June 23, 2005 |
2005-R-0542 | |
CONSTABLES | ||
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By: John Rappa, Principal Analyst | ||
You asked how towns could eliminate the position of constable and, in so doing, transfer their responsibilities to other officials. The Office of Legislative Research cannot give legal opinions and you should not regard this report as one.
ELIMINATING THE CONSTABLE POSITION
The method a town must use to eliminate constable positions depends on whether it created them under a home rule charter, special act, or the statutes. If the town created the positions in its charter, then it must repeal the charter provisions that created those positions. It must do this according to the statutory process for adopting and amending charters, which is delineated in the attached OLR report (Attachment 1, 2005-R-0199).
A town operating under a special act must first adopt a charter, which may subsume the special act. (Historically, the legislature amended special acts it enacted on behalf of specific towns, but Article 10 of the state constitution prohibits the legislature from enacting special legislation regarding the powers, organization, terms of elective office, or form of government of any single town. )
A town that governs itself under the statutes must either elect or appoint constables as the statutes provide. These statutes do not explicitly provide a way for the town to eliminate elected or appointed constables. But the town may be able to do so by adopting an ordinance that eliminates the constable positions and assigns their duties to other officials.
We base this interpretation on two statutes. CGS § 9-185 allows towns to elect or appoint constables and specifically requires those that choose the latter to adopt an ordinance authorizing their chief executive authority to make the appointments. CGS § 9-200 requires towns to elect seven constables, “unless otherwise provided by law and except as provided in section 9-185. ” Read together, these laws seem to allow towns to assign the constables’ duties to other officials if they do so by ordinance.
TRANSFERRING CONSTABLE DUTIES TO OTHER OFFICIALS
Several laws specify duties that constables or other officials may perform. Consequently, a town that eliminates constable positions could transfer their duties to the other officials the law specifies. Table 1 lists laws authorizing constables to perform certain duties and identifies the other specified officials who can also perform them. As the table shows, all the laws allow other officials besides constables to perform the task or duty except those regarding highway and water nuisances.
Table 1: Laws Specifying Duties that can be performed by Constables or other Specified Officials
Duty |
CGS § |
Other Officials Authorized to Perform Duty |
Service of process |
52-50 |
State marshals, other proper officers authorized by statute, or “indifferent persons” |
Mechanics liens |
49-35a |
State marshals |
Prejudgment remedies |
52-278c |
State marshals |
Attachments |
52-325a |
State marshals |
Postjudgment procedures |
52-350(a)(12) |
State marshals and any investigator employed by the social services commissioner |
Redevelopment agency compensation notices |
8-129 |
State marshals or indifferent persons |
Implement probate court orders to take possession of decedents estates |
45a-316 |
State marshals |
Probate court notices to respondents in sterilization cases |
45a-693 |
State marshals or indifferent persons |
Probate court notices for conservatorship or guardianship hearings for people with mental retardation |
45a-649 and 671 |
State marshals or indifferent persons |
Tax collection |
12-135 and 162 |
Other officers authorized to serve civil process |
-Continued-
Duty |
CGS § |
Other Officials Authorized to Perform Duty |
Distraint (seizure) orders against property of delinquent lottery sales agents |
12-569 |
State marshals or collection agents |
Cooperation with federal Agricultural Department for eradication of specific animal diseases |
22-286 and 326b |
Law enforcement officials |
Attending Superior Court transactions |
51-30 |
Judicial marshals or chief court administrator messengers |
Notices of special or reconvened General Assembly sessions |
2-7 |
State marshals, state police, or indifferent persons |
Preventing elections disorders |
9-230 |
Police chiefs |
Prohibiting specific activities at elections |
9-236 |
Police officers |
Assisting judges investigating campaign finance violations |
9-346b |
State and local police officers |
Dealing with abandoned motor vehicles |
14-151 |
State marshals |
Enforcing motor vehicle theft and recovery laws |
14-152 and 197 |
Police officers |
Enforcing other motor vehicle laws |
14-224, 225, and 226 |
Police officers |
Enforcing snowmobile and all terrain vehicle laws |
14-386 |
State and local police, state park and forest police, and forest rangers |
Taking custody of abandoned aircraft |
15-76 |
Transportation Department employees and state and local police |
Taking custody of delinquent children |
17a-8 |
Department of Children and Family officers and any officer authorize to serve criminal process |
Regulating highway and water nuisances |
19a-335 and 340 |
No other officials authorized |
Carrying out hazardous waste vehicle forfeiture |
22a-250a |
State or local police, state marshals, or person designated by the environmental protection commissioner |
Enforcing various dog and animal control laws |
22-367 |
State, regional, and local animal control officers |
Taking custody of military court witness who refuses to appear |
27-189 |
State marshals |
JR: ts