whom the same was issued; and it shall be their duty to cause to be furnished to the auditor of said city a copy of such register, as soon as the same is made, which shall be preserved by said auditor and copied into the records of said city.

'Section 5. It shall be the duty of said commissioners to examine and consider all matters relative to supplying the city of Detroit with a sufficient quantity of pure and wholesome water, to be taken from the Detroit river, or such other source as may be deemed expedient, for the use of its inhabitants.

'Sec. 6. Said commissioners shall have power to employ superintendents, clerks, collectors, assessors, engineers, surveyors, and such other persons as, in their opinion, may be necessary to enable them to perform their duties under this act, and to specify the duties of such persons so employed, and to fix their compensation: provided, that in no case shall said commissioners receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation for their own services.

'Sec. 7. Said commissioners shall have power, and it is hereby made their duty, as soon as may be, after the necessary funds have been procured, as herein provided, to purchase such land and materials, and to construct such reservoirs, buildings, machinery and fixtures as shall be deemed necessary or desirable to furnish a full supply of water for public and private use in said city.

'Sec. 8. Said commissioners shall have power to construct reservoirs, jets and fire hydrants, at such localities in said city as they may deem expedient and necessary, and to lay pipes in and through all alleys and streets of said city; and also to construct in such localities as they may deem expedient, not exceeding one to each block, hydrants for public use, and to keep the same in repair; and also, with the consent of the common council of said city, to construct fountains in the public squares, or such other public grounds of said city as they shall deem expedient.

'Sec. 9. Said commissioners shall, from time to time, cause to be assessed the water rate to be paid by the owner or occupant of each house or other building having or using water, upon such basis as they shall deem equitable; and such water rate shall become a continuing lien, until paid, upon such house or other building, and upon the lot or lots upon which such house or other building is situated.'

'Sec. 13. Whenever the receipts of said board, from water rates or other sources, shall accumulate so that there shall be a surplus, amounting to a sum of not less than five hundred dollars, not needed for the payment of the current expenses or the extension of said works, it shall be the duty of the commissioners, together with the auditor of said city, who shall be associated with them for that purpose, to invest the same in safe stocks, or upon other real or personal securities. Such investment shall be made in the name of said board, and in such manner as to make the same available for the payment of interest and principal of the bonds issued as aforesaid, as soon as may be. It shall be the duty of said commissioners to pay the interest on such bonds, and as fast as such surplus fund will permit, also the principal, as the bonds become due, as funds for such purpose shall from time to time accumulate. The said commissioners may, when they have funds for that purpose, purchase the bonds so issued as aforesaid, whether the same shall have become due or not; and in case the said commissioners shall at any time not have funds on hand sufficient to meet any of the said bonds at the time when they shall become due, they shall have the right to issue new bonds for such amount, and on such time as they shall deem expedient, in the place of bonds so becoming due as aforesaid; the said old bonds to be canceled in the registry thereof, and the said new bonds to be recorded in the manner hereinbefore provided.'

'Sec. 24. It shall be the duty of said commissioners, at least thirty days before the time fixed by the ordinance of said city for assessing city taxes, to make a special report to the common council of said city, what, if any, sum will be needed by said commissioners over and above the revenue of said board, to meet the payment of interest or principal of the bonds issued as aforesaid; and it shall be the duty of the common council to raise said amount by special tax in the same manner as general taxes, to be designated a water tax; and the said amount shall be paid over to said board by the treasurer of the said city.'

'Sec. 26. All lands, lots, docks, buildings, machinery, pipes, logs, hydrants and all fixtures whatsoever, purchased, designated or used for the present waterworks of the city of Detroit, are hereby conveyed to and vested in said board of commissioners, who shall have full power to regulate, protect and control the same; and all the authority, rights and power heretofore exercised and had by said city over said works, are hereby continued to and vested in said board of commissioners.'

By subsequent acts of the legislature, the respondent was authorized to issue bonds for the purpose of extending and improving the waterworks. In 1873 a loan of a million dollars was authorized. Section 2 of that act is as follows: 'If the said commissioners shall, at any time, not have funds on hand sufficient to meet any of the said bonds at the time when they shall become due, they shall have the right to issue new bonds for such amount, and on such time, as they shall deem expedient, in the place of the bonds so becoming due as aforesaid, or such part thereof as said commissioners shall be unable then to pay; the said old bonds so taken up shall be canceled and such cancellation recorded or otherwise indicated in the registry thereof, and the said new bonds shall be recorded in the manner hereinbefore provided. It shall be the duty of the common council, and said council is hereby empowered, to cause to be levied and assessed annually, upon the taxable property in said city, the sum of...