Appellee John Clark, a citizen and taxpayer of Fulton County, filed a complaint against 104 members of the Fulton County Boards of Equalization BOE, challenging the qualifications and validity of appointments of such BOE members, and against Fulton County Superior Court Clerk Cathelene Robinson, alleging that Robinson had failed to comply with certain requirements regarding public notice of BOE appointments. As relief, Clark sought a writ of quo warranto revoking the named BOE members’ appointments; an interlocutory injunction preventing such BOE members from hearing any tax appeals during the pendency of the suit; and an injunction or mandamus compelling Robinson’s compliance, with respect to BOE appointments, with the public notice requirements of OCGA § 15-12-81. Following discovery, Clark moved for summary judgment and separately moved to dismiss from the suit various defendants whose appointments had expired or been otherwise terminated since initiation of the suit. Following a hearing, the trial court granted Clark’s motions, issuing a writ of quo warranto, and in the alternative a permanent injunction, prohibiting each of the remaining 33 BOE members from serving on the BOE until such time as each such individual has satisfied all statutory requirements as prescribed in OCGA § 48-5-311 for appointment thereto. The court also issued a writ of mandamus, and alternatively a mandatory permanent injunction, requiring Robinson, pursuant to OCGA § 15-12-81, to publish notice of BOE appointments in the official county organ. Appellants appealed the trial court’s order to the Court of Appeals, which transferred the case to this Court. 1. “The writ of quo warranto may issue to inquire into the right of any person to any public office the duties of which he is in fact discharging.” OCGA § 9-6-60. Though appellants contend that BOE members are not “public officers” within the meaning of the quo warranto statute, we find this argument unpersuasive.
“A public officer is any ‘individual who has a designation or title given him by law, and who exercises functions concerning the public assigned to him by law . . .’ Cit.” Brown v. Scott , 266 Ga. 44, 45 1 464 SE2d 607 1995. Attributes of a public officer include official duties and powers, oath, compensation, duration, and tenure. Morris v. Peters , 203 Ga. 350 1 46 SE2d 729 1948; McDuffie v. Perkerson , 178 Ga. 230 3 173 SE2d 151 1934. BOE members, who are appointed in a manner prescribed by law, OCGA § 48-5-311 c, possess all of these attributes: the statutorily prescribed duty and power to hear and determine appeals from tax assessments and denials of homestead exemptions, and to establish procedures for conducting such appeals, id. at d; a required oath, id. at c 5; a fixed three year term of office, id. at c 1; and statutorily required compensation. Id. at k. Thus BOE members are clearly public officers subject to quo warranto. See, e.g., Brown , supra at 45 1 juvenile intake officer is a public officer; Smith v. Mueller , 222 Ga. 186 1 149 SE2d 319 1966 members of board of utility commission are public officers; Stanford v. Lynch , 147 Ga. 518 1 94 SE2d 1001 1918 county board of education member is a public officer. Compare McDuffie , supra at 238 3 grand jurors, serving for uncertain terms and subject to discharge at any time, not public officers.
