Opinion ID: 2108754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: charter authority

Text: The focus of debate in this case is whether the new posts of the defendant officers constitute appointments or promotions to positions and hence are governed by section 198 of the city charter, or whether they are merely assignments to duty and hence are governed by section 111 of the charter. If the posts are duty assignments as the defendants contend, the chief may designate officers to such duties at his discretion without regard to civil service merit selection regulations. New Haven Charter § 111 (1977). If, however, the posts are positions as the plaintiffs contend, they must be filled according to civil service rules. To determine the intent of the charter, [t]he enactment must be examined in its entirety and its parts reconciled and made operative so far as possible. McAdams v. Barbieri, 143 Conn. 405, 418, 123 A.2d 182 (1956). Duty assignment is nowhere defined in the charter or civil service rules and regulations. Position is definition number 17 of the civil service rules and regulations: A group of duties and responsibilities requiring the full-time employment of one person. New Haven Civil Service Commission Rules and Regulations, p. 6; see General Statutes § 5-196 (u); State v. Griswold, 73 Conn. 95, 97, 46 A. 829 (1900). It logically follows from the definition of position that an assignment to duty constitutes an order to perform a particular task encompassed in the scope of the employee's position. [11] If the order in fact involves a group of tasks different from the duties comprising the officer's current position, the order actually amounts to an appointment to a position and, in some cases, a promotion to a position. Such an order, although nominally a duty assignment, is an appointment or promotion to a position. [12] We think that the attributes of the offices involved in this case render them appointments or promotion to positions rather than assignments to duty. Each title requires the full-time employment of one person. Salary is figured on a regular, annual basis and tied to the title as a whole rather than figured upon an extra or bonus basis in addition to duties of any underlying position. Further indications that the subject appointments are in the nature of positions are the indefinite tenure of the offices and the letters of appointment which are formal acknowledgments that fundamental changes in status have occurred rather than routine orders to perform tasks given. Although the defendant officers still hold civil service ranks, personnel records showing salary increases and promotions in status refer to them by full-time title instead of rank after a certain point in their progression. We agree with the trial court that, although the defendant officers have retained their civil service ranks when assuming the duties of a new position, the ranks themselves have become meaningless with regard to the opportunity for advancement in the department. A review of the functions of the posts in issue demonstrates a degree of continuous responsibility and of established authority lacking in a temporary detail. Each of the five directors supervises and administers one of the five divisions which comprise the department: Administration, Community Affairs, Operations, Support Service, and Planning and Personnel. Each director reports directly to the chief and, in turn, supervises the commanders of the division's respective units. Four of the five Stockton, 175 Cal. App. 2d 893, 896, 1 Cal. Rptr. 70 (1959); Jersey City v. Babula, 56 N.J. Super. 533, 538, 153 A.2d 712 (1959); Mandle v. Brown, 5 N.Y.2d 51, 63-64, 177 N.Y.S.2d 482 (1958). unit commanders named as parties work under their respective division directors, supervising and administering one of the units in a division. The fifth commander works directly for the chief on matters of internal affairs and civilian complaints. There is one chief duty commander who supervises and administers the duty commander unit which serves as the inspections unit of the department. He reports directly to the chief. The two duty commanders serve as acting chief during nonbusiness hours. In sum, the evidence clearly supports the conclusion that the posts assigned to the defendant officers constitute positions under the charter. In addition, because the defendant officers' responsibility, authority, and except in two cases, salary, increased with their new titles, the appointments constituted promotions from the positions held before the May 1 reorganization. See 3 McQuillin, Municipal Corporations (3d Ed. Rev.) § 12-131. The New Haven Charter creates a civil service system in which city employment positions are divided into classified service and unclassified service. New Haven Charter § 198 (1977); McAdams v. Barbieri, supra, 414; see General Statutes §§ 5-196 (e), 5-196 (z), 5-198; State ex rel. Levy v. Pallotti, 133 Conn. 334, 342-44, 51 A.2d 136 (1947). Appointments and promotions to positions in the classified service are made according to merit and fitness to be determined as far as practicable by competitive examinations. New Haven Charter § 198 (1977). Section 198 lists the positions comprising the unclassified service. The classified service shall comprise all positions not specifically included by this section.... Id. The posts held by the defendant officers, not being on the unclassified list, constitute classified positions under the charter. See Chotkowski v. Connecticut Personnel Appeal Board, 176 Conn. 1, 5, 404 A.2d 868 (1978). The defendants' claim that the trial court erred in finding that the parties conceded the positions to be classified rather than unclassified is irrelevant to their appeal. The defendants' theory is that the titles are not positions at all but are merely duty assignments. Once it is found that the titles constitute positions, their status as classified or unclassified is determined as a matter of law by reference to section 198 of the charter. Finally, we do not agree with the defendants' fourth claim of error that the trial court exceeded its allowable scope of judicial review. [P]rovisions regulating appointments under civil service acts are mandatory and must be complied with strictly. Walker v. Jankura, 162 Conn. 482, 489, 294 A.2d 536 (1972). While section 111 of the charter affords the chief the discretion to detail officers to duties incident to their positions, it does not provide the authority to appoint such officers to entirely new positions, thus circumventing the civil service provision in the charter. The extent to which the chief has imposed self-restraint in his discretionary authority by requesting that the board of police commissioners oversee his appointments does not change the fact that appointments and promotions to positions in the department are beyond the scope of his discretionary power derived from section 111. The department's long practice of continual deviation from the civil service rules cannot override the mandates of the charter. Local 1186 v. Board of Education, 182 Conn. 93, 105, 438 A.2d 12 (1980). There is no error.