Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1966 )

Honorable Robert C. Koehl Opinion NO. C- 67%
County Attorney
Atascosa County Re: Whether the Commissioners
Jourdanton, Texas Court of Atascosa County
has authority under Article
2370, Vernon'0 Civil Statutes,
to lease a county owned
building to a furniture
Dear Mr. Koehl: manufacturingfirm.
You have requested an opinion in regard to the above
matter. Pertinent facts from your request are quoted as follows:
"In 1952 the CommissionersCourt of
Atascosa County, Texas purchased from the
Sourdanton Independent School District cer-
tain real estate and improvementssituated
thereon. Said improvementsconsiatlng of
a complex of buildings . . . After thenpur-
chase of the complex, Atascosa County renovated
one ?f the build~lngsfor use by Federal agencies.
The gymnasium building was not renovated nor
put into use by Atascosa County and pl;;esently
is in a state df dilapidation. :'. .
%ec&ntly the CommissionersCourt has
been approached by a Furniture Manufacturing
Firm to lease the premises and this building.
The lease to be for a term of years to be
agreed upon and part of the considerationfor
the use and occupancy of this building would
be the Purniture firm renovating the building
which costs would be approximately$6,000 to
$0,000."
"There la no present need for this build-
ing by the CommlsslonersCourt."
Article 2370, Vernon's Civil Statutes, provides that
the CommissionersCourt of any county may, when necessary, furnish
-3264-
Hon. Robert C. Koehl, page 2 (C&78)
suitable quarters, other than the Courthouse, for holding Court
and carrying on other public business and may rent such part
of any such quarters not necessary for public use.
Section 1 of Article 2370 provides as follows:
"The CommissionersCourt of any Cou&y
rnx, iihennecessary provide buildings, rooms,
or aoartments at the county seat other than
the courthouse for holding-the sessions of
the County Courts, District Courts and for
carrying on such other public business as may
be authorized by the CommissionersCourt and
may lease or rent such part of any such build-
1 8, rooms or apartments as may not be necessary
P-
or public use:' (Emphasis added)
Section 2 of Article 2370 provides in part asfollows:
vhenever any county in this State may
have acquired a building (other than the court-
house) at the County seat which la used partly
for public business and whxch is pextly rented
for private purposes, . . :' (Emphasisaddedr
Section 3 of Article 2370 provides In part as follows:
”
. . .
"There shall be charged and collected as
rental for those parts of such building not
used for publ'lcpurposes, . . .- (Eiiiphasls
addea)
The relevant aectlons of Article 2370 (cited above)
clearly state that parts of public buildings may be leased by
the county, but nothing Is said about the lease or rental of a
whole building owned by the county.
In Dancy v. Davidson, 183 S.W.2d 195 (Tex.Civ.App.
1944, error ref.], the CouFt stated (page 200) 'The statutes
;ia+ovide that certain offices shali-be located at the county
It may be Implied from the provisions of Article 2370
(prior to Its amendment In 1941) that all courts other than
the 'countycourts' were required to hold their sessions In
the courthouse. The amendment of the article largely did away
with this restriction and provided a permlssablemethod for
financing and acquiring a public building other than a courthouse
-3265-
.. .
Hon. Robert C. Koehl, page 3 (c-678)
In the county seat.ll (Emphasis added). Although the court
‘i th Dancy case was dealing with a different Issue than the
on"eudder consideration,the court neverthelessrecognized that
buildings acquired under the provisions of Article 2370 are
public buildings $0 be used prlmarlly for public purposes. A
thorough discussion of the use of public buildings for a public
purpose may be found In Attorney General's Opinion No. C-342
(1964).
In view of the foregoing, It 1s our opinion that the
CommissionersCourt of Atascosa County does not have the au-
thority under Article 2370, Vernon's Civil Statutes, to lease
a county owned building to a furniture manufacturing firm.
S U MM A RY
The CommissionersCourt of Atascosa County
does not have the authority under Article 2370,
Vernon's Civil Statutes, to lease a county owned
building to a furniture manufacturing firm.
Very truly yours,
WAGGONER CARR
Attorney General
JCMcC:mkh
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMI!l!TEE
W. 0. Shultz, Chairman
John neeves
Paul Phy
John Banks
Arthur Sandlln
APPROVED FOR TEE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY: T. Bi Wright.