Municipal Light Commission of Taunton v. State Emp. Group Ins. Commission

• Decision Date: 11 June 1962
• Citation: 344 Mass. 533,183 N.E.2d 286
• Parties: MUNICIPAL LIGHT COMMISSION OF TAUNTON v. STATE EMPLOYEES' GROUP INSURANCE COMMISSION.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 286

183 N.E.2d 286

344 Mass. 533

MUNICIPAL LIGHT COMMISSION OF TAUNTON v. STATE EMPLOYEES' GROUP INSURANCE COMMISSION.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Argued May 9, 1962.

Decided June 11, 1962.

Philip M. Cronin, Boston, for plaintiff.

Lawrence E. Cooke, Asst. Atty. Gen., (Leo Sontag, Asst. Atty. Gen., and William A. Burke, Boston, with him,) for defendant.

Before WILKINS, C. J., and SPALDING, WHITTEMORE, CUTTER and SPIEGEL, JJ.

WHITTEMORE, Justice.

The plaintiffs as the members of the Municipal Light Commission of Taunton (Taunton commission) seek a declaratory decree to determine that it is a 'public unit' and hence a 'district' within the meaning of G.L. c. 32B, § 2(c), as appearing in St.1956, c. 730, § 1, and hence entitled to accept the provisions of that chapter and to purchase policies of group life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance covering its employees and group general or blanket insurance providing hospital, surgical, and medical benefits covering its employees and their dependents.

The defendants are the members of the State employees' group insurance commission whose duty it is under G.L. c. 32B, § 3, as amended through St.1961, c. 334, § 1, to review agreements or contracts of insurance made under the chapter to determine compliance with § 11, as amended through St.1960, c. 337, § 4. The defendants have declined to recognize contracts of insurance submitted by the plaintiffs on the ground that the Taunton commission is in effect a department of the city and the city has not adopted c. 32B as required by § 10 in order to make it effective therein.

The judge in the Superior Court found the facts which present the issue and reported the proceeding without decision.

The Taunton commission is founded in Sp.St.1919, c. 150, which provides (§ 1) for the appointment of its three members by the mayor, gives it the power and duties 'relative to the municipal lighting plant * * * which are now conferred or imposed by law upon the mayor' and 'in addition all the powers and duties now conferred or imposed by law upon municipal light boards in towns. * * * [§ 2] The commission shall establish the office of manager and fix his salary.'

For the control of the commission over the manager in respect of the manager's statutory duties see G.L. c. 164, § 55, § 56 as amended through St.1958, c. 160; Commonwealth v. Oliver, Mass., 172 N.E.2d 241. ¹

1. In Municipal Light Comm. of Taunton v. Taunton, 323 Mass. 79, 84, 80 N.E.2d 31, we held that the commission is not subject to city ordinances governing the awarding of contracts and fixing of salaries inasmuch as the management of the affairs of the commission is exclusively in its members subject to the provisions of G.L. c. 164, as amended.

In Commonwealth v. Oliver, Mass., 172 N.E.2d 242, ² we held that although the earlier decision had established that the commissioners were not agents of the city, and were public officers under legislative mandate, they are, nevertheless, officers of the city for purposes of a criminal statute.

The provisions of G.L. c. 164 state certain duties of a municipal light board and of the manager appointed by it and certain requirements in respect of funds and accounts which resemble duties of, and requirements in respect of, a municipal department. By § 56 all receipts are paid to the municipal treasurer; all accounts are 'subject to the inspection of the city auditor or officer having similar duties, and in towns they shall be subject to the inspection of the selectmen.' The inspecting officer or officers 'may require any person presenting * * * an account or claim against such plant' to make oath as to its accuracy. Such inspecting officer or officers 'shall approve the payment of all bills or pay rolls of such plants * * * and may disallow * * * any claim as fraudulent, unlawful or excessive'; and if disallowed the treasurer may not pay it. 'The manager shall at any time, when required * * *, make a statement * * * of his doings * * * and of the indebtedness of the town in his department' (emphasis supplied).

By § 57A any municipality having a municipal light plant 'may appropriate money for the maintenance and operation of such plant, specifying that the same shall be taken from the receipts of the department [emphasis supplied]; and where such appropriations are made, the city or town treasurer may, in advance of the collection of said receipts, pay bills on account of the said appropriations, and any sum so advanced shall be repaid * * * from such receipts * * * and shall be applied as reimbursement to the city or town, or to the payment of any temporary loan made by the city or town in anticipation of revenue of that year.'

Municipal lighting plants are municipal property and a 'debt for plant' is a municipal debt. G.L. c. 164, §§ 34, 40. See also § 64. The General Court has twice since Sp.St.1919, c. 150, expressly recognized the municipal status of the Taunton commission and of the property of the Taunton plant. St.1934, c. 196, § 1, 'The city of Taunton acting through its municipal light commission, may sell steam generated by its municipal lighting plant * * *,' St.1955, c. 201, § 1, 'For the purposes of providing funds for extending or enlarging its electric plant the city of Taunton may borrow * * *.'

It is unimportant if, as we do not suggest, some of the provisions of G.L. c. 164, applicable to municipal light boards and their properties, may not (because of Sp.St.1919, c. 150) be applicable to the Taunton commission and its properties. It is plain from the foregoing that a municipal light board or commission is, in certain aspects, a municipal department, recognized and, indeed in two instances, characterized as such by the General Court.

2. General Laws c. 32B provides in § 3, as amended by St.1961, c. 334, § 1, that upon acceptance of the chapter the appropriate public authority of the governmental unit, after consultation with an advisory committee consisting of five persons to be elected or appointed and from organizations of the employees affected, 'shall negotiate with and purchase, on such terms as it deems to be in the best interest of the governmental unit and its employees * * *' contracts or agreements of insurance in the specified categories.

Section 2 defines, in part, as follows: '(a) 'Appropriate public authority,' as to a county, the county commissioners; as to a city, the mayor; as to a town, the selectmen; and as to a district the governing board thereof. * * * (c) 'District', any water, sewer, light, fire, veterans' services or other improvement district or public unit created within one or more political subdivisions of the commonwealth for the purpose of providing public services or conveniences [emphasis supplied]. * * * (f) 'Governmental unit' any political subdivision of the commonwealth. (g) 'Political subdivision', any county, city, town or district.'

We agree with the defendants that the Taunton commission is not within the definition of 'district' notwithstanding that, as the plaintiffs contend, it has certain aspects of a 'public unit...