Putnam patriot., 1925-10-23

d4ties 0f the office shall pay five dol lars te said distriees Ii Is well set tled that public officers occupying po- ati9ns created by statute hold their offices by appointment and not by con- tract. and are obligated to perform the duties of their respective offices with ogt other compensation than such if aHg. as is attached b. law to the of
 fee ltself
 Not Entitled to Pay
 1 The defendant Corttis was, there fore. not m any event entitled 70 com ipensation for the performance of his official duties on the basis of the req
 sonable value of the time spent in per forming them, for that presupposes au employment under contract and he
 was not entitled tO any compensation
 al all unless by virtue of some act of . the General Assembly or some vote or bylaw of the town acting within it's powers.
 . l. is also we'll settled that Towns.
 like other corporations, can exercise
 no powers except such as are express D ly granted to them, or such as are necessary to enable them Co discharge
 their duties and carry into effect the ? objects and purposes of their crea- tion."
 By the compulsory town manage ment act Of Iy0y. now Chapter 5z, G. S., the control of all the public schools within each town was transferred lfrom the school district or districts to | the town itself. which. for that pur- pose. was constituted a school dis i trlet. fhe clerk and Che treasurer of 1 the town were given all the powers and duties. respectively. of the clerk and treasurer of the town school dis trict. the annual town meeting was made the school district meeting. and a town school committee was required to be elected at the annual town meet | uR. having the same powers and iu- | ties with respect h all the public 1 schools in the town as the former dis triet school committees had with re- spect to the public schools within their respective districts. At the same time the older statutes, respect ing the separate corporate entity of
 school districts, and their corporate powers and duties have not been cx- lpressly repealed. and 1t might not be easy to determine in any comprehen-
 size way the extent to which they
 have been repealed b. implication. l.
 seems clear. however, that members of the town school committee have
 been made, by express mandate of the General Assembly, officers of the town. Thu section PCT. C. s.. carrying the
 subtitle. Ballot fer and appoint
 meut of town of cers. specifies those, including Town school committees" !"
 who shall be elected by ballot and then provides that "all other town of deefs shall be appointed by the board Of seleetmen.
 Agents of the Law
 ,| l. is true that town meeting can .u9t control the discretionary powers .taHz erred by Section DO c. s. Hpun . school districts. and now exercised. in . ths absence nf a specially appointed agent by the town school committee. ] But the fact that tn exercising the dis 'cretiouary powers expressly conferred
 on them by the General Assembly the 3 members of the school committee act
 as agents of the law and not of the
 town does not prevent them from be- D ing officers of the town. for the same , thing is true of selectmen
 Coming to the precise question ? whether the Town of Fhmopson is ex-
 pressly empowered by statute to com lpensate its town school committee men $ for the performance of their official f duties, we are of opinion that section
 All C. s., printed in the margin does S not expressly. or by necessary lmplica- , tinn. confer such a power. lt cannot
 be so construed except on the theory that 1t was intended by the General Assembly as general grant of lcgis-
 lative power. subject to the limita- tions expressed. and that such was 3 not the intent of the General Assem- bly is manifested by the fact that while section 4ll is an ancient act. the
 statute book is full of subsequent
 grants Co the towns of specific powers
 Co pass bylaws and ordinances re-
 specting particular subjects covering e multitude of details; most of which
 subsequent grants would have been wholly unnecessary if the towns al-
 ready possessed any general leRislat- rye powers There are also statutes fixing or authorizing the payment of lcompensation to named town officers, including town clerks, assessors. se- lectmen acting as fenee viewers, and first selectman acting as building in
 speetor.
 Coming still closer to the point.
 Section ss3 authorizes towns to pay compensation Co the treasurer and secretary of the town school commit tee. and Section S92 authorizes the
 payment of compensation to members
 0f school committees acting as school visitors but there Is no statute au-
 thorizing towns Co compensate school 2 committee men for the performance ? ot the duties imposed on them as mem
 bcrs of the school committee.
 No Power Granted
 On April 2sth. 1915. when the vote was passed. under which the payments
 in question were made. there was no
 statute which might he supposed Co Iauthorizc towns in general terms. to tN the compensation of town officers.
 thapter 3l9 of 1915. effective August
 st. entitled An Act providing for
 home rule in towns. cities and bor loughs. authorized any town Co adopt Icertain measures specified therein. in- cluding measure changing the com pens8tion of any officer of the town
 whether the same be fixed b, charter or otherwise" The authority fhfsa tuFmYfaH ssra.a