Could a Texas county commissioners court hold its regular meetings in a county administration building instead of the courthouse?

Texas AG Opinion JM-871: County Commissioners Meeting Site

Plain-English summary

Ector County bought a building in Odessa to house county agencies. The building had meeting facilities, and the commissioners court expected to hold its terms there. It sat six blocks from the courthouse. The county attorney asked whether that was allowed. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

The Attorney General said no. Section 81.005(c) of the Local Government Code stated that the term of the commissioners court "shall be held at the county seat at the courthouse." The opinion called that language "clear and unambiguous," and read it as requiring the Ector County Commissioners Court to meet in the courthouse. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Two other statutes pointed the same direction. Section 292.004 let a commissioners court build auxiliary court facilities, but subsection (d) let other courts, "except the commissioners court," hold their terms in those facilities. The opinion treated that carve-out as consistent with the courthouse requirement rather than an exception to it. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1988. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Where did the law require a Texas commissioners court to meet?

At the courthouse in the county seat. The opinion quoted section 81.005(c) directly: the term "shall be held at the county seat at the courthouse." Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Did owning the administration building change the answer?

No. Ownership was not the issue. The opinion turned on where the court's terms were held, and it concluded the statutory language left no room for a building six blocks from the courthouse. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Could other courts meet in an auxiliary county facility?

Under section 292.004(d), a court required by law to hold its terms at the county seat could hold them at a court facility provided under that section, with the commissioners court expressly excepted. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Could a county build a new courthouse somewhere else in the county seat?

The opinion said the county had authority to build a new courthouse on a site within the boundaries of the county seat that existed when the city was designated county seat, citing Lamar County v. Clements and Cosby v. County Commissioners of Randall County. It also flagged Government Code section 442.008, which required notice to the Texas Historical Commission before a county could demolish, sell, or lease a county courthouse. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Background and statutory framework

Section 81.005 set the meeting schedule: a regular term on the second Monday of each month, with at least one term per quarter, and special terms callable by the county judge or three commissioners. Subsection (c) fixed the location at the courthouse. Subsection (d) allowed business required at a regular term to be conducted at any meeting held on a day the court routinely and periodically met. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

The opinion noted that section 81.005 recodified former article 2348, V.T.C.S., which had carried the same courthouse requirement since 1876, as amended in 1911 and 1985. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Section 292.021 allowed counties meeting certain criteria to acquire a building to house county offices, and provided that the building "may contain an auditorium, which may be used by the commissioners court." The opinion quoted that provision without treating it as displacing section 81.005(c). Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Citations and references

• Local Gov't Code § 81.005
• Local Gov't Code § 292.004
• Local Gov't Code § 292.021
• Gov't Code § 442.008
• V.T.C.S. art. 2348 (Acts 1876, 15th Leg., ch. 55, § 13, at 53; amended by Acts 1911, 32d Leg., ch. 98, § 1, at 198 and Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 428, § 1, at 1555)
• Lamar County v. Clements, 49 Tex. 347 (Tex. 1878)
• Cosby v. County Commissioners of Randall County, 712 S.W.2d 246 (Tex. App. - Amarillo 1986, writ ref'd n.r.e.)

Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-0871
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1988/jm0871.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain. The linked PDF is authoritative.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF TEXAS

March 9, 1988

JIM MATTOX
ATTORNEY GENERAL

Honorable Gary Garrison
Ector County Attorney
Room 223, Courthouse
Odessa, Texas 79761

Opinion No. JM-871

Re: Whether the Ector County Commissioners Court may meet in the new county administration building (RQ-1250)

Dear Mr. Garrison:

You state that Ector County has purchased a building in Odessa, the county seat of Ector County, to serve as an administration building for county agencies. The new building includes facilities for meetings of the Ector County Commissioners Court, and it is expected that the commissioners court will meet there. The administration building is six blocks from the courthouse.

You ask the following question:

Can the commissioners court meet in regular and special term in the Ector County Courthouse Administration Building?

Section 81.005 of the Local Government Code provides as follows:

(a) The commissioners court shall convene in a regular term on the second Monday of each month, except that if the completion of the court's business does not require a monthly term, the court need not hold more than one term a quarter. A regular term may continue for one week but may be adjourned earlier if the court's business is completed.

(b) The county judge or three county commissioners may call a special term of the court. A special term may continue until the court's business is completed.

(c) The term shall be held at the county seat at the courthouse.

(d) Any business of the commissioners court that is required by law to be conducted at a regular term may also be conducted at any meeting of the court held on a day on which the court routinely and periodically meets, regardless of whether the periodic interval is weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, or some other interval.

(Emphasis added.)

This section recodified former article 2348, V.T.C.S., which provided as follows:

Sec. 1. The regular terms of the commissioners court shall be commenced and be held at the court house on the second Monday of each month throughout the year and may continue in session one week; provided the court need not hold more than one session each quarter if the business of the court does not demand a session. Any session may adjourn at any time the business of the court is disposed of. Special terms may be called by the county judge or three of the commissioners, and may continue in session until the business is completed.

Sec. 2. Any business of the commissioners court that is required by law to be conducted at a regular term may also be conducted at any meeting of the court held on a day on which the court routinely and periodically meets, regardless of whether the periodic interval is weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, or some other interval.

(Emphasis added.)

Acts 1876, 15th Leg., ch. 55, § 13, at 53; amended by Acts 1911, 32d Leg., ch. 98, § 1, at 198 and Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 428, § 1, at 1555.

Section 81.005(c) of the Local Government Code states that the term of the commissioners court "shall be held at the county seat at the courthouse." The language is clear and unambiguous, and requires the Ector County Commissioners Court to meet in the courthouse.

Section 292.004 of the Local Government Code authorizes the commissioners court to provide facilities such as

(a) . . . an auxiliary courthouse, a jail, a parking garage, a facility for district, county, and precinct administrative and judicial offices and courtrooms, or any facility related to the administration of civil or criminal justice. For the purposes of this section, the municipality designated as the county seat includes territory added to the municipality after it became the county seat but excludes any part of the municipality outside the county.

. . . .

(c) If the commissioners court designates the facility as an auxiliary courthouse, the facility may not replace the courthouse at the county seat.

(d) A court required by law to hold its terms at the county seat, except the commissioners court, may hold its terms at a court facility provided under this section.

(Emphasis added.)

Local Gov't Code § 292.004(a), (c), (d). Subsection (d) bars the commissioners court from meeting at a new court facility provided under section 292.004 of the Local Government Code and is thus consistent with the requirement in section 81.005(c) that the commissioners court shall meet at the courthouse.

Section 292.021 of the Local Government Code allows counties which meet certain criteria to acquire a building to house county offices and provides that

[t]he building may contain an auditorium, which may be used by the commissioners court. . . .

Local Gov't Code § 292.021(b).

Moreover, the county has authority to build a new courthouse on a site within the boundaries of the county seat that existed when the city was designated county seat. Lamar County v. Clements, 49 Tex. 347 (Tex. 1878); Cosby v. County Commissioners of Randall County, 712 S.W.2d 246 (Tex. App. - Amarillo 1986, writ ref'd n.r.e.). See generally Gov't Code § 442.008 (notice to Texas Historical Commission by county required before county may demolish, sell, or lease county courthouse).

SUMMARY

Section 81.005(c) of the Local Government Code requires the Ector County Commissioners Court to hold its meetings in the county courthouse.

Very truly yours,

JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas

MARY KELLER
First Assistant Attorney General

LOU MCCREARY
Executive Assistant Attorney General

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY
Special Assistant Attorney General

RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee

Prepared by Susan L. Garrison
Assistant Attorney General