Coventry School Committee v. Richtarik

• Decision Date: 29 February 1980
• Docket Number: No. 77-256-A,77-256-A
• Citation: 411 A.2d 912,122 R.I. 707
• Parties: COVENTRY SCHOOL COMMITTEE v. Albin RICHTARIK et al. ppeal.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 912

411 A.2d 912

122 R.I. 707

COVENTRY SCHOOL COMMITTEE v. Albin RICHTARIK et al.

No. 77-256-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Feb. 29, 1980.

[122 R.I. 716] Bennett R. Gallo, Providence, for plaintiff.

Charles T. Rennick, Jr., Coventry, for defendants.

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

This litigation involves a dispute between various officials of the town of Coventry. Their disagreement concerns the school committee's right to retain the services of an attorney who is not part of the town solicitor's staff. The disputants first reached the courthouse when on March 3, 1977, the committee filed a civil action in the Superior Court asking that the town treasurer, the town manager, and the town council be enjoined from interfering with the committee's selection of a counsel of its own choice. The committee's complaint also sought a writ of mandamus that would have directed the treasurer to honor certain vouchers or payment orders presented to the treasurer by the committee. The treasurer, manager, and council responded with an answer to the complaint as well as both a counterclaim seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and a third-party complaint naming the committee's attorney, Arthur G Capaldi (Capaldi), as a defendant and seeking a monetary judgment against him in the event the position they espoused was ultimately sustained.

The controversy was submitted to a Superior Court justice by way of an agreed statement of facts to which were attached a number of exhibits that were jointly offered by the litigants. Among the exhibits is a copy of the town's charter. On April 4, 1977, the trial justice, in a bench decision, ruled that the charter permitted the committee to hire an attorney for the sole purpose of advising the committee. The trial justice also declared that in all matters involving litigation, the committee must be represented by the solicitor. As the trial justice expanded on his original observations, he went on to point out that the committee could hire an attorney who might act either as a negotiator when the committee was engaged in collective bargaining with any union that represented the school employees or as an arbitrator who has been designated by the committee to participate in the precontract and postcontract phases of arbitration.

The treasurer, manager, and council have taken appeals from the judgment in favor of the committee and the dismissal of their counterclaim and third-party complaint, while the committee is before us on a cross-appeal, in which it challenges the correctness of the trial justice's limited view of what the committee's counsel could or could not do.

The stipulated facts indicate that during the years 1973, 1974, and 1975 the relationships between the solicitor's office and the school committee were harmonious. The different solicitors in office during this period or their designees served the committee's legal needs. ¹ However, after the November 1976 municipal election, a change in solicitors occurred, and on November 11, 1976, the committee voted to retain Capaldi, who was an assistant to the outgoing solicitor, as its chief negotiator on all union contracts and made it clear that he was to continue to act as the committee's attorney. The committee noted that the "present monthly retainer shall be the same." The monthly retainer amounted to $1,250.

Thereafter, the council voted to remove Capaldi and did in fact appoint Bennett R. Gallo (Gallo) to the office of assistant to the solicitor and specifically ordered Gallo to act as the committee's attorney. The committee made it clear that it was completely satisfied with the legal services it was receiving.

The town's annual financial meeting was held in February 1977, and the electors approved a budget which included a $15,000 appropriation for the committee's legal expenses. The budget, as approved, also provided for a $15,900 salary for the assistant solicitor whom the council had designated as the committee's attorney. When Capaldi made the fact known to the committee that his retainers were no longer forthcoming, the committee took action.

On or about the second of March 1977, the committee submitted its payroll to the treasurer. One of the payroll items was a $4,500 proposed payment to Capaldi. The treasurer refused to honor the committee's request, and within a matter of days most of Coventry's officialdom was headed for Kent County Superior Court. On March 3, a restraining order was entered against the treasurer from interfering with the "lawful payment" of the school department payroll. The payroll was processed, and six days later Capaldi received $3,750 ² of his overdue retainers.

The solution to this controversy can be found after a consideration of the various portions of Coventry's town charter and a review of past pronouncements of this court as they relate to the powers and duties of a municipal school committee. The Coventry charter was adopted by the citizens in a referendum held on November 7, 1972. The charter was to become effective on January 1, 1973. The parties have stipulated that the General Assembly by its passage of P.L.1973, ch. 4, "expressly ratified, confirmed and validated and enacted in all respects the entire Home Rule Charter."

Section 4.07 delineates the committee's powers and duties. This section makes it clear that the school committee is to have "all the powers and perform all the duties prescribed by the laws of the state." While the committee must submit budget estimates to the manager, the allocations of amounts appropriated rests within the sole discretion of the school committee; and the council's power over the committee's budget is restricted to modifying the total amount of the budget. The committee is charged, however, with the responsibility of cooperating with the treasurer so that this office can carry out its responsibilities.

Article VII of the charter concerns the solicitorship, and, insofar as it is relevant to this intergovernmental tug of war, it refers to his duties and his opinions in the following fashion:

(1) "The town solicitor shall serve as chief legal advisor to the council and to the town manager;

(2) "(t)he town solicitor shall appear for and protect the rights of the town in all actions, suits, or proceedings, civil or criminal, in law or equity, brought by or against it, or for or against any of its departments, offices or agencies, including the council, the manager and the school committee;

(3) "(t)he town solicitor shall also perform such other duties, appropriate to his office, as the council and the manager may require;

(4) "(t)he town solicitor shall examine and approve the form of all ordinances and resolutions, of all invitations to bid, contracts, and other legal documents issued by any department, office or agency of the town;

(5) "(a)ll written opinions of the town solicitor furnished to the council, the manager, and all departments, offices and agencies of the town shall be filed with the town clerk and shall become a public record."

Recently as well as in the past, this court has reminded those so interested that, because of art. XII of the Rhode Island Constitution, public education is the responsibility of the state, specifically, the General Assembly; and the various municipal school committees, when discharging their responsibilities, act as agents of the state. Cummings v. Godin, R.I., 377 A.2d 1071 (1977); Royal v. Barry, 91 R.I. 24, 160 A.2d 572 (1960); City of Pawtucket v. Pawtucket Teachers' Alliance, 87 R.I. 364, 141 A.2d 624 (1958). Under our law, ³ once an appropriation is made for the use of the school committee, the expenditure of those funds is within the committee's sole and exclusive jurisdiction. Dawson v. Clark, 93 R.I. 457, 176 A.2d 732 (1962); Bailey v. Duffy, 45 R.I. 304, 121 A. 129 (1923); Times Publishing Co. v. White, 23 R.I. 334, 50 A. 383 (1901).

The trial justice, in finding that the committee could hire a lawyer who could act as an advisor but not as an advocate first relied on those cases which hold that a committee acts as the agent of the state and then, with that proposition for support, decided that the committee had implicit power to seek legal advice. In fact, the trial justice, after noting the General Assembly's vesting of exclusive control of public education in the various school committees, observed: "(I)t is my judgment that the town charter aside, they (the committee) have all powers reasonably necessary to carry out the powers expressly granted, including the power to engage attorneys for legal advice." (Emphasis added.) We think the trial justice erred not only when he put the charter to one side but also when he construed the charter's terms in regard to what...