Mertz v. City of Los Angeles

DESMOND, J., pro tem.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of Stewart 0. Mertz, decreeing that as a member of the board of education of the city of Los Angeles he is entitled to receive the sum of $480 for attendance at board meetings, and ordering the City Controller of Los Angeles to allocate from certain funds sufficient money to meet this obligation and to approve a warrant for the services rendered as certified by the board of education, which, in turn, is ordered to deliver the warrant to Mertz upon receiving it from the Controller. The judgment also orders the Mayor and City Council of Los Angeles to cooperate with the Controller in such action and directs the City Treasurer to pay the warrant when presented.

Article XI, section 8% of the California Constitution (amendment of 1918), states that charters for cities may provide “2. For the manner in which, the times at which, and the terms for which the members of Boards of Education shall be elected or appointed, for their qualifications, compensation and removal, and for the number which shall constitute any one of such boards.” Section 255 of the charter of the City of Los Angeles reads as follows: “The government of the School Department of the City of Los Angeles shall be vested in a Board of Education, to consist of seven members, to be elected as in this charter provided, and to be called Members of the Board of Education.” Sec

[699]

tion 256 of the charter provides: “Each Member of the Board of Education shall receive, in full compensation for all services of every kind- rendered by him, five dollars for each regular meeting of said board attended by him, but not exceeding a total of fifty dollars ($50.00) in any one calendar month, the same to be paid out of the school fund.”

A “special school fund” was carried on the books of the city and as a matter of fact one Allan E. Sedgwick was paid from city funds the sum of $480 for attending, as a member of the board of education, the ninety-six meetings for which respondent has claimed he should be paid. A contest having been filed against respondent's election in the latter part of June, 1933, and the superior court having ruled in favor of the contestant in October of that year, Sedgwick had been appointed by the board of education in the place of Hertz and over his objection, and had attended ninety-six board meetings before the judgment was reversed and Hertz again took his seat as a member of the board. Meanwhile Hertz also had attended all the meetings, had been able to act and had requested to be allowed to act.