Court Opinion

ID: 3464188
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-07-05 20:29:12.177687+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:40:00.274526
License: Public Domain

Dear Mr. Applegate:
We are in receipt of your request for an Attorney General's Opinion regarding the Caddo Parish Fire Protection District No. 8. In your letter you state that the district can only afford to hire two employees, a fire chief and a dispatch firefighter. You also state that the Caddo Parish Fire Protection District No. 8 has a population of less than nine thousand (9,000). Specifically, you have asked whether the Caddo Parish Fire Protection District No. 8 is required to form a Fire and Police Civil Service system, as provided by Article X of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974?
LSA-Const. Art. X, Section 16 provides for the establishment of a classified fire and police civil service system which is applicable "to all municipalities having a population exceeding thirteen thousand and operating a regularly paid fire and municipal police department and to allparishes  and fire protection districts operating a regularly paid firedepartment." (Emphasis added.) LSA-R.S. 33:2531 et seq. provides for the fire and police civil service law for small municipalities and for parishes and fire protection districts. LSA-R.S. 33:2531 specifically states, in pertinent part:
  § 2531. Mandatory civil service in certain municipalities, parishes, and districts
    Permanent appointments and promotions for paid firemen and policemen in the classified civil service as enumerated herein in all municipalities having a population of not less than seven thousand and not more than thirteen thousand, ... and in all parishes and fire protection districts, shall be made only after certification pursuant to a general system based upon merit, efficiency and fitness, under which certificates shall be based on examinations which, so far as practical, shall be competitive, and all employees in the classified service shall be employed from those eligible under certification.
(Emphasis added.)
Section 2535 provides for a classified civil service system to be created in each municipal government, parish government, and in the government of each fire protection district. Likewise, a fire and police civil service board is created or each governing body in Section 2536 of Title 33 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes. The Louisiana Supreme Court in West v. Allen, 382 So.2d 924 (La. 1980), found that the Constitution (Art. 10, §§ 16-20) clearly establishes a system of classified fireand police  civil service in all towns of a certain size and in all parishes and fire protection districts operating a regularly paid fire department. There is no size requirement for the creation of a classified civil service system in a parish and fire protection district, therefore, it is irrelevant that the Caddo Parish Fire Protection District No. 8 has a population of less than nine thousand. The only requirement by law is that the parish and fire protection districts operate a regularly paid fire department. Therefore, it is our opinion that the Caddo Parish Fire Protection District No. 8 is required to create a classified fire and police civil service system. By this opinion, we hereby repeal Atty. Gen. Opinion No. 86-27, which is in conflict with this opinion.
If we can be of further assistance in this matter, please advise.
Sincerely,
                           RICHARD P. IEYOUB ATTORNEY GENERAL
                           By: Angie Rogers LaPlace Assistant Attorney General
ARL/lg
OPINION NUMBER 95-37
February 9, 1995
A fire Protection having three full-time paid firefighters must be placed in Civil Service.
R.S. 33:2543
Art. X, Sec. 16 La. Const. 47-A-1 Fire Protection District
Thomas O. Wells, Esq. Assistant District Attorney Ninth Judicial District P.O. Drawer 1472 Alexandria, LA 71309