Schoolcraft County Bd. of Com'rs v. Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital Bd. of Trustees, Docket No. 25283

• Citation: 68 Mich.App. 654,243 N.W.2d 708
• Decision Date: 27 April 1976
• Docket Number: Docket No. 25283
• Parties: SCHOOLCRAFT COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, a public body politic, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SCHOOLCRAFT MEMORIAL HOSPITAL BOARD OF TRUSTEES, a public body politic, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan (US)

Page 708

243 N.W.2d 708

68 Mich.App. 654

SCHOOLCRAFT COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, a public body politic, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SCHOOLCRAFT MEMORIAL HOSPITAL BOARD OF TRUSTEES, a public body politic, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 25283.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

April 27, 1976.

Released for Publication July 19, 1976.

Leave to Appeal Denied Aug. 4, 1976.

Patrick B. Kelly, Manistique, for defendant-appellant.

Gifford D. Smith, Pros. Atty., Manistique, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before DANHOF, P.J., and D. E. HOLBROOK and ALLEN, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The origin on this suit stems from a vacancy on the Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees (hereinafter defendant) created by the resignation of the hospital's chief executive and Board member. Plaintiff, Schoolcraft County Board of Commissioners, sought to appoint one of its members to the defendant Board. Defendant insisted that plaintiff should appoint to the hospital board the new chief executive of the hospital. Plaintiff brought this declaratory judgment action to resolve the dispute. The lower court ruled that although plaintiff could not appoint one of its own members to the defendant Board, it was not required by statute to appoint the new chief executive. This appeal followed.

The issue is whether statutory law required continuous appointment of the chief executive officer of a county hospital to the hospital board of trustees. ¹ The involved statute provides:

'If a majority of all the votes cast upon the question are in favor of establishing a county public hospital, the board of commissioners shall proceed at once to appoint 9 trustees chosen from the citizens at large of the county with reference to their fitness to such office, 1 of whom shall be the chief executive officer of the hospital and not more than 3 of whom may be licensed physicians, who shall constitute a board of trustees for the public hospital. The trustees shall hold their offices until the end of the next following calendar year. In September, prior to the expiration of their terms of office, the board of trustees shall submit to the board of commissioners the names of not more than 2 qualified candidates for each appointment or reappointment. The board of commissioners, at its October meeting, shall appoint for terms commencing next January 1, 3 trustees for 2 years, 3 trustees for 4 years and 3 trustees for 6 years. As terms expire thereafter appointments shall be made for 6 years in the same manner. Appointments to unexpired terms shall be made in the same manner. All appointments and reappointments shall meet general eligibility qualifications hereinbefore stated.' M.C.L.A. § 331.153; M.S.A. § 14.1133.

Plaintiff and the lower court take the position that the statute requires a county board of commissioners to appoint the chief executive officer of a county hospital to the initial hospital board of trustees but does not dictate that the board of commissioners appoint the chief executive to any subsequent board of trustees. Defendant asserts that the statute makes no such distinction between the initial and subsequent boards, and that the history and language of the statute manifest a legislative intent that the chief executive must be appointed to any and all boards.

Each respective position of the litigants is not without some foundation and it is the Court's function to determine what the Legislature truly intended. Aikens v. Department of Conservation, 387 Mich. 495, 499, 198 N.W.2d 304 (1972), Kizer v. Livingston County Board of Commissioners, 38 Mich.App. 239, 195 N.W.2d 884 (1972). As stated by our Supreme Court in In re School District No. 6, Paris and Wyoming Townships, Kent County, 284 Mich. 132, 143--144, 278 N.W. 792, 797 (1938):

'That intention is to be drawn from an examination of the language of the act itself, the subject-matter under consideration, and the scope and purpose of the act. It is necessary to consider other statutes which may have preceded it or which relate to the same subject. The act should be so construed that all of its provisions may be rendered harmonious and recourse may be had to the history of the legislation upon the subject-matter of the act.'

The statute places authority with the county board of commissioners to appoint and reappoint members to a county hospital board of trustees. However, it is evident that the statute places certain limits on the board of commissioners respecting the initial selection of members to a county hospital board. First, all members must be citizens of the involved county. Secondly, all must be fit to hold office. Thirdly, no more than three members may be licensed physicians. Finally, one...