Could a Louisiana town council rehire a police officer without hearing its elected chief's recommendation?

Plain-English summary

In 2015, the Louisiana Attorney General concluded that Newellton's council had rehired a police officer too soon. Under La. R.S. 33:423, it needed to give the elected police chief an opportunity to recommend before taking a personnel action. The chief had been absent and had made no recommendation. The AG said the council should reconsider the hiring after hearing the chief. The council could still choose a different result from the one the chief recommended.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2015. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Did the council have to hear the police chief before rehiring an officer? A: The AG said yes. It read La. R.S. 33:423 to require an opportunity for the elected chief to make a recommendation before the municipality acted on police personnel.

Q: Did the council have to agree with the chief's recommendation? A: No. The opinion explained that the Louisiana Supreme Court's Grant v. Grace decision superseded older views treating the recommendation as binding. The governing authority needed to consider it, but could choose another course.

Q: What did the AG say about the rehire already voted on? A: It called the decision premature and said the council should schedule a meeting to reconsider after allowing the chief to recommend.

Background and statutory framework

The elected Newellton chief told the AG that a police officer had quit and the council voted to rehire the officer while the chief was absent. The AG read the police-personnel recommendation rule in La. R.S. 33:423 together with the later state supreme court decision that clarified how much weight the council had to give the chief's view.

Citations and references

• La. R.S. 33:423, police chief recommendations in personnel matters.
• Grant v. Grace, discussed as holding that the recommendation must be considered but need not be adopted.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/15-0033

Original opinion text

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DEPARTMENTOF JUSTICE
P.O. BOX 94005
BATON ROUGE

JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
70B04-9005
AITORNEY GENERAL
December 22, 2015
Opinion 15-0033

71 MUNICIPALITIES

77 OFFICERS

La. RS. 33423

The chief of police of a Lawrason Act municipality mustbe allowed the
Chief Johnny Gales
opportunity to make a recommendation with regard to police personnel
Chief of Police
before thecouncil andmayor makea decision tohire a police officer.
Newellton Police Department
P.O. Box 477
Newellton, LA 71357

Dear Mr. Gales:

Your request for an Attorney General's opinion has been forwarded to me for research and reply. You ask whether the chief of police of a Lawrason Act municipality is required to make recommendations with regard to police personnel decisions before the council and mayor can hire a police officer.

You advise that you are the elected Chief of Police for the Town of Newellton ("town"), which is a Lawrason Act municipality.' You indicate that a police officer for the town recently quit. Subsequently, at a town council meeting, the council voted to re-hire the police officer. You further indicate that you were not in attendance at the meeting, you did not make a recommendation as to the re-hiring of the police officer, and you would not have recommended to the council that the officer be re-hired.

La. R.S. 33:423 controls the hiring of police department employees. It prescribes a procedure that imposes a mandatory obligation on the chief of police to make a recommendation to the mayor and council with respect to all police personnel matters.

Previously, this office has interpreted the mandatory language of La. R.S. 33:423 to mean that the mayor and council must follow whatever recommendation was made by the chief of police regarding employment matters. See La. Atty. Gen. Op. Nos. 01-07, 01-07A, 98-0241, 98-460, and 82-613. This conclusion was consistent with past jurisprudence of the First and Third Circuit Court of Appeal. See Thibodeaux v.

, The Lawrason Act is the general municipal incorporation law of Louisiana which classifies and bestows powers and privileges upon municipalities according to populaton.

Page 2

Opinion 15-0033
Mr. Johnny Gales
Page 2

Hemandez, 97-602 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/29/97), 702 SO.2d 1157; See a/so Lee v. Grimmer, 99-2196 (La.App. 1 Cir. 12/22/00),775 SO.2d 1223.

However, the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision in Grant v. Grace, et el., 03-2021 (La. 4/14/04),870 SO.2d 1011, expressly overruled the Thibodeaux and Lee decisions, leaving the conclusions reached in our previous opinions on the subject in question. The more recent opinions of this office follow this holding of Grant, confirming that while a recommendation of the chief is necessary for a police personnel action, the governing authority need not follow that recommendation. See La. Atty. Gen. Op, Nos. 10-0052, 07-0048 and 05-0401.

The recommendation requirement of La. R.S. 33:423 and whether or not a local governing authority can proceed to hire or fire police officers without the approval of an elected chief of police are issues which were discussed by the Supreme Court in Grant. The Grant decision held that prior to making police employment decisions in the absence of a civil service requirement, the local governing authority must allow the elected chief of police the opportunity "to make recommendations before the municipality acts ...." However, the municipality need not adopt such recommendation and may take a different course of action. Grant, 870 SO.2d at 1016-17.

In light of Grant, the council was required to receive a recommendation from the police chief prior to re-hiring the police officer. Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that the decision to re-hire a police officer prior to giving the police chief an opportunity to offer a recommendation to the council was premature. The council should schedule a meeting to reconsider the hiring and allow the police chief the opportunity to make a recommendation that the council should consider prior to taking any action.

We hope that this opinion has adequately addressed the legal issues you have raised. If our office can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
ATIORNEY GENERZlt.

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Assistant Attorney General

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