Title: City of Casper v. International Ass'n of Firefighters, Local 904

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

City of Casper v. International Ass'n of Firefighters, Local 9041986 WY 38713 P.2d 1187Case Number: 85-136Decided: 02/11/1986Supreme Court of Wyoming
THE CITY OF CASPER, 
WYOMING, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION; KEN ERICKSON, CITY MANAGER; JOE CORRIGAN, 
MAYOR; FRANK ELLIS, BOB JOHNSON, LARRY CLAPP, ROBERT HEIZER, MARY BEHRENS, KAYE 
McCRARY, KENNETH POST AND TERRY WINGERTER, CASPER CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS; KEVIN 
BURT, PERSONNEL DIRECTOR OF CASPER; AND RON BAUM, CHIEF OF FIRE DEPARTMENT OF 
CITY OF CASPER, APPELLANTS (DEFENDANTS), 

 
 
v. 

 
 
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION 
OF FIREFIGHTERS, LOCAL 904, APPELLEE (PLAINTIFF).

 
 
Rehearing Denied March 
28, 1986.

 
 
Appeal from the District 
Court, NatronaCounty, R.M. Forrister, 
J.

 
 
 
 
Representing 
Appellants:

H.B. Harden, Jr., City 
Atty., and James R. Bell, Deputy City Atty., Casper.

 
 
Representing 
Appellee:

Rodger McDaniel of 
Southeast Wyoming Law Offices, Cheyenne, for appellee.

 
 
Before THOMAS, C.J., and 
ROONEY*, BROWN, CARDINE and URBIGKIT, 
JJ.

* Retired November 30, 
1985.

 
 

ROONEY, 
Justice.

 
 

[¶1.]     This is an appeal from 
a summary judgment in a declaratory judgment action in which the district court 
held that a binding and valid contract was made between the City of Casper and appellee as a 
result of negotiations for a 1984-1985 fiscal year labor 
agreement.

 
 

[¶2.]     We reverse and 
remand.

 
 

[¶3.]     Negotiations have been 
annually carried on between the City of Casper and appellee for a number of years 
pursuant to §§ 27-10-101 through 27-10-109, W.S. 1977 (June 1983 Replacement).1 Appellee was selected as bargaining 
agent for the Casper fire fighters pursuant to §§ 27-10-102 
and 27-10-103. Timely request for a meeting was made pursuant to §§ 27-10-104 
and 27-10-109, and discussions relative to a 1984-1985 contract began within the 
ten-day period set by § 27-10-104 between representatives of appellee and three 
employees of the City of Casper: Kevin Burt, personnel director; Ron Baum, fire 
chief; and Rebecca Gunther, administrative analyst. Kevin Burt had represented 
the City in negotiations with appellee for agreements covering the two previous 
years.

 
 

[¶4.]     At the outset of 
negotiations, the union and the City agreed to ten "Ground Rules and 
Negotiations." These rules covered such things as time and places for meetings, 
keeping of minutes, caucuses, press releases, etc. Rules 6 and 7 
provided:

 
 
"6. Any agreement reached 
by the parties is tentative until ratified by the City Council of the City of 
Casper and by 
the Membership of Local No. 904.

 
 
"7. Principal negotiators 
for both parties may tentatively accept contract clauses by having both sides 
initial the clause, thereby removing it from the list of items to be resolved. 
However, all such agreements reached by the parties are tentative. Nothing is 
agreed to until everything is agreed to."

 
 

[¶5.]     After several meetings, 
agreement was reached on April 6, 1984, by these negotiators on all issues of a 
contract. Mr. Burt said, "`We have a contract,'" but he contends that such 
statement was meant to be conditioned on ground rules 6 and 7, supra. The city 
manager of the City of Casper did not approve items in the contract 
relating to paid holidays on "Casper Day" and on the employee's birthday. A 
written contract presented to appellee reflected these changes in the 
understanding reached by the negotiators. The membership of the appellee 
approved a contract without the changes made by the city manager. The 
arbitration deadline set forth in § 27-10-106 had passed when the written 
contract was presented to appellee.

 
 

[¶6.]     Appellee contends that 
a valid and binding oral contract was made at the close of the April 6, 1984, 
meeting. Appellants contend that a contract could not exist until approved by 
the city council as required by the ground rules for negotiations and by 
law.

 
 

[¶7.]     A labor contract may be 
an oral one. Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. § 158(d)) 
provides for "the execution of a written contract incorporating any agreement 
reached if requested by either party."2 Section 27-10-104, supra note 1, 
places an obligation on the City "to cause any agreement resulting from 
negotiations to be reduced to a written contract." In this case, if there was a 
proper oral agreement between appellee and the City at the close of the April 6, 
1984, meeting, we should affirm the district court. The question, however, is 
whether or not Kevin Burt, Ron Baum or Rebecca Gunther had authority to make 
such agreement in light of (1) rules 6 and 7 of the "Ground Rules and 
Negotiations," supra, which provide that any agreement is tentative until 
ratified by the city council; and (2) § 27-10-108, supra note 1, which provides 
that a collective bargaining agreement must be "actually negotiated" by the 
"corporate authorities."

 
 

[¶8.]     Although rules 6 and 7 
of the "Ground Rules and Negotiations" would seem to reflect a recognition by 
appellee that it was not within the scope of the powers of Kevin Burt, Ron Baum 
and Rebecca Gunther to enter into a binding agreement with appellee, we need not 
give further attention to this aspect of the case inasmuch as the fact that the 
negotiations were not conducted by the "corporate authorities" of the City 
necessitates a reversal of this case.

 
 

[¶9.]     The issue was resolved 
over ten years ago by this Court in Nation v. State ex rel. Fire Fighters Local 
279, I.A.F.F., Wyo., 518 P.2d 931 (1974), in which we held that the fire 
fighters properly refused to bargain with four persons appointed by the mayor3 for such purpose since they were 
not "corporate authorities" as defined by the statute. We there referred to the 
definition of "corporate authorities" set out in § 27-10-101(a)(ii), supra note 
1, and we said:

 
 
"* * * [T]he term 
`corporate authorities,' as used in statutes such as we are concerned with, 
means those municipal officers who are either directly elected by the inhabitants of the municipality 
or are appointed in some mode to which they [the inhabitants] have given their 
consent. * * *" (Emphasis and bracketed material in original. Footnote omitted.) 
Nation v. State ex rel. Fire Fighters 
Local 279, I.A.F.F., supra at 933.

 
 

[¶10.]  It may be time consuming and perhaps 
distasteful for a mayor, councilman, city manager or county commissioner to be 
present and direct negotiations with the bargaining agent of the fire fighters. 
Nevertheless, such has been mandated by the legislature. The requirements and 
procedure for negotiation between fire fighters and the city, town or county are 
set forth in § 27-10-101 et seq., supra note 1. Section 27-10-104 provides that 
"[i]t shall be the obligation of the city, * * * through its corporate 
authorities, to meet and confer in good faith with" the representative of the 
bargaining agent of the fire fighters. The term "corporate authorities" is 
defined in § 27-10-101(a)(ii), supra note 1, and neither Kevin Burt, Ron Baum 
nor Rebecca Gunther qualify as a corporate authority under that definition. Such 
definition provides that a corporate authority status exists for a person only 
if he has the duty "to establish wages, salaries, rates of pay, working 
conditions, and other conditions of 
employment of fire fighters." (Emphasis added.) Only the city manager and the 
city council have authority to take action relative to salaries of all employees 
of the City of Casper except for the city manager, attorney 
and municipal judges.4

 
 

[¶11.]  The legislature has mandated that 
negotiations with representatives of the bargaining agent of the fire fighters 
be by the "corporate authorities" of the city, town or county; i.e., by the 
mayor, city manager, or members of the council of a city or town, and by the 
county commissioners of a county.

 
 
"* * * Mandatory statutes 
must be obeyed, and courts have no right to make law contrary to that prescribed 
by the legislature. * * *" Thompson v. 
Wyoming In-Stream Flow Committee, 
Wyo., 651 P.2d 778, 787 (1982).

 
 
Courts will not usurp or 
encroach upon the legislative function. Kennedy v. State, Wyo., 559 P.2d 1014 (1977); Oroz v. Hayes, Wyo., 
598 P.2d 432 (1979).

 
 

[¶12.]  Neither party can enforce an agreement 
made other than as empowered by the legislature to be made. This fact was made 
plain in Nation v. State ex rel. Fire 
Fighters Local 279, I.A.F.F. in 1974, and both parties are presumed to have 
knowledge thereof. Thus, a valid agreement was not made in this 
instance.

 
 

[¶13.]  Both parties having moved for a summary 
judgment, the summary judgment in favor of appellee is reversed, and the cause 
is remanded with instructions to enter a summary judgment in favor of 
appellants.

1 Section 27-10-101 
provides:

 
 
"(a) As used in this act 
[§§ 27-10-101 through 27-10-109] the following terms shall, unless the context 
requires a different interpretation, have the following 
meanings:

 
 
"(i) The term `fire 
fighters' shall mean the paid members of any regularly constituted fire 
department in any city, town or county within the state;

 
 
"(ii) The term `corporate 
authorities' shall mean the council, commission or other proper officials of any 
city, town or county, whose duty or duties it is to establish wages, salaries, 
rates of pay, working conditions, and other conditions of employment of fire 
fighters."

 
 
Section 27-10-102 
provides:

 
 
"The fire fighters in any 
city, town or county shall have the right to bargain collectively with their 
respective cities, towns or counties and to be represented by a bargaining agent 
in such collective bargaining as to wages, rates of pay, working conditions and 
all other terms and conditions of employment."

 
 
Section 27-10-103 
provides:

 
 
"The organization 
selected by the majority of the fire fighters in any city, town or county shall 
be recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent for all of the members 
of the department, unless and until recognition of such bargaining agent is 
withdrawn by vote of a majority of the fire fighters."

 
 
Section 27-10-104 
provides:

 
 
"It shall be the 
obligation of the city, town or county, through its corporate authorities, to 
meet and confer in good faith with the representative or representatives of the 
bargaining agent within ten (10) days after receipt of written notice from said 
bargaining agent of the request for a meeting for collective bargaining 
purposes. This obligation shall include the duty to cause any agreement 
resulting from negotiations to be reduced to a written contract, provided that 
no such contract shall exceed the term of one (1) year."

 
 
Section 27-10-105 
provides:

 
 
"In the event that the 
bargaining agent and the corporate authorities are unable, within thirty (30) 
days from and including the date of their first meeting, to reach an agreement 
on a contract, any and all unresolved issues shall be submitted to 
arbitration."

 
 
Section 27-10-106 
provides:

 
 
"Within five (5) days 
from the expiration of the thirty (30) day period referred to in section (5) 
hereof [§ 27-10-105], the bargaining agent and the corporate authorities shall 
each select and name one (1) arbitrator and shall immediately thereafter notify 
each other in writing of the name and address of the person so selected. The two 
(2) arbitrators so selected and named shall, within ten (10) days from and after 
the expiration of five (5) day period hereinbefore mentioned, agree upon and 
select and name a third arbitrator. If on the expiration of the period allowed 
therefor the arbitrators are unable to agree upon the selection of a third 
arbitrator, a district judge of the judicial district within which the city is 
located, shall select him upon request in writing from either the bargaining 
agent or the corporate authorities. The third arbitrator, whether selected as a 
result of agreement between the two (2) arbitrators previously selected, or 
selected by a district judge, shall act as chairman of the arbitration 
board."

 
 
Section 27-10-107 
provides:

 
 
"Arbitration shall 
proceed pursuant to the provisions of the Uniform Arbitration Act [§§ 1-36-101 
through 1-36-119]."

 
 
Section 27-10-108 
provides:

 
 
"Any agreements actually 
negotiated between the bargaining agent and the corporate authorities either 
before, or within thirty (30) days after arbitration, shall constitute the 
collective bargaining contract governing fire fighters and said city, town or 
county for the period stated therein provided that term of such contract shall 
not exceed one (1) year."

 
 
Section 27-10-109 
provides:

 
 
"Whenever wages, rates of 
pay, or any other matter requiring appropriation of money by any city, town or 
county are included as matter of collective bargaining conducted under the 
provisions of this act [§§ 27-10-101 through 27-10-109], it is the obligation of 
the bargaining agent to serve written notice of request for collective 
bargaining on the corporate authorities at least one hundred twenty (120) days 
before the last day on which money can be appropriated by the city, town or 
county to cover the contract period which is the subject of the collective 
bargaining procedure."

2 The National Labor 
Relations Act is not applicable to this case.

3 The four persons 
included the city personnel director, the city treasurer, the assistant city 
attorney, and the chief of the fire department.

4 Section 15-4-202(g), 
W.S. 1977, 1985 Cum. Supp., provides:

 
 
"Except for the city 
manager, attorney and municipal judges, all employees shall be employed by the 
city manager, be selected on merit and serve at his pleasure. He shall fix their salaries by and with the 
consent of the governing body. Nothing in this section shall be construed as 
affecting or superseding the provisions of chapter 5 of this title." (Emphasis 
added.)

 
 
The referred-to Chapter 5 
relates to the fire and police departments civil service commissions. Section 
15-5-106(a), W.S. 1977 (July 1980 Replacement), thereof provides in 
part:

 
 
"The commissions shall 
classify the various positions in the departments into classes or schedules 
based upon the nature of the service to be rendered or duties to be performed. 
The governing body shall then establish 
uniform working hours and wages for all employees in each class or schedule and 
may regulate the rate of wages and the number of employees in any class or 
schedule as necessary. * * *" (Emphasis added.)