Goreham v. Des Moines Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency

• Decision Date: 02 September 1970
• Docket Number: No. 54242,54242
• Parties: William GOREHAM, David Liddle, Dighton Smith, and Lloyd Bock, Appellants, v. DES MOINES METROPOLITAN AREA SOLID WASTE AGENCY et al., Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 449

179 N.W.2d 449

1 ERC 1649

William GOREHAM, David Liddle, Dighton Smith, and Lloyd Bock, Appellants, v. DES MOINES METROPOLITAN AREA SOLID WASTE AGENCY et al., Appellees.

No. 54242.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Sept. 2, 1970.

Tesdell, Miller, Rydell & Hall, Des Moines, for appellants-cross-appellees.

Philip T. Riley and M. A. Iverson, Des Moines, for appellees-cross-appellants Des Moines Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency, Town of Altoona, City of Ankeny, Town of Carlisle, Town of Clive, City of Des Moines, Town of Grimes, Town of Pleasant Hill, County of Polk, City of Urbandale, City of West Des Moines, City of Windsor Heights, Town of Mitchellville, Town of Polk City, Town of Elkhart, Town of Runnells, Town of Bondurant.

Edwin Skinner, Altoona, for appellees-cross-appellants Town of Altoona and Town of Runnells.

James B. West, Des Moines, for appellee-cross-appellant Town of Clive.

Roy W. Meadows, Des Moines, for appellee-cross-appellant Town of Grimes.

Don C. Swanson, Des Moines, for appellee--cross-appellant Town of Pleasant Hill.

Harley A. Whitfield, Des Moines, for appellee-cross-appellant Town of Urbandale.

Jack W. Rogers, Des Moines, for appellee-cross-appellant City of West Des Moines.

Frank W. Davis, Jr., Des Moines, for appellee-cross-appellant City of Windsor Heights.

F. H. Forrest, Des Moines, for appellee-cross-appellant Town of Polk City.

Walter W. Selvy, Des Moines, for appellee-cross-appellant Town of Elkhart.

Edward J. Kelly, Des Moines, for appellee-cross-appellant Town of Bondurant.

LARSON, Justice.

This is a declaratory judgment action involving the validity of a contract and the constitutionality of chapter 28E, Code of Iowa 1966, and chapter 236, Acts of the Sixty-third General Assembly, submitted upon an agreed stipulation of facts.

Plaintiffs, who are residents, property owners, and taxpayers of the cities of Des Moines and West Des Moines, Iowa, brought this action at law against the Des Moines Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency (hereafter called the Agency) and its members asking an interpretation of chapter 28E, Code of Iowa 1966, and chapter 236, Acts of the Sixty-third General Assembly, First Session, with reference to the power and authority of the Agency under those laws. The vital question presented is whether under these statutes and the Iowa Constitution the Agency can issue bonds to finance the planned functions of the Agency in the collection and disposition of solid waste, and pay the interest and principal from fees legally collectible from its members for this service. The trial court held that the Agency was properly created, that due authority was properly delegated to it, that the submitted agreement between the members was valid, and that it could issue such revenue bonds and fix and collect fees from those using these services including interest and principal on the bonds, but held the participation by Polk County was limited to disposition of solid waste only and did not permit participation in collection costs. Plaintiffs appeal as to the creation of the Agency, the propriety of the authority delegated, and the legality of the agreement, and defendants cross-appeal as to the limited participation by Polk County. Due to the importance of this issue, special attention is given this problem.

The object or purpose of the involved legislation is clearly stated and relates to the health, safety and welfare of the people, involves a service and facility needed, and directs a liberal construction to accomplish a worthy purpose. After careful study and research, we conclude neither the legislation nor the contract involved are violative of the Iowa Constitution.

The record before us consists of the pleadings, an extended stipulation of the parties including the exhibits referred to therein, the trial court's findings of fact and conclusions of law, and the judgment entry filed April 16, 1970.

Appellants' principal contention as stated in their petition is that the defendant Agency under the provisions of said 'Intergovernmental Agreement, Exhibit A', may receive revenues directly from the defendant municipality members thereof and that as a result, the defendant municipality members are each required to pay said bonds from the general funds of each said municipality for the costs of acquisition and construction of said site and facilities and that said bonds are therefore indebtedness of the participating defendant municipality members within the meaning of Article XI, Section 3, of the Constitution of the State of Iowa, notwithstanding the provisions of said resolutions requiring payment from a sinking fund or special fund set apart for the purpose.

Appellants further contend that the defendant Agency is invalid and has no legal character as a 'public body corporate and politic' for the reason that chapter 28E of the 1966 Code of Iowa and Senate File 482 (also known as chapter 236, Acts of the 63rd General Assembly, First Session) under which said Agency was created is in violation of Article III, Section 1, of the Constitution of the State of Iowa, as an improper delegation of legislative authority, and that as a result the creation of said Agency by the 'Intergovernmental Agreement, Exhibit A', is ultra vires and of no force and effect, and that as a consequence thereof said defendant Agency is without authority to issue revenue bonds pursuant to Senate File 482 enacted by the 63rd General Assembly of Iowa.

Fairly summarized, the Stipulation of Facts filed herein on March 30, 1970, states as follows:

On August 8, 1966, the City Manager of the defendant City of Des Moines, by memorandum to the City Council, informed it that the city was confronted with a serious problem relating to the collection and disposal of solid waste, in that the solid waste facility operated by the City of Des Moines was fast filling up. The impact of the report was heightened by the fact that the local units of government in the near metropolitan Des Moines area were using the Des Moines dump to a greater extent for the disposition of some or all of their solid waste and were using local dumps in the area surrounding Des Moines to a lesser extent for the disposition of a portion of their solid waste. The memorandum proposed a study and demonstration project for the metropolitan area which contained approximately 430 square miles. The manager recommended that the communities in the metropolitan area engage in a cooperative effort in disposing of their solid waste.

A proposal was made to the office of Solid Waste of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare for matching federal funds and that office authorized as grant of federal funds to the City of Des Moines, which authorization was dated March 20, 1967, in the sum of $72,989.00 toward a total one-year budget for the project of $109,484.00.

On November 28, 1966, the City Council of the City of Des Moines, by resolution, authorized the execution of a contract, conditioned upon the federal grant, between the City of Des Moines and the other thirteen governmental units in the metropolitan area. As a result consulting firms were employed to make a comprehensive detailed analysis of solid waste collection and disposal in the Des Moines metropolitan area and to make recommendations for the best means of collection and disposal of solid waste material for the governmental units involved for approximately twenty to twenty-five years in the future.

The report of Henningson, Durham & Richardson, Inc., was delivered to the City of Des Moines on May 16, 1968, showing in great depth of detail a complete analysis of the solid waste problem for the communities involved, together with specific recommendations for the solution of such problems.

Subsequent thereto the defendant municipalities entered into an agreement based upon the form suggested by the study, Exhibit D, which said intergovernmental agreement created the Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency.

Pursuant to said agreement the Agency was duly organized, officers were elected and a director was hired to manage the affairs of the Agency under the direction of the Agency board which was composed of one representative from the governing body of each members of the Agency, each having one vote for every 50,000 or fraction thereof population in his area of representation.

On February 24, 1969, the Agency board authorized the preparation of an application to the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, for funds for a project designed to demonstrate the implementation of a Metropolitan Solid Waste Management Plan, which said application covered a projected two-year period of operation commencing June 1, 1969, and ending May 31, 1971.

On June 24, 1969, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, issued its Notice of Grant Awarded, indicating a first year grant in the amount requested of $73,857.00 against matching local funding in the sum of $36,929.00. The application remains pending for the second year for which financial sources from federal funds have not yet been awarded.

On December 18, 1969, the Agency adopted a resolution with all members thereof concurring to the effect that the Agency may proceed to issue revenue bonds in the amount not to exceed 2 1/4 million dollars, and each of the municipality members of the Agency adopted a resolution in support of the Agency resolution to issue revenue bonds in such amount.

Specifically, appellants contend (1) that chapter 28E, Code of Iowa 1966, is unconstitutional because the legislature is without power to delegate to political subdivisions of the state the power to create a new quasi municipality for the purpose of exercising functions delegated by the legislature to it; (2) that chapter 28E is unconstitutional because it endeavors to delegate legislative power without providing a suitable legislative policy which...