Reversing.
On February 28, 1944, the Board of Commissioners of Hazard, a city of the fourth class, passed the following ordinance:
"Be It Ordained by the Board of Commissioners of the City of Hazard, Kentucky,
The Louisville Nashville Railroad Company owns and operates a line of railroad which passes through the City of Hazard and crosses some of its streets. The railroad is across the North Fork of the Kentucky River from the main business and residential sections of the City. The Railroad Company brought this action under the Declaratory Judgment Act, 639a — 1 et seq., Civil *Page 372 Code of Practice, to have the ordinance declared invalid and for a declaration of rights. The circuit court declared all of section 1 of the ordinance invalid except the following: "* * * and that in moving and operating of engines and trains across streets, alleys and public ways of the City of Hazard a guard or flagman be stationed at such crossings in each instance * * *" The Railroad Company appeals, and argues that (1) The invalid portion of the ordinance makes the whole of the ordinance invalid; and (2) the ordinance is invalid because it is unreasonable, arbitrary, and was enacted by the Commissioners without express authority from the Legislature.
There is no cross-appeal, but there can be no doubt that the circuit court correctly declared invalid the portion of the ordinance requiring railroad companies to keep certain crewmen on all engines and trains which are operating over and across any street, alley or public way of the City. There is no provision in the Statutes relating to cities of the fourth class which confers such power on the legislative body of a city. KRS
Considerable proof was introduced, apparently in an effort to show that the enactment of the ordinance was actuated by an unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious spirit in the hope of personal profit or gain. The moving spirit in the enactment of the ordinance was J.C. Petrey, a City Commissioner and also an employee of the Louisville Nashville Railroad Company. Petrey *Page 373
was a yard foreman, and it is obvious from the evidence that it was his purpose to require the use of an additional man on the switching crews who would relieve him of actual work and make him a supervisor. There are eleven grade crossings within the City, but most of these are over spur tracks leading to coal mines in the vicinity and are little used except one which crosses the main track near the railroad station. This crossing is on a state highway which carries considerable traffic, but the proof fails to establish that it is unusually dangerous. Due to its proximity to the station and the freight yards, trains travel at a very slow speed at this point. It is conceded that there has never been a crossing accident within the corporate limits of Hazard since the railroad was constructed in 1912. About eight trains pass over the main track each way during the day, and one or two and never more than three pass over the spur tracks each way. In Illinois Central Railroad Company v. McGuire's Adm'r,
"Generally, invalid sections of a statute may be eliminated without affecting valid portions, if the valid portions are so clearly separable from the invalid ones that they can stand, and be operative without the assistance of the invalid ones; but if the valid and invalid provisions are so dependent, each upon the other, or so connected, each with the other, as to warrant the belief that the Legislature intended them as a whole, and would not have enacted the statute unless all provisions could be carried in effect, the whole of the statute must fail."
It will be noted that section 1 of the ordinance passed by the Board of Commissioners of the City of Hazard is composed of one sentence, and the part of the ordinance declared valid by the circuit court is part of that sentence. It is obvious from a reading of the ordinance that the primary purpose of the Board of Commissioners was to compel the Railroad Company to use additional men on the switching crews, and it will not be presumed that the Board would have passed the ordinance without the provisions held invalid by the circuit court. It was not the purpose of the Board of Commissioners to require the Railroad Company to maintain flagmen at all of the crossings regardless of the nature or extent of their use, but the Board contemplated that the additional member of each switching crew required by the ordinance would act as flagman. We conclude that the court erred in holding any portion of the ordinance valid.
The judgment is reversed with directions to enter a judgment in conformity herewith.