Title: HATTIESBURG FIREF'T'RS v. City of Hattiesburg
Citation: 263 So. 2d 767
Docket Number: 46715
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: June 12, 1972

263 So. 2d 767 (1972) HATTIESBURG FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 184 et al. v. CITY OF HATTIESBURG, Miss., et al. No. 46715. Supreme Court of Mississippi. June 12, 1972. Rehearing Denied July 3, 1972. Rex K. Jones, Hattiesburg, for appellants. Frank D. Montague, Jr., Hattiesburg, for appellees. *768 SUGG, Justice: Appellants appealed from a decree of the Chancery Court of Forrest County, Mississippi upholding the validity of an ordinance of the City of Hattiesburg requiring all members of the Fire Department, Police Department and all other employees of the City of Hattiesburg holding office or position under any of the civil service laws applicable to the City to maintain their domicile and principal place of residence within the corporate limits of the City during the period of their employment. *769 Similar requirements as to residence have been upheld in various jurisdictions involving residency requirements arising under state statutes, municipal ordinances and civil service commission rules. See Salt Lake City Fire Fighters Local 1645 v. Salt Lake City, 22 Utah 2d 115, 449 P.2d 239 (Utah 1969); Jackson v. Firemens &amp; Policemens Civil Service Commission, 466 S.W.2d 412 (Tex.Civ.App. 1971); Detroit Police Officers Association v. City of Detroit, 385 Mich. 519, 190 N.W.2d 97 (1971); Mercadante v. City of Paterson, 111 N.J. Super. 35, 266 A.2d 611 (1970); Manion v. Kreml, Ill. App., 264 N.E.2d 842 (1970); City of Middlesboro v. Grubbs, Ky., 363 S.W.2d 95 (1962). Other cases hold that a municipality may require its employees to be residents of the municipality, and that such requirements do not violate the constitutional rights of such employees. In Kennedy v. City of Newark, 29 N.J. 178, 148 A.2d 473 (1959), the New Jersey Court, in a case in which city employees challenged the constitutionality of an ordinance limiting civil service selections to city residents, stated: The Court also indicated that in addition to having employees ready for emergency the municipality could require residence for the purpose of enhancing performance by way of interest incentive and stated: We hold that there is no constitutional prohibition against a municipality requiring its employees to be residents thereof. Appellants argue, however, that the City of Hattiesburg did not have the authority to enact the subject ordinance because of the provisions of Section 3825-09 of the Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (1956) which is as follows: Appellants contend that the City of Hattiesburg can only exercise such powers as are delegated by the Legislature to municipalities and that such powers should be exercised in conformity to and consistent with the general laws of the state; that a municipality has no power except that delegated to it by the state; that powers of a municipality are to be construed most strongly against an asserted right not clearly given and cannot be extended by mere implication; that if there is conflict between a municipal ordinance and a state statute the latter must prevail, and cite in support thereof Watkins v. Navarrette, 227 So. 2d 853 (Miss. 1969); Alexander v. Edwards, 220 Miss. 699, 71 So. 2d 785 (1954); King v. City of Louisville, 207 Miss. 612, 42 So. 2d 813 (1949); City of Jackson v. Freeman-Howie, Inc., 239 Miss. 84, 121 So. 2d 120 (1960); Knight v. Johns, 161 Miss. 519, 137 So. 509 (1931); City of Hazlehurst v. Mayes, 96 Miss. 656, 51 So. 890 (1910); Crittenden v. Town of Booneville, 92 Miss. 277, 45 So. 723 (1908) and Steitenroth v. City of Jackson, 99 Miss. 354, 54 So. 955 (1911). Appellants have correctly stated the law with reference to the power and authority *770 of municipalities in Mississippi, but the question in this case is whether Section 3825-09, supra, prohibits the enactment of the subject ordinance, or whether the ordinance is an additional regulation not in conflict with the provisions thereof. In City of Jackson v. Lee, 252 So. 2d 897 (Miss. 1971) an ordinance of the City of Jackson, Mississippi requiring persons operating or riding upon any two-wheeled, self-propelled vehicle upon any public street or highway within the City of Jackson, Mississippi to wear a crash helmet, this Court held that the provision of the ordinance was not in conflict with any provision of the Uniform Highway Traffic Regulation Act, but was merely an additional traffic regulation which the statute specifically grants local authorities the right to enact. We are of the opinion that the subject ordinance is not in conflict with Section 3825-09, supra, but is an additional regulation which is within the power granted by the Legislature to municipalities operating under the commission form of government by virtue of Sections 3374-53 and 3374-54 Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (1956) which read in part as follows: These statutes grant municipalities the authority to "make all needful rules and regulations for the government of the officers and employees of such city" and to "make all such rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper for the efficient and economical conduct of the business of the city." While not specifically spelling out the authority of a city to require its employees to be residents thereof, the language is broad enough to permit such a rule or regulation by a city in the exercise of its legislative power if such would promote the efficient conduct of the business of the city. The second assignment of error attacks the subject ordinance which requires civil service employees to reside within the corporate limits as being discriminatory on its face because it does not require all city employees to reside within the corporate limits. It is argued that the ordinance places members of the Fire Department, Police Department and other civil service employees *771 in a different class or category from other city employees. Legislative classifications for various purposes have been upheld, and in George Day, d/b/a George Day's Studio v. Klein, 225 Miss. 191, 82 So. 2d 831 (1955), cited with approval in McCardle v. City of Jackson, 260 So. 2d 482 (Miss. 1972), this Court stated: In Rinaldi v. Yeager, 384 U.S. 305, 308, 86 S. Ct. 1497, 1499, 16 L. Ed. 2d 577 (1966) the Supreme Court of the United States summarized the tests to be applied a state statute under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and stated: We are of the opinion that the ordinance is not an improper classification because the availability of firemen and policemen on short notice directly affects public health and safety in the event of fires, riots or violations of law involving a large number of people. An ordinance requiring such employees to reside within the city has "some relevance to the purpose for which the classification is made" in that they would more likely be available in the event of an emergency. In other jurisdictions courts have held that ordinances or laws requiring specified officers to reside in the city did not violate equal protection clauses of the state and federal constitutions even though it permitted residence requirements to be waived under certain conditions for most other city employees. See Detroit Police Officers Association v. City of Detroit, supra; Manion v. Kreml, supra; Berg v. City of Minneapolis, 274 Minn. 277, 143 N.W.2d 200 (1966); City of Middlesboro v. Grubbs, supra. *772 The last two assignments of error are that the ordinance requiring appellants to move within the city within 60 days is unconstitutional because it is an ex post facto law and violates Article I, Section X and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and Article III, Sections 14 and 16 of the Constitution of the State of Mississippi. Ex post facto laws were defined in McGuire v. State, 76 Miss. 504, 25 So. 495 (1898): The ordinance does not impair the obligation of contracts, does not affect vested rights and does not partake of the character of ex post facto laws. The ordinance is prospective and the fact that present employees affected by it are required to establish a domicile or principal place of residence within the city within sixty days does not make it retrospective. In Salt Lake City Fire Fighters Local 1645 v. Salt Lake City, supra, a Salt Lake City ordinance contained a provision that appointive officers and employees residing outside a 15 mile radius from Washington Square at the effective date of the ordinance would be required, within two years thereafter, to establish residency within Salt Lake City. In passing on this question, the Utah Court stated: The ordinance is an exercise of the police power of the municipality and the rule is well established that any exercise of police power is valid if it has for its object the protection and promotion of the public health, safety, morality or welfare, if it is reasonably related to the attainment of that object, and if it is not oppressive, arbitrary or discriminatory. The ordinance is a valid exercise of the police power of the City of Hattiesburg in that it relates to the public safety, is reasonably related to the attainment of that object and is not oppressive, arbitrary or discriminatory. Affirmed. RODGERS, P.J., and BRADY, PATTERSON and SMITH, JJ., concur.