Opinion ID: 1756978
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Propriety of sustaining writ of certiorari.

Text: An appeal from the judgment of a district court in a certiorari proceeding is governed by the rules applicable to appeals in ordinary actions. Iowa R.Civ.P. 318. Therefore, we review for assigned error, and uphold the judgment on factual questions if it is supported by substantial evidence. Brock v. Dickinson County Board of Adjustment, 287 N.W.2d 566, 568 (Iowa 1980). Trial court sustained Downs' writ of certiorari largely on the basis of two conclusions: (1) that the CSC, not the pension board, is the proper body to interpret and take final action upon the report of the pension board doctors relating to the physical examination of a police officer applicant, and (2) that Downs' name was properly placed on the certified eligibility list, and therefore the pension board's subsequent decision not to admit her to the retirement system had the practical effect of illegally removing her name from that list. To determine whether the writ of certiorari was properly sustained, we must decide whether these underlying conclusions are correct.
Civil service commissions such as the Sioux City CSC are charged by law with the responsibility of determining the qualifications of persons seeking appointment to civil service positions. The governing code provisions are as follows: 1. The commission shall . . . under such rules, including minimum and maximum age limits, as shall be prescribed and published in advance by the commission. . . hold examinations for the purpose of determining the qualifications of applicants for positions under civil service, other than promotions, which examinations shall be practical in character and shall relate to such matters as will fairly test the mental and physical ability of the applicant to discharge the duties of the position to which the applicant seeks appointment. Provided, however, that such physical examination of applicants for appointment to the positions of policeman, policewoman, police matron or firefighter shall be held under the direction of and as specified by the boards of trustees of the fire or police retirement systems established by section 411.5. . . . 2. The commission shall establish the guidelines for conducting the examinations under subsection 1 of this section. § 400.8, The Code 1979 (emphasis added). The commission shall, within ninety days after the beginning of each competitive examination for original appointment. . . certify to the city council a list of the names of the ten persons who qualify with the highest standing as a result of each examination for the position they seek to fill, or such number as may have qualified if less than ten, in the order of their standing, and all newly created offices or other vacancies in positions under civil service which shall occur before the beginning of the next examination for such positions shall be filled from said lists. . . . § 400.11, The Code 1979. Downs argues that the above-emphasized proviso of section 400.8 gives the pension board only the responsibility to administer the civil service physical examinations, and that the responsibility to finally determine the physical suitability of an applicant on the basis of the physical examination results must rest with the CSC. Although the pension board's brief appeared to take a contrary position, the board's attorney conceded on oral argument that when the pension board and the CSC disagree as to whether an applicant has passed the physical examination, the CSC's determination should prevail. Thus Downs, the pension board and trial court all appear to agree on that point. Given the CSC's statutory responsibility for determining the overall qualifications of civil service applicants, we also agree with that conclusion. Therefore, we hold that the pension board may make nonbinding recommendations as to who has passed a civil service physical examination, but that the final responsibility for determining the physical suitability of an applicant rests with the CSC. [3]
Sections 400.11 and 400.17, The Code 1979, provide that no person shall be certified as eligible or appointed to a civil service position unless he has passed the civil service examination for the position. A complete civil service examination for a police officer applicant tests both mental and physical suitability. § 400.8(1). As observed earlier, the list certified by the CSC said only that the named persons had passed the written and oral examinations, both of which test only mental suitability. There is no evidence in the record which indicates that the CSC made any determination as to whether Downs had passed the physical examination to its satisfaction. If no such determination was made, or if the CSC determined she had not passed the physical examination, Downs' name would not have been properly placed on the certified list. [4] If that were the case, the pension board's action would not have had the illegal effect of rendering a properly certified applicant ineligible for appointment. Trial court appears to have assumed, without making a factual determination, that because the CSC placed Downs' name on the certified list, she must have passed the physical examination to the CSC's satisfaction. We do not believe this assumption was warranted, however, in light of the fact that the CSC permitted Downs to take the oral examination only under compulsion of court order, and that the certified list mentioned only the written and oral examinations. Accordingly, we conclude that trial court acted prematurely in sustaining the writ of certiorari without first conducting a factual inquiry on this question. We therefore reverse and remand for trial court to determine if the CSC actually decided whether Downs had passed the physical examination.
Should trial court find, upon remand, that the CSC did in fact determine that Downs had passed the physical examination, the issue of the legality of the pension board's action will again arise. Therefore, we will address that question now to provide guidance upon remand. The powers of local police pension boards are set forth in chapter 411, The Code 1979. We find nothing in that chapter, or elsewhere in the Code, which grants such boards the power to exclude from the retirement system a person who has been properly certified by the CSC as eligible for appointment. The pension board argues that such authority is found in section 411.3(1), The Code 1979, which states: All persons who become police officers . . . shall become members [of the police retirement systems established by this chapter] as a condition of their employment. (Emphasis added.) In the pension board's view, the condition referred to is a condition precedent, requiring the board to decide who may become a member before any actual appointments are made. In our view, however, the membership condition is a condition subsequent in which the pension board has no discretion to determine who may become a member. The most reasonable reading of the statutory scheme is that once a person has passed the appropriate mental and physical examinations and been duly appointed a police officer, see § 411.1(2), The Code 1979, he is both entitled and required to become a member of the retirement system. Thus, once an applicant has been properly certified as eligible for appointment, the pension board has no power to reject that person from the retirement system, either before or after his appointment from the certified list.