Brouwer v. Bronkema

• Decision Date: 01 October 1965
• Docket Number: No. 13,13
• Parties: Tony BROUWER, Robert J. Clarke, Lewis Clingman, Henry Ippel and Peter Oppewall, Plaintiffs and Appellees, v. Jack BRONKEMA, Charles Lawyer, Eugene Edgecomb, Louis F. Battjes, R. Stanton Kilpatrick, Howard Nyenhuis, Laura E. Shepard, Harry E. Zuck, Howard F. Roberts and Edward Van Solkema, Defendants and Appellants. ,
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Page 98

141 N.W.2d 98

377 Mich. 616

Tony BROUWER, Robert J. Clarke, Lewis Clingman, Henry Ippel and Peter Oppewall, Plaintiffs and Appellees, v. Jack BRONKEMA, Charles Lawyer, Eugene Edgecomb, Louis F.

Battjes, R. Stanton Kilpatrick, Howard Nyenhuis, Laura E.

Shepard, Harry E. Zuck, Howard F. Roberts and Edward Van

Solkema, Defendants and Appellants.

No. 13, Oct. Term, 1965.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

April 5, 1966.

Supplemental Opinion April 6, 1966.

Marcus, McCroskey, Libner, Reamon, Williams & Dilley, by William G. Reamon, Grand Rapids, for plaintiffs-appellees.

Vander Veen, Freihofer & Cook, Grand Rapids, for defendants and appellants Jack Bronkema and Charles Lawyer.

Schmidt, Smith, Howlett & Halliday, Grand Rapids, for defendant and appellant Edward Van Solkema.

Law, Fallon, Weathers & Richardson, Grand Rapids, for defendant and appellant, Louis F. Battjes.

Varnum, Riddering, Wierengo & Christenson, Grand Rapids, for defendant and appellant Howard F. Roberts.

Bergstrom, Slykhouse & Van Orden, Grand Rapids, for defendants and appellants Howard Nyenhuis and Harry E. Zuck.

Before the Entire Bench.

SOURIS, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decision of the circuit court for Kent county that the apportionment of seats in the Kent county board of supervisors violates the Equality Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution.

I.

On June 23, 1964, barely one week after announcement by the United States Supreme Court of its decisions in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506, and five related cases, ¹ plaintiffs, registered voters in the city of Grand Rapids, Kent county filed a complaint in the circuit court challenging the apportionment of representation on the Kent county board of supervisors, the county's legislative body. Defendants were the county clerk, the chairman of the board of supervisors, and the city clerks of each of Kent county's eight cities. The complaint alleged a deprivation of rights under the Equality Clauses of the Michigan Constitution ² and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution.

The complaint stated that the Kent county board of supervisors was composed of 73 members. It also set forth the following relevant State constitutional and statutory provisions by which representation on the board of supervisors is apportioned:

'A board of supervisors shall be established in each organized county consisting of one member from each organized township and such representation from cities as provided by law.' Const. (1963), Art. VII, § 7.

'Sec. 27. Any city now organized or which may hereafter be organized, may, by its charter, to be adopted or amended in accordance with the provisions of this act, provide for the selection by appointment or election of representatives on the board of supervisors of the county; the number of such representatives on said board of supervisors shall be determined by the population of such cities as shown by the last census, regular or special, taken by the United States, or by the state as herein provided, as follows: Cities having less than 750 population shall have 1 representative on the board of supervisors of the county; cities having at least 750 and not more than 3,000 population shall have 2 such representatives; cities having over 3,000 and not more than 4,000 population shall have 3 such representatives; cities having over 4,000 and not more than 9,000 population shall have 4 such representatives; cities having 9,000 and not more than 25,000 population shall have 5 such representatives; cities having over 25,000 and not more than 35,000 population shall have 6 such representatives; cities having over 35,000 and not more than 49,000 population shall have 7 such representatives; cities having over 49,000 and not more than 65,000 population shall have 8 such representatives; cities having over 65,000 and not more than 80,000 population shall have 10 such representatives; cities having over 80,000 and not more than 100,000 population shall have 12 such representatives; and cities having over 100,000 and not more than 500,000 population shall be entitled to 1 additional representative for each additional 10,000 population or fraction thereof and cities having 500,000 or more population shall be entitled to 1 additional representative for each additional 40,000 population or fraction thereof which such city may have. In counties having a population in excess of 2,000,000, whose cities shall now have or hereafter be entitled to a total representation upon their board of supervisors of 75 or more representatives under the aforesaid provisions of this section, the number of representatives of cities on the board of supervisors in such counties on and after the Tuesday following the second Monday in April in the year 1961 shall be as follows: Cities having less than 25,000 population shall have 1 representative on the board of supervisors of the county; cities having over 25,000 and not more than 40,000 population shall have 2 representatives; cities having over 40,000 and not more than 70,000 population shall have 3 representatives; cities having over 70,000 population shall be entitled to 1 additional representative for each additional 30,000 population or major fraction thereof which such city may have. In any such county where any city shall have a population of 53% Or more of the total population of the county but less than 51% Of the total representation on the board of supervisors, the representation of such city on the board of supervisors shall be increased automatically so that it will have as near as may be, but not less than 53% Of the total representation on such board, and whenever the representation of the balance of the county is thereafter increased or decreased, the representation of such city shall be increased or decreased automatically so that it will have as near as may be, but not less than 53% Of the total representation on such board, and whenever the population of such city decreases to less than 53% Of the population of the county, this provision shall not apply, but representation of such city shall be determined as provided above for other cities in the same population class: Provided further, That in each city entitled to additional representatives where the city charter does not provide for the selection of such additional representatives, the additional representatives shall be selected by the governing body of the city. In counties having a population of less than 1,000,000 but more than 500,000, cities having a population of 7,500 or less shall have I representative on the board of supervisors, cities having a population of 7,501 and less than 15,000 shall have 2 representatives, cities having a population of 15,001 and less than 22,500 shall have 3 representatives, cities having a population of 22,501 and less than 32,500 shall have 4 representatives, cities having a population of 32,501 but not more than 50,000 shall have 5 representatives, cities having a population of 50,001 but less than 75,000 shall have 6 representatives, cities having over 75,000 shall have 1 additional representative for each additional 25,000 population or fraction thereof: Provided further, That on and after the Tuesday following the second Monday in September, in the year 1955, and until the charters of cities in such counties are revised or changed to designate the representatives and representation on such board of supervisors, such cities shall be represented on the board of supervisors by the city officials and others as provided in existing city charters, in the order named therein, until the total number to which each city is entitled under the provisions herein is filled; and if the number of representatives to which such cities are entitled does not include all of the members of any council, commission or class designated in the city charter, the number of such council, commission or class entitled to be representatives on the board of supervisors under the provisions herein shall be selected in the order of the largest popular vote received by each at the election to such council, commission or class: Provided, That wherever the representation of cities upon the board of supervisors of the county has been fixed by law it shall remain as now fixed until changed by charter provision, and no city shall have power to increase its representation on such board of supervisors beyond the number provided for in this section, nor shall the representation of any city on the board of supervisors be decreased by revision of its charter unless so expressly provided for in such revised charter, except that any city may provide in its charter for a number of representatives on the board of supervisors to a number equal to the representation of any city of less population in the county: Provided further, That in counties containing only 1 city, where at the present time the representation of the city on such board is exactly equal to the representation of the balance of the county, such city shall not have power, under this section, to increase its representation so that it will exceed the representation of the balance of the county: Provided further, That when any city lies in more than 1 county, said city shall be entitled to be represented on the board of supervisors of each such county by a number of supervisors determined by the population of said city lying within each such county in accordance with this section, except that in no case if the population of said city lying in one of said counties be less than 750 persons, shall said city be represented by more than 1 supervisor on the board of supervisors of that county: Provided further, That any incorporated city may, for the purpose of showing its population for the purposes of this section, have conducted an enumeration under the supervision of the secretary of state as provided for in section 6 hereof whenever the legislative...