Wexford County Prosecuting Attorney v. Pranger, Docket No. 77-2535

• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan (US)
• Writing for the Court: BEASLEY; MAHER
• Citation: 83 Mich.App. 197,268 N.W.2d 344
• Parties: WEXFORD COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert PRANGER, Deanne Frier, Darrell Becker, Walter Grubba and Harold Flynn, Defendants-Appellants.
• Docket Number: Docket No. 77-2535
• Decision Date: 09 May 1978

Page 344

268 N.W.2d 344 83 Mich.App. 197 WEXFORD COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Robert PRANGER, Deanne Frier, Darrell Becker, Walter Grubba
and Harold Flynn, Defendants-Appellants. Docket No. 77-2535. Court of Appeals of Michigan. May 9, 1978.
Released for Publication Aug. 1, 1978.

Page 345

[83 Mich.App. 199] Edward W. TenHouten, Cadillac, for defendants-appellants.

Burton A. Hines, Jr., Pros. Atty., Cadillac, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before WALSH, P. J., and MAHER and BEASLEY, JJ.

BEASLEY, Judge.

This case involves interpretation of the Open Meetings Act of 1977. ¹

At the regular meeting of May 9, 1977, the Cadillac City Commission recessed and held a closed meeting to discuss the city residency policy for city employees. The closed meeting, which lasted slightly over an hour, was held at the request of the city manager with the approval of the city attorney.

Page 346

Then the commission resumed in open meeting, announced a new residency policy and indicated an ordinance would be formulated to implement the policy.

In 1967, the city had adopted a residency policy which permitted municipal employees to reside in four adjoining townships in addition, of course, to residency in the city.

In 1974, in a collective bargaining agreement obtained by way of statutory compulsory arbitration, the police officers association succeeded in getting permission to reside in four additional townships outside of the city. In March, 1977, a fireman sought permission to reside permanently in Herring Township, which had been one of the four townships in which residence was permitted under the 1967 policy.

Although the labor contract with the firemen does not cover residency, the 1967 policy had been [83 Mich.App. 200] altered previous to the labor contract to prohibit firemen from living outside the city.

On May 24, 1977, plaintiff prosecutor commenced action against defendant city commission for a declaratory judgment limiting closed sessions in these circumstances to the time of actual negotiations, invalidating the policy resulting from the closed session and enjoining noncompliance.

Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, plaintiff answered and also requested summary judgment. The parties agreed the case could be decided on the pleadings and exhibits, and the trial court then rendered an opinion that the closed session violated the open meetings statute and that an injunction would be granted preventing "further discussion on ordinance matters under the guise of collective bargaining negotiations".

Defendants appeal as of right.

The issues to be resolved are: was the closed session of the Cadillac City Commission on May 9, 1977, at which a new residency policy for city employees was formulated, held in violation of Michigan's Open Meetings Act, and, if so, do the facts justify issuance of an injunction?

Michigan's new Open Meetings Act replaces the repealed 1968 statute which had required certain governing bodies to be open to the public at any meetings where public action was taken. The new sunshine law ² provides that all meetings of the public bodies described in the statute shall be open to the public. The only exceptions where the specified[83 Mich.App. 201] public bodies may meet in closed session are the eight situations defined in section 8. ³

In some states, the legislatures have expressed in their statutes a desire that their new sunshine laws be interpreted liberally in favor of openness. ⁴ While the Michigan Legislature has not chosen to expressly so provide, in the light of the provisions newly enacted and of the legislative history, ⁵ we interpret the new open meeting

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legislation with similar liberality. In so doing, we construe the closed session exceptions strictly to limit the situations that are not open to the public.

At issue here is only subsection (c) of section 8, which provides:

"Sec. 8. A public body may meet in closed session only for the following purposes:

"(c) For strategy and negotiation sessions connected with the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement[83 Mich.App. 202] when either negotiating party requests a closed hearing." ⁶

In the within case, the stated reason for the closed session was to discuss the matter of residency of municipal employees, including policemen and firemen, each of which had separate labor contracts which did not expire until December, 1977. Immediately following the closed meeting, the commission resumed the open meeting and announced a new policy, requiring all city employees to reside in the city as of January 1, 1978, except those then living outside the city.

As a result of the trial court judgment and injunction, no further action has been taken by defendant commission.

We are not without sympathy for the plight of the legislative bodies of home rule cities and their attorneys in dealing with required residency of municipal employees questions. ⁷ The recent history of residence requirements as a condition of municipal employment indicates it has become a mandatory subject of collective bargaining.

[83 Mich.App. 203] We are also aware that with respect to police unions and fire unions, where collective bargaining reaches an impasse, compulsory arbitration is available to impose a labor contract on the parties by operation of law. ⁸ The labor contract between Cadillac police officers and the City of Cadillac was arrived at by compulsory arbitration, which labor contract contains an expanded residence provision, i. e., four additional townships were added to the four specified in the 1967 policy. ⁹ It seems safe to conclude that the residency provision in the labor agreement resulting from compulsory arbitration was imposed over the objection of and against the wishes of the City of Cadillac.

Against this...