Scott v. Coachman

By statute, the legislature has chosen mayors, and not city councils, to be the *611repositories of the general power to hire and fire municipal employees. The statute by which the legislature has made this choice, § 11^13-81, Ala.Code 1975, by merely accommodating those situations “otherwise provided by law,” is reasonably understood simply to mean “law” that is equal to or superior to that statute. I cannot conclude that the legislature intended to say: “We choose by statute to give this power to mayors as a general rule, but only to the extent that a local city council does not override our…