Court Opinion

ID: 9714053
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:29:39.62222+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:23.021564
License: Public Domain

RUCKER, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority’s resolution of issue one. As to issue two, I agree also that we may presume the Legislature did not intend to incorporate by reference the requirements of Ind.Code § 36-8-10-10 into Ind.Code § 36-8-10-8. For example, among other things Ind.Code § 36-8-10-10 requires that appointments to various ranks, grades, and positions be made from a list, and that appointees serve a one year period of probation. There is no indication the Legislature intended that such requirements apply to a retiring Sheriff. However, it is my view that the Board nonetheless exceeded its statutory authority by appointing Sheriff Stevens to the rank of Captain.
Under Ind.Code § 36-8-10-8 the Board may appoint a retiring Sheriff to a rank higher than that which he held at the time of taking office provided the Sheriff is “qualified in accordance with the promotion procedure proscribed by the board in its rules for a rank in the department....” In my view this provision anticipates the existence of already established rules for rank. I do not see it as an authorization for the Board to create a special rule applicable only to a retiring Sheriff. The record shows the rules setting forth a promotion procedure for all ranks in the Sheriff’s department above merit deputy were enacted by the Board in 1986. These same rules were in effect at the time of Sheriff Steven’s appointment in 1994. For the rank of Captain the procedure required, among other things, completion of a written examination and prior service at the rank of Lieutenant. The record shows Sheriff Stevens was not eligible for promotion to Captain because he did not qualify “under the rules for a rank in the department.” Therefore I dissent from the majority on this point and would reverse the judgment of the trial court. In all other respects I concur.