DeMayo v. Quinn

Summary

The court affirmed the removal of the defendant as Meriden corporation counsel because the city charter required the current mayor to recommend an appointee before the city council could exercise its appointment power. Reading the charter as a whole, the court concluded that the recommendation requirement was mandatory, that the express exception for committee chairpersons excluded implied exceptions, and that neither alleged absurdity, a code provision, nor longstanding practice altered the clear text. The court also declined to adopt a different interpretive approach for municipal-charter disputes implicating separation-of-powers concerns.