Rarick v. Board of County Com'rs of Geauga County

• Decision Date: 02 July 1980
• Docket Number: 79-799,Nos. 79-798,s. 79-798
• Citation: 406 N.E.2d 1101,63 Ohio St.2d 34,17 O.O.3d 21
• Parties: , 17 O.O.3d 21 RARICK et al., Appellees, v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF GEAUGA COUNTY, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 34

63 Ohio St.2d 34

406 N.E.2d 1101, 17 O.O.3d 21

RARICK et al., Appellees, v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF GEAUGA COUNTY, Appellant.

Nos. 79-798, 79-799.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

July 2, 1980.

Lucas, Prendergast, Albright, Gibson, Newman & Gee and Robert J. Walter, Columbus, for appellees.

John F. Norton, Pros. Atty., and Richard J. Makowski, Asst. Pros. Atty., for appellant.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant argues initially that, because the Raricks have been designated as unclassified, the State Personnel Board of Review did not have jurisdiction over appeals from their terminations. However, as this court stated in Yarosh v. Becane (1980), 63 Ohio St.2d 5, in paragraph two of the syllabus:

"The State Personnel Board of Review has jurisdiction over appeals from removals of public employees if it determines that such employees are in the classified service, regardless of how they have been designated by their appointing authorities."

As a consequence of this holding, which applies with equal force to the case at bar, the sole question before this court is whether the positions of Building Service Superintendent and Assistant Building Service Superintendent in Geauga County are in the classified service. If so, the State Personnel Board of Review had jurisdiction over the appeals. ¹

R.C. 124.11(A)(9) places in the unclassified service:

"The deputies and assistants of elective or principal executive officers authorized to act for and in the place of their principals, or holding a fiduciary relation to such principals and those persons employed by and directly responsible to elected county officials and holding a fiduciary or administrative relationship to such elected county officials, and the employees of such county officials whose fitness would be impracticable to determine by competitive examination * * *."

It is clear that the Raricks are directly responsible to the county commissioners. The issue is whether they are in a fiduciary or administrative relationship with the commissioners.

In order to determine whether a person is in an administrative or fiduciary position with an appointing authority, all duties, both assigned and performed, respecting the position must be evaluated. In re Termination of Employment (1974), 40 Ohio St.2d 107, 321 N.E.2d 603.

In Yarosh, supra, we defined the terms fiduciary and administrative in their context within the constitutionally mandated civil service system. Section 10, Article XV of the Ohio Constitution requires that all public positions be filled on the basis of competitive testing as far as practicable. We construed the terms fiduciary and administrative as attempts to define positions where testing is not practicable. We held that positions qualify as being in administrative or fiduciary relationships with their appointing authorities if they are positions requiring personal qualities of a highly subjective nature. In such positions test results cannot be expected to provide a proper basis for appointment.

Under Yarosh and In re Termination, a position is in a fiduciary relationship with the appointing authority when the authority cannot be expected to delegate the duties of that position to the average employee possessing any required technical knowledge and a knowledge of what is expected of him. A position is in an administrative relationship with the appointing authority when the authority must rely on the personal judgment and leadership abilities of the employee occupying that position.

Duties which are closely supervised by the appointing authority do not place a position in a fiduciary or administrative relationship with the authority; no special confidence and trust in an employee's abilities and integrity is involved. In the case at bar, Rarick's contracting out for snow removal services, even to themselves, did not place them in either a fiduciary or administrative relationship with the commissioners. ^{2 2} Similarly, the fact that Rarick's recommendations on hiring or firing were always adopted did not place him in an administrative or fiduciary position with the commissioners. The commissioners are expected...