Robbins v. Cleburne County Commission, [Ms. 1180106, Jan. 31, 2020] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. 2020). The Court (Mitchell,
J.; Parker, C.J., and Bolin, Bryan, Mendheim, and Stewart, JJ., concur;
Shaw, J., concurs in the result; and Sellers, J., dissents) affirms the
Cleburne Circuit Court’s order dismissing a breach of contract action
filed by the former county engineer after the County Commission denied
the validity of a renewal option in his employment agreement.
Home rule is not extended to counties. Consequently, a county commission’s
“‘contracting authority extends only so far as is authorized
by the legislature ....’” Ms. *5, quoting
Cooper v. Houston Cty., 40 Ala. App. 192, 195, 112 So. 2d 496, 498 (1959). Two statutes potentially
authorized the contract – a general law providing that a county
may enter into an employment contract with a county engineer “for
a period of time not to exceed five years,’” Ms. *5, and a
local law, authorizing Cleburne County to hire a “county engineer
who shall serve at the pleasure of the County Commission.” Ms. *6.
In approving a contract with the county engineer for a period of five years
with a one-year renewal option, the county exceeded its authority under
either law. Ms. *6. The general law expressly limited a contract of employment
of a county engineer to five years. The local law authorized at-will employment
of a county engineer, leading the Court to hold that “[a] government
body authorized to fill a position on an at-will basis may not contract
away its power of removal.” Ms. *10.
Citing its “duty to avoid constitutional questions unless essential
for the proper disposition of the case,” Ms. *6, quoting
Chisholm v. Jefferson Cty., 954 So. 2d 1058, 1063 (Ala. 2006)(internal quotation marks omitted),
the Court declined to decide whether the general or local law applied.