State Ex Rel. North v. Goetz

The Waukesha city clerk received a petition, with an attached proposed ordinance, from a member of the public demanding that it be forwarded to the city council for consideration, pursuant to sec. 9.20, Stats. The clerk refused to forward it because she believed the proposal was administrative, not legislative, and, therefore, did not fall under the statute. The petition’s circulator, Ralph M. North, appeals from a trial court denial of his writ of mandamus. Because we conclude that the city clerk’s duties under sec. 9.20 are ministerial only, such that she has no quasi-judicial authority to…