Ripley v. Brown

Rodney Ripley appeals a summary judgment dismissing his action to compel Wash-burn County and its clerk, John L. Brown, to place the office of county surveyor on the 1984 general election ballot. Ripley contends that the statute pursuant to which the county decided to appoint a county surveyor, sec. 59.12, Stats., is unconstitutional because a county surveyor is an "elected county officer[]” under the Wisconsin Constitution. We conclude that the appointment provision of sec. 59.12 is unconstitutional because art. VI, sec. 4, of the Wisconsin Constitution, as interpreted by a prior decision,…