Blair v. City of Fargo

• Decision Date: 18 September 1969
• Docket Number: No. 8546,8546
• Citation: 171 N.W.2d 236
• Parties: Richard BLAIR, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. The CITY OF FARGO, a Municipal Corporation, and Board of Education of the City of Fargo, a Body Corporate, Defendants and Respondents. Civ.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Page 236

171 N.W.2d 236

Richard BLAIR, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. The CITY OF FARGO, a Municipal Corporation, and Board of

Education of the City of Fargo, a Body Corporate,

Defendants and Respondents.

Civ. No. 8546.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Sept. 18, 1969.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 3, 1969.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Although under the law the City of Fargo and the Board of Education of Fargo supervise the same area and the same population, the laws creating them made them wholly separate and distinct public corporations, independent of each other, each performing different functions, discharging different duties, and exercising different powers.

2. Where the law creating the Board of Education of the City of Fargo provides that title to school property shall be vested in the City of Fargo, and further authorizes the Board of Education to purchase, sell, exchange, and lease schoolhouses, lots, or sites for school purposes, and gives to such school board the power to build, purchase, lease, enlarge, alter, improve, and repair schoolhouses; and where, over the years, the members of the Board of Education and the officials of the City of Fargo have interpreted this statute as giving to the Board of Education the authority to sell school property; and where the courts of this State have construed such statute as giving to the Board of Education the authority and power to sell school property, and such construction is supported by long acquiescence on the part of the Legislative Assembly and failure of the Assembly to amend the law--it will be presumed that such interpretation of the statute is in accordance with legislative intent.

3. So long as the Board of Education acts within the authority conferred upon it by law, courts will not interfere with or review decisions of the Board which involve the exercise of discretion, in the absence of a clear abuse thereof. The wisdom of the action of the Board is not open to judicial review if the Board had the power to act as it did.

4. For reasons stated in this opinion, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.

Stokes, Vaaler, Gillig, Warcup & Woutat, Grand Forks, for plaintiff and appellant.

Tenneson, Serkland, Lundberg & Erickson, Fargo, for respondent Board of Education of the City of Fargo.

Garylle B. Stewart, Asst. City Atty., Fargo, for respondent The City of Fargo.

STRUTZ, Judge, on reassignment.

In 1963, the electors of the Fargo School District, which embraces the same area as the City of Fargo, approved a bond issue for $2,150,000 for the purpose of erecting, enlarging, improving, and acquiring sites for furnishing and equipping high school facilities in the District. Prior to the election, a citizens committee had issued and circulated a publicity pamphlet which urged the people to approve the bond issue, and stated that, if approved, $175,000 of the moneys realized from such bond issue would be used for modernizing and enlarging the library and cafeteria and providing additional classroom space and science laboratories at Fargo Central High School, which at the time was the only high school in the district. The balance of the moneys from such bond issue was to be used for building a new high school on the north side of the city. The ballot which was submitted to the voters, however, did not specify that any part of the moneys would be used to remodel Central High School.

The bond issue was approved by the voters of the district. However, the suggested remodeling of Central High School never was done, and the entire amount raised by the issue was used in the construction of a new high school in the district known as North High School.

After North High School had been built, it became apparent that Central High was very inadequate in many ways, and the deficiencies in the building and its location became a matter of serious concern to the Board of Education. The building itself had many deficiencies which made it undesirable for continued use as a high school. The library, the science facilities, the cafeteria, the gymnasium, and the auditorium all required improvements and remodeling if they were to be continued in use. The area in which the school was located had become largely a commercial area, and the school population in the immediate area was dwindling. Furthermore, there was a complete lack of parking facilities available for use of persons teaching in or attending the school.

For the above reasons, the Board of Education hired Dr. Paul W. Seagers of the University of Indiana, and expert on school construction, to examine not only Central High School but the entire Fargo school system for the purpose of making recommendations, particularly as to what should be done with the facilities at Central High. He arrived in Fargo at about the time that a fire partially destroyed Central High. Following his examination and investigation of the entire Fargo school system, this expert recommended that the building which housed Central High not be repaired and restored, but that it be abandoned and that a new structure be built to replace it at some location in the south part of the city. He stated that his recommendations would have been the same even if no fire had occurred in Central High.

In February of 1966, which was prior to the fire, the Fargo Board of Education had secured an estimate for the remodeling of the Central High building. This estimate was in the sum of $359,625. With certain proposed additions and changes which the Board had considered, the estimate for such remodeling was between $400,000 and $500,000. However, even the highest figure made no provision for adequate parking at the school.

Thereafter, a bond issue for the construction of a new high school facility, to be located in the south part of the city, was submitted to the voters of the school district. This bond issue was in the amount of $3,200,000. The bond issue was approved by the voters.

On April 19, 1966, subsequent to the securing of the bids above mentioned, a fire partially destroyed Central High. Thereafter, the school board secured estimates of the cost to replace the facility in the same structural condition as before the fire, and it received an estimate of $860,396.10. This estimate, however, did not include the cost of any equipment nor did it provide for any remodeling or alteration of the physical structure, which the Board had deemed advisable and necessary. It merely provided for a restoration of the building to its former condition.

Central High School is located immediately across the street from the Cass County courthouse. After the approval of the bond issue for the construction of South High, the Board of Education entered into an agreement, after calling for bids, to sell the old Central High building and grounds to Cass County, which had submitted the high bid.

The plaintiff thereupon commenced this action as a citizen and taxpayer, for himself and for all others similarly situated, seeking to enjoin the sale of Central High to the County. The plaintiff contends that the property upon which Central High is situated was conveyed to the City of Fargo specifically for school purposes, and that it therefore may not legally be sold for any other purpose. The district court denied the injunction and dismissed plaintiff's complaint, and plaintiff appeals to this court from the judgment entered.

Plaintiff raises three issues on this appeal:

1. The only body that has the legal right to sell the property in question is the City of Fargo.

2. The Fargo School Board is without authority to sell the property in question.

3. Even if the Fargo School Board might have the power to sell, the sale it is contemplating is an abuse of such power.

It will be noted that the three issues raised by the plaintiff are very closely related. If the only body that has the legal right to sell the property in question is the City of Fargo, then obviously the Board of Education of the City of Fargo is without authority to sell it. If we determine that the School Board does have the power to sell, then we must determine whether the action of the Board in this case constituted an abuse of its power.

The defendant Board of Education of the City of Fargo was created by an Act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Dakota, approved March 4, 1885. Council Bill 117, now embodied in Chapter 15--51, N.D.C.C. The Act creating the Board of Education of the City of Fargo Provided:

'The board of education shall be a body...