Can a Texas county development district add a sixth member to its five-person board of directors?

Plain-English summary

The Hood County Attorney asked whether Local Government Code chapter 383 lets the board of Hood County Development District No. 1 appoint a sixth director. The district's board thought it could, reading section 383.048(d) (which lets the board appoint "another director, the general manager, or an employee" as an assistant or deputy secretary) as permission to grow the board from five members to six.

The AG said no. Section 383.041(a) plainly states that a county development district "is governed by a board of five directors appointed by the commissioners court of the county in which the district is located." The provision the board pointed to, section 383.048(d), is about staffing the secretary's office, not the size of the board. Read in context, "another director" means a director other than the one already serving as secretary, and the provision simply identifies the pool of people the board may tap to assist the secretary: another director, the general manager, or an employee. Nothing in that language creates independent authority to add a board member, and reading it that way would clash with the clear five-director rule in section 383.041(a).

The AG noted other parts of chapter 383 point the same way. Directors are appointed by the commissioners court, not added by the board itself; three directors are a quorum and a concurrence of three is enough for district business; and district expenditures must be signed by at least three directors. All of that is built around a five-member board. So a court would likely conclude section 383.048(d) does not let the board appoint a sixth director.

What this means for you

If you serve on a county development district board

Based on this opinion, your board stays at five directors. The deputy-secretary provision in section 383.048(d) lets you draw an assistant or deputy secretary from among the existing directors, the general manager, or an employee, but it is not a path to a sixth board seat. Directors are appointed by the county commissioners court under section 383.041(a).

If you are a county attorney or commissioner overseeing such a district

The opinion confirms the board's composition is fixed at five by section 383.041(a) and that an internal provision about who assists the secretary does not change that. If a district has been treating section 383.048(d) as authority for a larger board, that reading does not hold up.

If you advise special districts on governance

This is a straightforward whole-statute reading: a provision listing eligible appointees for a staff role cannot be stretched into authority to enlarge the governing body, particularly when a separate section sets the board size and related provisions (quorum, expenditure signatures) are calibrated to that size.

Common questions

Q: Can the district's board add a sixth director?
A: No. The AG concluded section 383.048(d) does not authorize a sixth director, and section 383.041(a) fixes the board at five.

Q: What does section 383.048(d) actually do?
A: It identifies who may serve as the board's assistant or deputy secretary: another director, the general manager, or an employee. It is about assisting the secretary, not about board size.

Q: What does "another director" mean in that provision?
A: A director other than the one serving as secretary. It does not mean an additional, sixth director.

Q: Who appoints the district's directors?
A: The commissioners court of the county where the district is located, under section 383.041(a).

Background and statutory framework

Local Government Code chapter 383 provides for county development districts. Section 383.041(a) states that a district is governed by a board of five directors appointed by the commissioners court. Section 383.047 directs the board to organize by electing a president, vice president, secretary, and any other officer it considers necessary, and section 383.048 sets out the officers' duties. Subsection 383.048(d) provides that the board "may appoint another director, the general manager, or an employee as assistant or deputy secretary to assist the secretary."

Reading the text in light of the statute as a whole (City of Austin v. Quinlan, 669 S.W.3d 813 (Tex. 2023)), the AG concluded subsection 383.048(d) merely delineates the pool from which an assistant or deputy secretary may be drawn, with "another director" meaning a director other than the one serving as secretary. It is not independent authority to add a board member, especially against the five-director rule in section 383.041(a). Other provisions confirm the five-member structure: directors are appointed by the commissioners court (section 383.041(a)), three directors constitute a quorum with a concurrence of three sufficient for district business (section 383.048(a)), and expenditures must be signed by at least three directors (section 383.064).

Citations and references

Statutes:

• Tex. Loc. Gov't Code § 383.041 — district governed by a board of five directors
• Tex. Loc. Gov't Code § 383.048 — quorum, officer duties, and appointment of an assistant or deputy secretary
• Tex. Loc. Gov't Code § 383.064 — expenditures signed by at least three directors

Key cases:

• City of Austin v. Quinlan, 669 S.W.3d 813 (Tex. 2023) — interpret statutes by their plain language, construing the text in light of the statute as a whole

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/ken-paxton/kp-0450
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/2023/kp-0450.pdf

Original opinion text

October 23, 2023

The Honorable Matthew A. Mills
Hood County Attorney
1200 West Pearl Street
Granbury, Texas 76048

Opinion No. KP-0450

Re: Authority of the Hood County Development District No. 1 to add an additional member to its board of directors under Local Government Code chapter 383 (RQ-0002-AC)

Dear Mr. Mills:

You ask whether Local Government Code chapter 383 authorizes the board of Hood County Development District No. 1 ("the District") to appoint a sixth director.¹ You tell us that the District's board of directors believes Local Government Code subsection 383.048(d) allows such an appointment despite the statement in Local Government Code subsection 383.041(a) that the District is to be governed by a board of five directors. Request Letter at 1; TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 383.041(a). In particular, you tell us that "[t]he District's position is that the reference [in subsection 383.048(d)] to appointing another director allows them to add one member to the board, raising the total from five to six." Request Letter at 1.

Your question requires us to consider several provisions in chapter 383, which provides for county development districts. See generally TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE §§ 383.001–.123. Subsection 383.041(a) states that "[a] district is governed by a board of five directors appointed by the commissioners court of the county in which the district is located." Id. § 383.041(a). Section 383.047 directs the board's members to "organize by electing a president, a vice president, a secretary, and any other officer the board considers necessary." Id. § 383.047. Subsection 383.048(b) sets forth the duties of the president and vice president, while subsection 383.048(c) establishes the secretary's duties. Id. § 383.048(b), (c). Subsection 383.048(d), the provision at issue in your request, provides that the "board may appoint another director, the general manager, or an employee as assistant or deputy secretary to assist the secretary." Id. § 383.048(d).

Courts "interpret statutes by looking to their plain language and construing the text in light of the statute as a whole." City of Austin v. Quinlan, 669 S.W.3d 813, 821 (Tex. 2023). By its plain text, subsection 383.048(d) merely delineates the pool of individuals from which the assistant or deputy secretary may be drawn: "another director, the general manager, or an employee . . . ." TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 383.048(d). Read in context, the phrase "another director" refers to a director other than the director that is serving as the secretary. The provision cannot be construed as independent authority for the District to add an additional board member, especially in light of subsection 383.041(a), which identifies the number of board members as five.² Accordingly, a court would likely conclude that subsection 383.048(d) does not allow the District's board to appoint a sixth director.

¹ See Letter from Honorable Matthew A. Mills, Hood Cnty. Att'y, to Off. of the Provisional Att'y Gen. Angela Colmenero at 1–2 (July 31, 2023) ("Request Letter").

² Other aspects of Local Government Code chapter 383 also support this conclusion. See, e.g., TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE §§ 383.041(a) (providing that directors must be "appointed by the commissioners court"), 383.048(a) ("Three directors constitute a quorum and a concurrence of three is sufficient in any matter relating to the business of the district."), 383.064 (providing that district expenditures "must be signed by at least three directors").

SUMMARY

Local Government Code section 383.041 provides that a county development district is governed by a board of five directors. Local Government Code subsection 383.048(d) establishes who may serve as a board's assistant or deputy secretary. A court would likely conclude that subsection 383.048(d) does not authorize a county development district to add a sixth director to its board.

Very truly yours,

KEN PAXTON
Attorney General of Texas

BRENT WEBSTER
First Assistant Attorney General

LESLEY FRENCH
Chief of Staff

D. FORREST BRUMBAUGH
Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel

AUSTIN KINGHORN
Chair, Opinion Committee

J. AARON BARNES
Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee