Housing Authority of City of New Haven v. Dorsey

• Decision Date: 18 January 1973
• Citation: 320 A.2d 820,164 Conn. 247
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: HOUSING AUTHORITY OF the CITY OF NEW HAVEN et al. v. Donald T. DORSEY, Commissioner, Department of Community Affairs, et al.

Page 820

320 A.2d 820

164 Conn. 247

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF the CITY OF NEW HAVEN et al. v. Donald T. DORSEY, Commissioner, Department of Community Affairs, et al.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Jan. 18, 1973.

Ronald J. Fracasse, New Haven, with whom were Donald E. Cobey and, on the brief, Charles W. Dibbell, New Haven, for appellants (plaintiffs).

John K. Jepson, Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom, on the brief, was Robert K. Killian, Atty. Gen., for appellees (named defendant et al.).

Before HOUSE, C.J., and SHAPIRO, LOISELLE, MacDONALD and BOGDANSKI, JJ.

BOGDANSKI, Associate Justice.

In this action for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief, the plaintiffs, the Housing Authority of the city of New Haven, Polly Moorer and Joseph R. Peters, are seeking an adjudication as to whether Moorer and Peters, tenants of the housing authority, are each legally qualified to hold the position of housing commissioner of the plaintiff housing authority. The trial court found that the plaintiff tenants are not legally qualified to hold these positions and rendered a declaratory judgment to that effect, from which the plaintiffs have appealed to this court.

In the first two assignments of error the plaintiffs claim: (1) that the court erred in refusing to find material facts set forth in certain paragraphs of the draft finding which they claim were admitted or undisputed and (2) that the court erred in finding facts contained in certain parapraphs of the finding without evidence. Since the plaintiffs failed to brief these assignments of error pertaining to the finding, they are treated as abandoned; State v. Grayton, 163 Conn. 104, 109, 302 A.2d 246, cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1045, 93 S.Ct. 542, 34 L.Ed.2d 495; State v. Benson, 153 Conn. 209, 217, 214 A.2d 903.

The remaining assignments of error challenge the conclusions reached by the court on the basis of facts found and present the basic issue as to whether the trial court erred in finding that a housing authority tenant may not serve as a commissioner of that housing authority because such service would create a conflict of interest under § 8-42 of the General Statutes and under the common law.

The facts can be summarized as follows: On April 12, 1971, the attorney general of the state of Connecticut issued a legal opinion to the effect that the law bars a tenant of a housing authority from serving as a commissioner of the housing authority in whose project he resides. Based on this opinion the defendant Donald T. Dorsey, Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs of the state of Connecticut, withheld substantial sums of money from the plaintiff housing authority because he felt that the board of commissioners of the housing authority was improperly constituted. This action then was instituted.

The plaintiff housing authority was organized and created by resolution of the board of aldermen of the city of New Haven pursuant to chapter 128 of the General Statutes, § 8-38 et seq. The plaintiff-tenants, Moorer and Peters, and the other commissioners of the plaintiff authority were appointed by the mayor of New Haven.

The plaintiffs claim that Moorer and Peters were eligible, under Connecticut law, to be appointed commissioners and, having been duly appointed, are legally qualified to act as commissioners in all respects, with the same powers and rights as commissioners who are not tenants of the housing authority. The plaintiffs further contend that by virtue of applicable federal housing statutes and contracts entered into thereunder, the constitutional doctrine of federal supremacy requires that Connecticut law bow to federal provisions which, they claim, provide that tenants shall be eligible to serve as commissioners of housing authorities. The plaintiffs further assert that constitutional provisions bar discrimination against tenants with respect to their eligibility to be appointed and serve as commissioners of public housing authorities.

The trial court concluded that tenants could control the operation of the plaintiff housing authority when a base quorum is present and the quorum includes the two tenant commissioners, that a conflict-of-interest problem exists even when only one commissioner is a tenant, and that this is so even though a tenant commissioner acts in good faith, since a person cannot serve himself as both landlord and tenant. The court further found that the failure of the legislature to amend § 8-42 ¹ after the date of the attorney general's opinion relating thereto was an acquiescence by the legislature to that opinion; that state law and local policy govern the question whether a tenant of a public housing authority, subsidized by federal funds, may at the same time be a commissioner of that housing authority, and that the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 1401 do not prohibit the state of Connecticut from barring any person from serving as a commissioner of the plaintiff authority because of his tenancy in housing operated by that authority.

A housing authority is a public corporation created by the municipality to exercise certain delegated sovereign powers pursuant to §§ 8-40-8-81 of the General Statutes. It is governed by a board of five commissioners who are public officers. Three essential characteristics differentiate a public office from private employment: (1) an authority conferred by law; (2) a fixed term of office; and (3) the power to exercise some portion of the sovereign functions of government. An individual so invested is a public officer. Kelly v. Bridgeport, 111 Conn. 667, 670-671, 151 A. 268. His status forbids him from placing himself in a position where his private interest conflicts with his public duty. His good faith is of no moment because it is the policy of the law to keep him so far from temptation as to insure the exercise of unselfish public interest. Low v. Madison, 135 Conn. 1, 8, 60 A.2d 774. This policy is not limited to a single category of public officer but applies to all public officials. Id., 4-6, 60 A.2d at 778. "Anything which tends to weaken . . . (public) confidence and to undermine the sense of security for individual rights . . . is against public policy." Stocker v. Waterbury, 154 Conn. 446, 454, 226 A.2d 514.

Within the context of this common-law standard the General Assembly has provided by statute that no commissioner of a housing authority shall acquire any interest, direct or indirect, in any housing...