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HomeMy Public PortalAbout1954_05_19 i%V;moi ri moi••.. (8 ) BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg, in Vir- ginia, that the Mayor of the Town of Leesburg has no veto in this instance, and BE IT RESOLVED that the said Council does not recognize the writing of Xpril 16, 1954, purporting to be a veto, as such, and, (9 ) BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the said Council of the Town of ' Leesburg, in Virginia, for the purpose of clarity in this matter, does hereby reafirm and restate its action on April 12t 1954, in adopting the ordinances referred in paragraphs two (2) and (4) of this resolution. Morton Riddle, III, was recorded present at 4:30 o' clock P. M. - not in time to vote on the above resolution. Upon motion of Frank Raflo, seconded by Howard Gill and unanim- ously carried the following ordinance was adopted: BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg, in Vir- ginia, that the resolution passed on September 1, 1937, which reads as- follows : - "Be it ordained that all checks against the account of the Town of Leesburg shall be signed by the Auditor-Treasurer and countersigned by the Mayor." be and it is hereby rescinded. Upon motion of Frank •Raflo, seconded by Howard B. Gill and unanimously carried, the following ordinance was adopted. BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg, in Vir- ginia, that all checks against any account of the Town of Leesburg shall be signed by the Auditor-Treasurer and Counter-signed by the Town Recorder, and that the banks in which the monies of the Town are kept be immediately furnished with a copy of this ordinance. BE IT FURTHER ordained that this ordinance shall be effective on the date of its adoption. - ✓ There being no further business upon motion duly made seconded and carried, Council adjourned. ifritALM")244.‘r: Mayor Recorder • • • This is a copy of a letter and attachment received by me, Horace M. Hallett, Recorder of the Town of Leesburg, on Wednesday, May 19, 1954. "Hon. Horace M. Hallett • - Recorder - Town of Leesburg, Virginia r ' Dear Mr. Hallett : I return herewith the first resolution which in fact is composed of three resolutions but was- offered and voted upon as one resolution . at the special meeting of the Town Council held at the Town Hall at 4:10 P. M. o' clock on May 14, 1954. � . The said resolution (a) resolves that the Mayor has no veto pow- er, (b) resolves that the Town Council does not recognize the Mayor' s writing of April 16, 1954, spread on the minutes as- a veto, and (c ) reaffirms• and restates , for the purpose of clarity, Council' s action of April 12,1954, retaining certain men as police officers at cer- tain salaries and providing for a hearing before the Council of charges against a police officer. I • ;AAA 4e ; . ..,4.. .e. The said resolution is attached hereto and is made a part of -this letter. I hereby veto the said resolution for the following reasons. The action of the Council in this instance is highly irregular as an unlawful invasion of the rights and duties of the executive branch of the Town government. It is further an unauthorized attempt by the Council to invade and impinge upon powers soley delegated to the judiciary. • 'Such action is not for the interests of the general welfare of the public. . The Council by subterfuge and inference attempted to override a veto without voting thereon. Therefore, the regularity of the - resolutions vetoed by the Mayor still have no legal effect, and - the Council' s alleged action in restating the former resolutions is - meaningless and void. The objections hereinbefore assigned are specifically and se- parately made to the resolutions as a whole and to each resolution that was before the Council at said meeting held on May 14, 1954. Very truly yours , • /S/ William W. Nickels William W. Nickels Mayor" (1) WHEREAS,, at its meeting on April 12, 1954, the Council of the Town of Leesburg, in Virginia, adopted the following ordinance : -(2 ) "BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg, in Virginia, that Officers Venable, Athey and Turner, be retained .by the Town on a permanent basis beginning on the first day of May, 1954, to continue to the3lst day . of August, 1955, at a salary of $250.00 per month for • officer Venable, and $225.00 per month for Athey and. Turner." , and, (3) WHEREAS, at its meeting on April 12, 1954, the Council of the Town of Leesburg, in Virginia, adopted the following ordinance : - (4) "BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia, that if charges of failure of a policeman to properly perform their duty or charges of conduct detri- mental to the best interest of the Town be raised against any one of the plice officers the said charge will be told . at a meeting of thewhole Council, and the officer in ques • - . tion be granted an opportunity to speak and defend himself." , • and, (5) WHEREAS, on April 16, 1954, the Mayor of the Town of Leesburg, in Virginia, submitted to the Recorder of the said Town, the follow- ing writing, purporting to be a veto of the above mentioned ordinances, to wit : "On Monday, April 12, 1954, upon motion of Frank Raflo, seconded by Howard B. Gill, and unanimously carried, the following resolution was adopted : - 'BE IT RESOLVED, by the Council of the Town of Leesburg, in Virginia, that Officers Venable, Athey and Turner be retained by the Town on a permanent status beginning on the 1st day of May, 1954, to continue until the 31st day of.August, 1955, at a stipend of $250,00 per month for Venable, and $225.00 per month. for Turner and Athey. ' 12.9' I hereby veto the foregoing resolution, and assign my reasons and grounds therefore as follows : • ' (1) The aforesaid Officers , until the 1st of May, are on probation, and until May 1, 1954, or thereafter, this act- ion is premature, unwise and not feasible under the existing town ordinances. • (2) The ordinances adopted by the Council in September, 1937, give the Mayor, as Chief of Police, the right and power to employ officers additional to those then work- ing for the Town, as well as supervision and control over all officers. The aforesaid resolution is in con- flict with these ordinances , and the said right and power cannot be ursurped by the- Council until and unless the said ordinances are first rescinded. ' • Upon motion• of Frank Raflo, seconded by Emmerson H. James, and 0 unanimously carried, the following resolution was adopted : 'BE IT RSOLVED, that if charges of failure to properly perform their duties or charges of conduct detrimental • a to the best interest of the Town be raised against any one of the police officers , the said charge will be told at a meeting of the full Council and the officer in ques- tion be granted an opportunity to speak and defend him- self. ' • I•hereby veto -the foregoing resolution, and assign my reasons and grounds therefore as follows : 1 (1) 'The aforesaid resolution puts in issue before • public the character and reputation of the police in question, and invites and encourages public criticism of Town employees. (2) It opens the door for providing the same rights to all employees of the Town, and prohibits the discon- tinuance of the services of Town employees without first inviting such employee to contest action of the Town in such case. (3) To -offer and provide the opportunity for character • assassination in such a matter is inherently wrong. (4) The matter of hiring and firing employees of the Town -should be an executive and administrative as dis- tinguished from the legislative,matter. • (5) To that require that employees of the Town to be . hired and fired by the legislative instead of the execu- tive branch of the Town would, • (a ) be an invasion of the executive branch of the Town government by the legislative branch, and • (b). - St would discourage worthy employees from seeking Town employment. ' • Very truly yours, /S/ William W. Nickels William W. Nickels Mayor" (6 ) WHEREAS, the said Council of the Town of Leesburg holds that the Mayor of theTownof Leesburg does not possess the power of veto on these particular acts of Council, the said• Council declines to entertain any veto of the said• ordinances , and • (7) WHEREAS, the said Council has requested and received the follow- ing ruling from Mr. Morton Wallerstein, Chief Legal Council of the League of Virginia Municipalities , as follows : to wit : 130. "April 27, 1954 Mr. Frank Raflo Councilman . Leesburg, Virginia Dear Mr. Raflo : Following our telephone conversation in which you desire to know my opinion as to whether the Mayor of the Town of Leesburg has veto power, I would advise as follows : ' Section 123 of the Constitution provides for veto power of the mayor which may be overridden by two-thirds of all members elected to the council. This constitutional a- TnndgnIoRis o g naliy enacted, debates of the constitu- page 1952 applied only to cities. This fact together with the fact that in Section 15-410 Code of Virginia carrying this constitutional provision into legis- lative effect is in the article entitled 'Provision Affect- omg Cities Only' leads me to the conclusion that the Mayor of a town in the absence of specific charter provision, which apparently Leesburg does -not have, does not have veto power. There seem to be, however, two exceptions to _this , one is contained in Section 15-595 relating to issue of bonds by a town for any purpose in which the mayor has veto power, as set forth in Section 123 of the Constitution and the same is true of Section 125 of the Constitution carried into effect in Section 15-828 Code of Virginia, which has to do with the granting of franchises , which may be overridden where the mayor vetos it by a vote of three- fourths of all the members elected to the council. ' As I told -you over the phone, I can find no decision by a Virginia court directly in point on this question buy have given you my opinion as to what I believe a court would hold. Trusting I have answered your question, I am Very truly .yours, /S/ Morton L. Wailers tein • Morton L. Wallerstein General Counsel League of Virginia Municipalities" , • • Threfore, • (8 ) BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg, in Vir- ginia, that the Mayor of the Town of Leesburg has no veto in this instance, and BE IT RESOLVED that the said Council does not recognize the writing of April 16 , 1954, purporting to be a veto, as such, and, (9 ) BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the said Council of the Town of . Leesburg, in Virginia, for the purpose of clarity in this matter, does hereby reafirm and restate its action on April 12, 1954, in adopting the ordinances refired in paragraphs two (2) and (4) of this resolution.". SPECIAL MAY 20, 1954 At a special meeting of the Mayor and Council of the Town of Leesburg held in the Council Chambers on Thursday, May 20, 1954, at 11 :00 o' clock A. M. there were present William W. Nickels , Mayor, Reginald K. Gheen, Emmerson H. James , Howard B. Gill, Maurice R. Lowenbach, Jr. , Frank Raflo, and Morton Riddle, III, Councilmen.