MEMORANDUM
DATE:
FROM:
RE:
December 13, 2001
Melissa A. Ashburn, Legal Consultant
Alteration of Election Dates
It is my understanding that your City desires to change election dates so that elections
may be held on the same days as county elections, thereby saving the City the expense
of holding elections independently. Your City Manager proposes that an ordinance be
prepared to change the terms of office of commissioners elected in 2003 to three (3)
year terms, then to begin holding elections in sync with the county in 2006, at which
time the terms would change back to four (4) years. It is my opinion that the election
cycle may be changed, but not in the manner proposed by the City Manager.
The general law manager-commission charter adopted by your City provides
unequivocally that the terms of mayor and commissioners shall be four (4) years.
Tennessee Code Annotated ' 6-20-102(c)(2)(C) states “all terms of office for members
of the board of commissioners shall be four (4) years.” The section of the charter
addressing terms of commissioners directly, ' 6-20-101, states that the terms of all
commissioners “shall be for four (4) years, or until their successors are elected and
qualified.” A similar provision is contained in the Tennessee Constitution, Article VII,
Sec. 5: “Every officer shall hold his office until his successor is elected or appointed and
qualified.” That constitutional provision applies to every public office in the state, and
has been expressly adopted by the legislature for application to municipalities operating
under a city manager-commission charter. However, it is a “holdover” provision
designed to avoid vacancies in office, which is only applied to lengthen the term of
office as opposed to shortening the term.
When the language employed in Tennessee Code Annotated ' 6-20-101 is read in
conjunction with the entire chapter addressing general law cities, the statute indicates
that the term of commissioners can be extended, but not shortened, to effect a change
in election dates. The many reported Court opinions on the issue reveal that this is the
interpretation adopted by the judiciary. The Supreme Court states:
It is a general rule of law, well recognized in our State, that the
holder of a public office, duly elected, qualified and inducted for
a fixed term acquires certain property rights of which he may not
be arbitrarily deprived. LaFever v. Ware, 365 S.W.2d 44(Tenn. 1963),
citing Rhea County v. White, 43 S.W.2d 375 (Tenn. 1931).
As all of the case law on this issue deals with incumbents whose terms have been
shortened, I have consulted with Senior Legal Consultant Sid Hemsley to determine if
he believes the rule would still apply if no incumbent’s term would be shortened. Sid
feels strongly that the rule applies no matter what the situation, based on the statutory
language.
It is therefore our combined opinion that your City may not shorten the terms of
commissioners elected in 2003 in order to change the next election date. Based on our
research, the only manner in which election dates may be changed in general law
charter cities is to extend the terms of the commissioners, beyond four years, until the
next county election date.
I realize this is not the solution your City was looking for, but I hope this information is
helpful. Please let me know if you need anything further.