Aldermanic Form
11 OS Section 9-117
Appointments and promotions in the service of a statutory aldermanic city shall be made solely on the basis of merit and fitness. Removals, demotions, suspensions, and layoffs shall be made solely for the good of the service. The council may suspend for cause, by a majority vote of all its members, any officer of the city except the mayor. The council by ordinance may establish a system for appointment and removal of employees on the basis of merit. After the council establishes a merit system, it shall adopt regulations governing the organization and functioning of the system, and for the regulation of personnel matters. The ordinance establishing the merit system may not be repealed except upon the approval of a majority of the registered voters voting on the question at a special or general election in the city.
This seems to be saying that the council can suspend another councilperson for cause except not the Mayor.
Councilmen are elective city officers. 11 O.S. Section 9-116. The compensation of all elective city officers shall be fixed by ordinance.
So can the city council by majority vote suspend another city councilman?
Raymond A. Vincent
Raymond A. Vincent, PLLC
1919 S. Sunnylane Rd., Suite 200
Del City, Oklahoma 73115
405-235-0484
Fax 405-236-3689
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE
This e-mail transmission, and all documents, files or previous e-mail messages attached to it, are being sent by an attorney and may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. This transmission is intended solely for the exclusive use of the named recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you must not read this transmission and that any disclosure, copying, printing, distribution or use of any of the information contained in or attached to this transmission is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify the sender by telephone or return e-mail and delete the original transmission and its attachments without reading or saving in any manner. Thank you.
Ray,
See 11 O.S. 1-102(6): "Officer or official" means any person who is elected
to an office in municipal government or is appointed to fill an unexpired
term of an elected office, and the clerk and the treasurer whether elected
or appointed.
To be blunt, I don't think 9-117 was ever intended to be used to suspend a
Council member. First, I suspect that language has been in the statutes
since before the overhaul in Title 11. As I recall, the 1-102 definition of
Officer wasn't added until the late 70s. The Aldermanic form of government
is one in which executive authority is vested with the Mayor. I suspect the
intent of the statute was to allow for the suspension of executive type
officials which, prior to the adoption of that 1-102 definition, would have
been all the public (executive) officers. But after the definition was
adopted, the term Officer was drastically paired down to only include the
elected officials and the Clerk/Treasurer. The Aldermanic form of
government has (by default - but it can be changed by popular vote) some
other executive positions that are elected. But they would only be Officers
so long as they retained their elected character (i.e. they would stop
being Officers if the voters shifted them to appointed positions). Bottom
line - if you went with the strict statutory construction argument, then
the Aldermanic form of government would be the only statutory form of
Municipal government where elected Councilmembers could be suspended by
majority vote of the Council. *See e.g. *11 O.S. 10-121 (allowing for the
suspension of officers and employees by the Manager or appointing authority
in the CM form of government); 11 O.S. 11-124 (allowing for the suspension
of officers and employees by the Mayor or appointing authority in the SM
form of government); (Town form doesn't have a similar provision).
I used 9-117 as the basis to pursue suspension of an elected Street
Commissioner from their duties in an Aldermanic City many years ago. I felt
comfortable doing so for the reasons stated. The Street Commissioner was
accused of using the City gas pump to fill up his personal vehicle, and
when confronted by the Mayor he steadfastly refused to stop. So all we
could do was to initiate a criminal investigation and then attempt to stop
the bleeding by suspending him from his duties. So we gave him due process
and held a hearing in front of the City Council. We had the option of a
307b1 Executive Session since he was a salaried City official, but he
wanted to do it in open session and we were happy to oblige (brought a
Court Reporter to record his voluntary statements he made and handed the
transcript over to the DA). They voted to suspend him and he later resigned
as part of a plea deal with the DA.
I do think you would have to provide due process. And if it's a
Councilmember, I don't know that you could entertain a 307b1 Executive
Session. That statute is worded as applying to officers or employees, but
they have to be compensated (there's an AG opinion on this - dealing with
using a 307b1 to interview candidates for an open County Commissioner
position which the AG said was fine since it was a salaried public
official). If the Council isn't paid, or only receives nominal
compensation, then I'm not sure you could use a b1 executive session.
Those are my thoughts.
Matt
On Mon, Feb 6, 2023 at 2:33 PM rayvincent@coxinet.net wrote:
11 OS Section 9-117
Appointments and promotions in the service of a statutory aldermanic city
shall be made solely on the basis of merit and fitness. Removals,
demotions, suspensions, and layoffs shall be made solely for the good of
the service. The council may suspend for cause, by a majority vote of
all its members, any officer of the city except the mayor. The council
by ordinance may establish a system for appointment and removal of
employees on the basis of merit. After the council establishes a merit
system, it shall adopt regulations governing the organization and
functioning of the system, and for the regulation of personnel matters. The
ordinance establishing the merit system may not be repealed except upon the
approval of a majority of the registered voters voting on the question at a
special or general election in the city.
This seems to be saying that the council can suspend another councilperson
for cause except not the Mayor.
Councilmen are elective city officers. 11 O.S. Section 9-116. The
compensation of all elective city officers shall be fixed by ordinance.
So can the city council by majority vote suspend another city councilman?
Raymond A. Vincent
Raymond A. Vincent, PLLC
1919 S. Sunnylane Rd., Suite 200
Del City, Oklahoma 73115
405-235-0484
Fax 405-236-3689
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE
This e-mail transmission, and all documents, files or previous e-mail
messages attached to it, are being sent by an attorney and may contain
information that is confidential or legally privileged. This transmission
is intended solely for the exclusive use of the named recipient. If you are
not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to
the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you must not read this
transmission and that any disclosure, copying, printing, distribution or
use of any of the information contained in or attached to this transmission
is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you have received this transmission in error,
please immediately notify the sender by telephone or return e-mail and
delete the original transmission and its attachments without reading or
saving in any manner. Thank you.
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Very complete. Thanks
Ray
From: Matt Love
Sent: Monday, February 6, 2023 5:38 PM
To: rayvincent@coxinet.net
Cc: OAMA
Subject: [Oama] Re: Aldermanic Form
Ray,
See 11 O.S. 1-102(6): "Officer or official" means any person who is elected to an office in municipal government or is appointed to fill an unexpired term of an elected office, and the clerk and the treasurer whether elected or appointed.
To be blunt, I don't think 9-117 was ever intended to be used to suspend a Council member. First, I suspect that language has been in the statutes since before the overhaul in Title 11. As I recall, the 1-102 definition of Officer wasn't added until the late 70s. The Aldermanic form of government is one in which executive authority is vested with the Mayor. I suspect the intent of the statute was to allow for the suspension of executive type officials which, prior to the adoption of that 1-102 definition, would have been all the public (executive) officers. But after the definition was adopted, the term Officer was drastically paired down to only include the elected officials and the Clerk/Treasurer. The Aldermanic form of government has (by default - but it can be changed by popular vote) some other executive positions that are elected. But they would only be Officers so long as they retained their elected character (i.e. they would stop being Officers if the voters shifted them to appointed positions). Bottom line - if you went with the strict statutory construction argument, then the Aldermanic form of government would be the only statutory form of Municipal government where elected Councilmembers could be suspended by majority vote of the Council. See e.g. 11 O.S. 10-121 (allowing for the suspension of officers and employees by the Manager or appointing authority in the CM form of government); 11 O.S. 11-124 (allowing for the suspension of officers and employees by the Mayor or appointing authority in the SM form of government); (Town form doesn't have a similar provision).
I used 9-117 as the basis to pursue suspension of an elected Street Commissioner from their duties in an Aldermanic City many years ago. I felt comfortable doing so for the reasons stated. The Street Commissioner was accused of using the City gas pump to fill up his personal vehicle, and when confronted by the Mayor he steadfastly refused to stop. So all we could do was to initiate a criminal investigation and then attempt to stop the bleeding by suspending him from his duties. So we gave him due process and held a hearing in front of the City Council. We had the option of a 307b1 Executive Session since he was a salaried City official, but he wanted to do it in open session and we were happy to oblige (brought a Court Reporter to record his voluntary statements he made and handed the transcript over to the DA). They voted to suspend him and he later resigned as part of a plea deal with the DA.
I do think you would have to provide due process. And if it's a Councilmember, I don't know that you could entertain a 307b1 Executive Session. That statute is worded as applying to officers or employees, but they have to be compensated (there's an AG opinion on this - dealing with using a 307b1 to interview candidates for an open County Commissioner position which the AG said was fine since it was a salaried public official). If the Council isn't paid, or only receives nominal compensation, then I'm not sure you could use a b1 executive session.
Those are my thoughts.
Matt
On Mon, Feb 6, 2023 at 2:33 PM rayvincent@coxinet.net wrote:
11 OS Section 9-117
Appointments and promotions in the service of a statutory aldermanic city shall be made solely on the basis of merit and fitness. Removals, demotions, suspensions, and layoffs shall be made solely for the good of the service. The council may suspend for cause, by a majority vote of all its members, any officer of the city except the mayor. The council by ordinance may establish a system for appointment and removal of employees on the basis of merit. After the council establishes a merit system, it shall adopt regulations governing the organization and functioning of the system, and for the regulation of personnel matters. The ordinance establishing the merit system may not be repealed except upon the approval of a majority of the registered voters voting on the question at a special or general election in the city.
This seems to be saying that the council can suspend another councilperson for cause except not the Mayor.
Councilmen are elective city officers. 11 O.S. Section 9-116. The compensation of all elective city officers shall be fixed by ordinance.
So can the city council by majority vote suspend another city councilman?
Raymond A. Vincent
Raymond A. Vincent, PLLC
1919 S. Sunnylane Rd., Suite 200
Del City, Oklahoma 73115
405-235-0484
Fax 405-236-3689
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE
This e-mail transmission, and all documents, files or previous e-mail messages attached to it, are being sent by an attorney and may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. This transmission is intended solely for the exclusive use of the named recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you must not read this transmission and that any disclosure, copying, printing, distribution or use of any of the information contained in or attached to this transmission is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify the sender by telephone or return e-mail and delete the original transmission and its attachments without reading or saving in any manner. Thank you.
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