Dyal v. Pope

Following his re-election on November 7, 2006, Ernie Pope is currently serving his third consecutive term as a member of the Telfair County Board of Education. Four Telfair County citizens, Ernest Dyal, Thomas Cartwright, Glynn Smith, and Annie Crisp collectively referred to as “Dyal”, filed the present quo warranto action, contending that Dyal should be removed from office because the Telfair County Tenure Law prevents him from serving more than two consecutive terms. The trial court rejected Dyal’s contentions and granted a motion to dismiss filed by Pope. Dyal now appeals this decision. Because the Telfair County Tenure Law is not applicable to local school board members, we affirm. The Telfair County Tenure Law is a local constitutional amendment which

states:The county officers of Telfair County shall not be eligible to succeed themselves after having served two successive terms in office, nor shall any such officer who is ineligible to succeed himself be eligible to hold any other elective office within a four year period following the date of the expiration of his second successive term . . . .Ga. L. 1963, p. 705.1 This provision is made specifically applicable to what is now Article IX of the 1983 Georgia Constitution which contains general provisions regarding the election of county officers. No mention is made of school board members in Article IX.