St. John v. City of North Kansas City, WD
| Decision Date | 05 March 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. WD,WD |
| Parties | Michael ST. JOHN, Appellant, v. CITY OF NORTH KANSAS CITY, et al., Respondents. 35604. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
William E. Shull, Kearney, for appellant.
David M. Harding, Van Osdol, Magruder, Erickson and Redmond, Kansas City, for Fire & Police Personnel Bd., Pendleton, Bowser, Davis, Woods and Ryder.
S. Preston Williams and Thomas E. Barzee, Jr., Williams & Barzee, North Kansas City, for North Kansas City Chief of Police and City Councilmen.
Before TURNAGE, C.J., and SHANGLER and KENNEDY, JJ.
Michael St. John was terminated as a police officer by the City Council of the City of North Kansas City. He appealed to the Fire and Police Personnel Board of the City, which held a public hearing and affirmed the City Council's action. On appeal to the circuit court, the Board's decision was affirmed.
St. John contends that the judgment should be reversed because the Board failed to make findings of fact. Reversed and remanded.
St. John had been a North Kansas City police officer for about three years when the Chief of Police presented his personnel file to the City Council in April of 1982. The Chief apparently felt that the Council should review a number of incidents connected with St. John's service. After the matter was presented, the Council terminated St. John's employment.
The City had adopted a merit system police department 1 pursuant to § 85.541, RSMo 1978, which included the establishment of a personnel board. Pursuant to § 85.541(5), any police officer who is discharged for misbehavior or inefficiency shall, upon his application, be granted a public hearing before the personnel board.
St. John had been notified that he would be the subject of discussion at the Council meeting, but he was not allowed to be present. When notified that the Council had terminated him, St. John filed an application for a public hearing before the Board.
The Board heard testimony from the chief of police, a captain, two lieutenants, and a sergeant in the police department, and the mayor. Testimony presented to the Board related to various incidents contained in St. John's record. Cross-examination of the witnesses was designed to show that the incidents were not as serious as might seem at first blush, and to show that the incidents were not of such character as to indicate any misbehavior on the part of St. John.
The testimony and cross-examination presented the Board with the factual question of whether or not St. John had been guilty of any misbehavior or inefficient service. Rather than making a factual determination concerning the incidents with a resultant conclusion of whether or not St. John was guilty of misbehavior or inefficient service, the Board entered findings of fact which only amount to a narration of the history of the controversy. The final finding states: "[t]he Board, by reasonable inference and based upon the testimony and exhibits could assume that the Council terminated Officer St. John for misbehavior and...
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