Court Opinion

ID: 9673843
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:19:12.762546+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:46:25.659150
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION
FINCH, Judge.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion written herein by Welborn, C.
The language of House Bill 21, adopted by the 1963 General Assembly and now designated as §§ 71.860-71.920 (all statutory references are to RSMo 1959 as amended and V.A.M.S.), is confusing and difficult of interpretation. The case of City of Kirkwood v. Allen, Mo., 399 S.W. 2d 30, is illustrative of ambiguities and vagueness in the Act. The questions presented by this case further demonstrate these difficulties.
I have concluded that the provisions for dual elections provided for in § 71.870 and implemented in subsequent sections are not made applicable to constitutional charter cities. Section 71.870 provides that “The legislative body of any city, town or village located within the boundaries of a first-class chartered county shall not have the power to extend the limits * * * until an election is held * * It then goes on to provide for simultaneous elections in the city and the area to be annexed and to require a favorable vote in both. It is well settled by City of Hannibal v. Winchester, Mo., 391 S.W.2d 279, and cases therein cited that the one and only way in which a constitutional charter city may extend its boundaries is by charter amendment. That case held that the legislative body of Hannibal could not extend the city limits by ordinance, even though the charter of the city purported to convey that power. The authority is vested in the voters by means of charter amendment. There is no other way.
*294Section 71.870 does not purport to limit the right of the voters of a constitutional charter city to extend the boundaries by charter amendment. Instead, it clearly and specifically says that “the legislative body * * * shall not have the power to extend the limits” unless the specified prerequisites are met. That language, in my judgment, cannot be extended to provide a limitation on what the voters can do by charter amendment under §§ 19 and 20 of Article VI of the Missouri Constitution of 1945.
This interpretation is supported by the language used in § 71.920. It provides what shall happen if there is a unanimous vote favoring annexation in both the municipality and the area to be annexed. In such event, says § 71.920, “the annexing municipality * * * shall extend its limits by ordinance to include such territory * * (Emphasis supplied.) The mandatory specified procedure is .by ordinance. When this is done and certified copies of the ordinance are filed with the county clerk, “the annexation shall be complete and final.” Obviously, this section is applicable to munipalities other than constitutional charter cities because the latter extend their limits by charter amendment, not by ordinance as called for in this section.
It is true that § 71.860, which seeks to extend application of § 71.015 of the Sawyer Act, recites that such requirement applies to “all cities, towns, villages and municipalities of whatsoever kind,” but that same language does not appear in the other sections of the Act which relate to the dual election requirement. These relate only to what “the legislative body of any city, town or village” in a first-class chartered county may do.
I do not imply by this opinion that the legislature could not limit what a constitutional charter city my do with reference to annexing unincorporated territory just as it has done in § 82.090 with reference to annexation of incorporated areas. I simply would hold that the sections here under consideration are not applicable by their terms to constitutional charter cities.
I would affirm the judgment, assuming that a review of the transcript would meet the test of reasonableness. I have not considered this question because it was not considered in the majority opinion.