Regional Jail Authority v. Tackett
| Decision Date | 06 April 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-SC-000132-DG,88-SC-000132-DG |
| Citation | 770 S.W.2d 225 |
| Parties | REGIONAL JAIL AUTHORITY, Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, and Martin Counties, Movant, v. Thurman TACKETT, (Johnson County Jailer); Lawrence County Fiscal Court; Johnson County Fiscal Court; and Kentucky Jailers' Association, Respondents. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Vickie H. Collinsworth, Salyersville, J.K. Wells, Wells, Porter, Schmitt & Walker, Paintsville, Thomas D. Muncy, Inez, Teddy Flynt, Salyersville, for movant.
C.K. Belhassen, David Lemaster, Paintsville, for respondent Tackett.
Nelson T. Sparks, Louisa, for respondent Lawrence County Fiscal Court.
J. Scott Preston, Rice, Preston & Brown, Paintsville, for respondent Johnson County Fiscal Court.
George Gregory, Lexington, for respondent Kentucky Jailers Assn.
The questions presented by this appeal are:
(1) Does a regional jail authority created pursuant to K.R.S. 441.800 have authority to operate a regional jail by the employment of personnel to manage and operate it, or is the operation of a regional jail within the authority of the county jailer of the county within which the regional jail is located?
(2) Can a county which has joined with other counties in the formation of a regional jail authority subsequently withdraw from the authority unilaterally without the consent of all of the counties involved?
The county jail facilities of Johnson, Lawrence, Martin, and Magoffin counties were on the verge of being closed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Each of the counties was faced with a great expense in order to improve its county jail to the point that it would meet standards required by the Commonwealth. The fiscal courts of these four counties explored the possibilities of constructing a regional jail pursuant to K.R.S. 441.800 to serve the needs of all four counties and to that end made application to the Kentucky Local Correctional Facilities Construction Authority for funds to construct a regional jail.
The application for funds set forth the need for a regional jail, that the four counties had agreed to form a regional jail authority for the construction and operation of a regional jail, the size and estimated cost of the project, and a request for a grant totaling 74% of the cost of construction. The application for funds stated that the portion of the cost of construction to be borne by the four counties would be divided among them based upon an equitable allocation formula. This application was signed by the county judge executives of each of the four counties.
The funding was approved and construction of the proposed regional jail was commenced in Johnson County, and each of the four counties contributed their proportionate share of the construction costs until Lawrence County ran short of funds and failed to pay one of the claims allocated to it. Thereupon, the Johnson County Fiscal Court paid the assessment due from Lawrence county and commenced an action against Lawrence County to recover the amount so paid on its behalf. In that action the Johnson County Fiscal Court alleged that Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, and Martin Counties had entered into a contract to build a regional jail; that pursuant to contract Johnson County was the lead agent and was responsible for the payments on the bond indebtedness of the four counties; that it had made the payments in full when due; and that Lawrence County was indebted to the Johnson County Fiscal Court for its pro rata share of the payments upon the bonded indebtedness.
On the motion of Lawrence County, the fiscal courts of Martin and Magoffin Counties and the Johnson, Lawrence, Martin, and Magoffin County Regional Jail Authority were joined as parties to the litigation.
Lawrence County Fiscal Court also filed a counterclaim and cross-claim in which it alleged, among other things, that Magoffin and Martin Counties, along with Johnson and Lawrence Counties were members of the Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, and Martin County Regional Jail authority formed pursuant to K.R.S. 441.800.
The cross-claim contended that the original appointments of representatives to the regional jail authority from Lawrence County were not valid because the appointments were made by the fiscal court rather than by the county judge executive as was required by statute.
The cross-claim and counterclaim requested the court to determine the proper composition of the membership of the regional jail authority, including the number of representatives from each county and the persons who validly represented Lawrence County as members of the regional jail authority. Because it is claimed that the representatives of Lawrence County on the regional jail authority were not validly appointed, the court was asked to declare that the actions to date of the regional jail authority were invalid insofar as they purported to bind Lawrence County.
Martin County Fiscal Court, in its answer to the cross-claim, admitted that Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, and Martin Counties had formed a regional jail authority pursuant to K.R.S. 441.800.
Lawrence County Fiscal Court and Johnson County Fiscal Court subsequently entered into an agreement whereby Johnson County agreed to assume the obligations of the Lawrence County Fiscal Court as they related to the regional jail authority and to release Lawrence County from any further contribution to the regional jail authority, and the Lawrence County Fiscal Court agreed that it would seek no refund of the money it had already contributed for the construction of the regional jail. Johnson County Fiscal Court moved the trial court for approval of that agreement.
While the controversy regarding Lawrence County's continuing obligation to the regional jail authority was pending, another controversy developed as to whether the Johnson County jailer or an administrator designated by the regional jail authority should have charge of the management and operation of the regional jail. The Johnson County jailer, Thurman Tackett, filed a declaratory judgment action asking the trial court to declare that the Johnson County jailer is responsible for the operation and maintenance, including the hiring and firing of all personnel of the Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, and Martin Regional Jail located in Johnson County, Kentucky, and that the appointment of Frank Johnson by the regional jail authority as administrator of the regional jail be declared void.
Tackett alleged in his complaint that the Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, and Martin Regional Jail Authority is a public body created pursuant to K.R.S. 441.800 for the establishment of a regional jail. In its answer, the regional jail authority admitted the allegation that it was a public body formed pursuant to K.R.S. 441.800 for the establishment of a regional jail.
The Kentucky Jailers' Association was permitted to intervene as a co-plaintiff with jailer Tackett and adopted every allegation contained in his pleading.
These two actions were consolidated for trial. The court determined that the only issues presented were questions of law and issued its judgment therein without any evidentiary hearing.
The judgment, in essence, held that the regional jail authority could designate an administrator who was empowered to operate the regional jail, including the power to hire and fire employees, and that the Johnson County jailer was without any such authority. It held also that Lawrence County had no authority to withdraw unilaterally from the regional jail authority without the consent of all four counties and that the release of Lawrence County by Johnson County was void.
Four separate appeals from this judgment were taken to the Court of Appeals, namely:
1. An appeal by Johnson County Jailer Thurman Tackett.
2. An appeal by the Kentucky Jailers' Association.
3. An Appeal by the Lawrence County Fiscal Court.
4. An appeal by the Johnson County Fiscal Court.
All four appeals were heard together by the Court of Appeals and were disposed of in a single opinion. That opinion held that no valid regional jail authority was ever formed pursuant to K.R.S. 441.800 by Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, and Martin Counties, and therefore no authority existed for a regional jail authority to name an administrator to operate the jail. The court further stated that the authority to operate a regional jail constructed by a validly formed regional jail authority resides in the county jailer of the county in which the jail is located.
The question of the right of Lawrence County to withdraw from the regional jail authority unilaterally was mooted by the disposition of the Court of Appeals.
We granted the petition of the Regional Jail Authority of Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, and Martin Counties for discretionary review. We reverse the disposition of the Court of Appeals.
In its opinion, the Court of Appeals stated that it considered the basic issue on appeal to be: "Whether there was a valid regional jail authority under K.R.S. 441.800 et seq.--Whether Lawrence County ever entered into the agreement creating the authority, and if so, whether it has the right to withdraw without the consent of all authority members."
Upon review of the record, we have determined that this was not the basic issue, or even an issue at all, before the Court of Appeals. As we have carefully pointed out in the discussion of the proceedings in the trial court, the formation of a regional jail authority pursuant to 441.800 by Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, and Martin Counties was pleaded in the complaint of Thurman Tackett, Johnson County jailer, and in the counterclaim and cross-claim of the Lawrence County Fiscal Court. It was incorporated by reference in the pleading of the Kentucky Jailers' Association. No party in its pleading challenged the fact that a regional jail authority had been formed pursuant to K.R.S. 441.800 by the four counties. Because the valid formation of a regional...
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