Palmowski v. Town of New Chicago
| Decision Date | 28 October 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 3-1079A291,3-1079A291 |
| Citation | 411 N.E.2d 687 |
| Parties | Albert J. PALMOWSKI et al., Appellants (Plaintiffs Below), v. The TOWN OF NEW CHICAGO et al., Appellees (Defendants Below). |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Steven W. Handlon, Rice, Rice, Handlon & Anderson, Portage, for appellants.
Patrick J. Galvin, Galvin, Galvin & Leeney, Hammond, for appellees.
This appeal arises from a class action suit instituted by the police officers of New Chicago, Indiana against the members of the Town Board of the Town of New Chicago and the Commissioners of the Town of New Chicago Police Commission (hereinafter referred to as the "Town"). The only issue before this Court on appeal is whether or not the policemen are entitled to the same statutory minimum salary as that paid to policemen of cities of the fifth class. Summary judgment on this issue was granted in favor of the Town.
The parties have stipulated that the Town has a population of between 2,000 and 2,500 persons. The Town's population is therefore within the parameters of the population of a fifth-class city, as defined by IC 1971, 18-2-1-1 (Burns Code Ed.). However, the Town has never had an election to become classified as a city pursuant to IC 1971, 18-3-2-1, and therefore, it remains a town and not a city.
The appellants' case is based on an argument involving two separate Indiana statutes. The first statute, IC 1971, 19-1-5-1 (Burns Code Ed.) establishes the salaries for policemen in fifth-class cities. All parties agree that this statute does not apply directly to the Town of New Chicago. A statute applicable to a fifth-class city is not applicable to a town merely because the town has the same population as a fifth-class city. Penrod et al. v. Hoover et al. (1957), 128 Ind.App. 334, 146 N.E.2d 817.
Plaintiffs do contend that the minimum wages guaranteed by IC 1971, 19-1-5-1 to city policemen must serve as a standard of comparison for determining minimum salaries for employees of a town metropolitan police commission. To reach this conclusion, the plaintiff policemen offer a unique interpretation of two sections of the statute which authorizes and regulates town boards of metropolitan police commissioners. The creativity of their argument is appreciated but, nonetheless, their reasoning is unpersuasive. The statutes are clear and unambiguous. No rules of statutory construction or judicial investigation of legislative intent are necessary to an understanding of this law.
The first relevant section of the town board authorization statute reads, in part:
"Such commissioners shall fix and determine the compensation to be paid to members of the police force and other employees in such amount as will be just and reasonable and in compliance with any law of the state of Indiana governing such compensation or salary."
IC 1971, 19-1-25-2.
The policemen maintain that the phrase "any law of the state of Indiana governing such compensation or salary" requires the commissioners to comply with IC 1971, 19-1-5-1. That statute, discussed above, clearly applies only to cities, not towns. The policemen ignore the plain meaning of the word "governing." The commissions are required to comply with any state law which governs the salaries of town policemen. Since IC 1971, 19-1-5-1 does not govern town policemen, the commissioners need not comply with the statute. This conclusion is obvious by a simple reading of the plain language of the statute.
The plaintiffs also rely on a second section of the same statute, which reads, in part:
"The members of such police departments shall be entitled to all the rights, powers and privileges granted by the laws of the state to any member of police departments including all the rights, privileges and benefits under the police pension fund as provided for in chapter 51 of the Acts of 1925 of the General Assembly of the state of Indiana and all acts amendatory thereof and supplemental thereto."
IC 1971, 19-1-25-4.
One of the rights to which the plaintiffs assert they are entitled is the right to minimum compensation. This assertion is correct. The policemen then contend that their minimum compensation should be determined by using IC 1971, 19-1-5-1 as a standard of comparison to determine the appropriate level of minimum compensation. On this issue, the argument must fail. Merely because the Town of New Chicago has a population comparable to that of a city of the fifth class, the Town Board is not required by law to comply with the statutes applicable to those cities.
Further evidence of the fact that the minimum wage statute has no application to towns is the often cited maxim "expressio unius est exclusio alterius." This maxim was discussed in the case of Shupe v. Bell et al. (1957), 127 Ind.App. 292, at 298, 141 N.E.2d 351, at 354:
Had the Legislature intended to make the minimum wage law applicable to policemen who are employed by a town, it could have done so by making that express provision. By failing to do so, towns are excluded from the scope of this statute.
For these reasons, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Contrary to the majority's conclusion, I am persuaded that IC 1971, 19-1-25-2 is ambiguous. A reading of the pertinent portions of this statute leaves me in doubt as to which law should be referred to by the Town Board of Police Commissioners in setting the town police officers' salaries.
In IC 1971, 19-1-5-1, the legislature imposed minimum salary provisions for fire and police personnel on the various classes of cities. Enacted in 1947, it provided:
(Emphasis added.).
IC 1971, 19-1-25-2 deals, in part, with the compensation to be paid town police officers. Pertinent portions are as follows:
"The board of metropolitan police commissioners of any town of this state shall have the power to appoint, subject to the approval of the town board, as many persons as necessary to serve on the police force of such town, one (1) of whom shall be appointed to serve as the chief of the police force...."
"Such commissioners shall fix and determine the compensation to be paid to members of the police force and other employees in such amount as will be just and reasonable and in compliance with any law of the state of Indiana governing such compensation or salary...." (Emphasis added.).
The rights and duties of town police officers are set forth in IC 1971, 19-1-25-4:
(Emphasis added.).
Both IC 1971, 19-1-25-2 and 4 were enacted in 1951.
It is well settled that the latest expression of the legislature on a subject is controlling. Connell v. City of Logansport (1979), Ind.App., 397 N.E.2d 1058, 1061. Consequently, my central concern here is not with the expression and intent of the legislature in enacting IC 1971, 19-1-5-1 during its 1947 session, but rather with its concerns four years later. Did it intend to extend the minimum wage provisions to town police officers via the provisions of IC 1971, 19-1-25-2 and 4?
In examining the language of these statutes, I am mindful that it is the duty of this Court to effectuate the meaning of the language employed by the legislature, where that meaning is unambiguously expressed. State ex rel. VanNatta v. Marlett (1977), 266 Ind. 571, 365 N.E.2d 763, 766. When an ambiguity or vagueness exists in a statute, however, it is the responsibility of this Court to invoke rules and principles of statutory construction in an effort to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the legislature. Indiana State Highway Commission v. White (1973), 259 Ind. 690, 291 N.E.2d 550, 553; State ex rel. Bynum v. LaPorte Superior Court No. 1 (1973), 259 Ind. 647, 291 N.E.2d 355, 356.
The language employed by the legislature in IC 1971, 19-1-25-2, is, on its face, ambiguous. According to the language contained in the statute, the Town Board of Police Commissioners is...
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Fletcher v. Town of Highland
...towns from imposing their own residency requirements on police departments. An analogous situation arose in Palmowski v. Town of New Chicago (1980), Ind.App., 411 N.E.2d 687. There, town police officers maintained that the statute governing city police department compensation should be used......