Mercier v. City of Central Falls, 78-63-A
| Citation | 412 A.2d 927,122 R.I. 834 |
| Decision Date | 26 March 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-63-A,78-63-A |
| Parties | Roland G. MERCIER v. CITY OF CENTRAL FALLS et al. ppeal. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Rhode Island |
This is an appeal from a declaratory judgment in which the Superior Court held that a provision of the Home Rule Charter of Central Falls empowered the city council to enact an ordinance mandating the retirement of all firefighters and policemen at the age of sixty-five.
The plaintiff, Roland Mercier, had been a member of the Central Falls Police Department for thirty-six years, serving as Chief of Police since 1969. In November 1976, the Council for the City of Central Falls (council) passed an ordinance imposing on all members of the fire and police department pension plans a mandatory retirement age of sixty-five years. Because plaintiff was seventy-one years old at that time, he was forced to vacate his position in December 1976, although prior to that time he had performed his job satisfactorily. The plaintiff subsequently commenced this action, alleging that the council lacked the authority to compel the mandatory retirement of any municipal employee and that the ordinance was therefore void. 1 The trial justice ruled that the council had the authority to enact the ordinance. The justice reasoned that a provision in the city's Home Rule Charter establishing a merit employment system provided the basis of authority for the council to act.
The sole issue before us is whether the council possessed the authority to enact the ordinance. Although we concur with the trial justice that the council was empowered to enact the ordinance, we disagree with his finding that the city's Home Rule Charter provided the source of the council's authority. In 1925, the Legislature passed a law conferring on the council the authority to establish a pension fund for the officers of the Central Falls Police Department. 2 Pursuant to this stature, the council has since created a pension fund. The 1925 act further empowered the council "to establish by ordinance all rules and regulations pertaining to said fund * * * as to it shall seem expedient." Public Laws 1925, ch. 703, § 2. It is from this legislation that the council derived its authority to impose a mandatory retirement age. The grant of power to create and to regulate the pension fund impliedly includes a grant to enact ordinances on incidental matters that are necessary to the proper and efficient administration of the fund. Soltis Appeal, 390 Pa. 416, 418-19, 135 A.2d 744, 745 (1957); ...
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...even though we do not accept the reasoning upon which it rests. Lee v. Nielsen, R.I., 426 A.2d 257, 258 (1981); Mercier v. City of Central Falls, R.I., 412 A.2d 927, 929 (1980). ...
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...correct judgment of a lower court although we do not accept that court's reasoning is by now well established. See Mercier v. City of Central Falls, R.I., 412 A.2d 927 (1980); Souza v. O'Hara, R.I., 395 A.2d 1060 (1978).2 Membership is a requirement for admission to practice law in Rhode Is......
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