Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1945 )

E ORNEY GENERAI.
OF -XAS
Grover Sellere
-ON
ATTORNEY GENERA=.
HonorableR. W Cal'Rrt
Couuty Attorney
Hill County
Hlllnboro,Texas
Dear Sir: OpinionNo. O-6878
R.3: Authorityof the Comnle-
elonera'Court of Hill
county to appointa
mqnager for * county owned
airport.
We have receivedyour letterof recent date In whloh you make
the follovlngInquiry:
"HillCouuty owne certain land on which the
CommleeiouereCourt of HiXCounty proposesto
build au airportunder and by virtue of the
authoritycontainedIn Artlale 126911, V. A. C 5.
!CheCourt doee not vleh to operateand manage the
airportafter it Is built end has asked me for an
opinionon the followingqueet1one:
"1. Hay a Comisslonere Court lease a ooun~y
owned airportto an lndlrldualor lndl-
vldualefor a stipulatedrental?
"2. May a Comiaelonere Court appointa
manageror mmagera of a county owned alr-
port and oontractwith each manager or
ramgem to pay him or them a pertientsge
of the receiptsfrcunsuch airportae ocp-
pensatlonfor his or their eeniose?
"I am diepoeedto answer qneetlonNo. 1 above 'uo'and
questiongo. 2 'yes'for the reaeonehereinafteratated
but I should like to hare your opinionIn the premlsee.
"It Is axiomaticthat a Colrrmleslonere
Court la
a court of limitedjurlsdlotioa and hae no power except
that oonferredby the Conetitutionor leglelatire
act or neoeeearllyInferabletherefrom. Landmanvs.
eon. R. W. Calvert,page 2, O-6878
Stste, 97 S. W. (21 264 (Writ refused.)
Howard vs. HendersonCounty, II6 S. W. (2) 479 (Writ
refused). It followsthat e countyhas no power to
establish,meiatalnend operateeu airportexcept
under authorityand in the msnner providedby Article
126911,V. A. C S.
"Iieoessarily,the power to establishm airport
and to opereteIt lmpliedlyauthorizess oommlesioners
court to appointsome suitableperson to manage and
operateIt. In my opinion,It does not follow,however,
that the power to lease such countypropertywould exist
becausetheoretically, at leaet,this would result la
the leasingof county propertyfor privateprofit.
"It s*ens to me furtherthat * proper oonstruotlon
of the leglslstlveact above referredto exoludss:.the
power of the CommiseionersCourt to leaseairportproperty.
In this oonnection,I oall attentionto the fact that
ParagraphD of Article 126921 grantsthe Cwslaeioners
Courts of the severs1countiespaver to lease airports
to 'any Incorporated city or nunicipalltywithin auch
county or to the federalgovernment.'The sane pare-
grsph confersupon s city the right to lease en alr-
port to * county. PsragrsphE furtherauthorizesthe
governingbodiesof cities to lease '---toany other
person,firm, or corporation,to oarry out any pm-pose
necessaryor incidentalto nationaldefenseor training
Incidentalthereto'but no such power is grantedto
Cosmiseionere Courts. Since thin power is specIfIcally
grantedto governing bodies of cities and is not granted
to oosmissionerscourts the statutewould be construed
to deny the power to commissionerscourts."
Article 126911,
Vernon'sAnnotatedCivil Statutee,is In
part *e follows:
"Section1. A-That the governingbody of say
incorporatedcity In this State may receivethrough
gift or dedication,and IS hereby empoweredto ac-
quire,by purchasewithout condemnationor by pur-
chase throughoondemnstionproceedings,end there-
sitar maintsiaand operatees an airport,or lesoe,
or sell, to the FederalGovernneat,tracts of lend
eitherwithin or without the corporatelimitsof
such city and within the county in which such city
Is situated,end the Commissioners' Court of any
countynsy likewiseacauire,maintainand overate
for like purposetractsof land within the lirltr
_ .-
Hon. R. W Calvert,page 3, O-6878
of the oolauty.
"D- In additionto the power herein granted,the
Ccamiseioners' Court of the aeveraloonutleeof thin
State are hereby authorizedto leaeeany airuortthat
may be acquiredby the county,as herein provided,&
any 1ncorDOMted Oity or muniOiDalitywithin ruch
county,or to the FederalGovernment,for the purpose
of malntalnlngand operatingan airport;and provided
furtherthat any incorporated city having acquired
land for an airport,or an airport,under the authority
of this Act, shallhave the right to lease said land or
said airportto the oouuty In which said incorporated
city of located.
“* l *
“Sec . 3. Aw airportacquiredunder and by virtue
of the terms of thin Act ehall be under the management
and controlof the governingbody of the city or the
Comminsionere' Court of the countyacquiringthe same,
which ie hereby exDresal.y authorizedand eKaDOWered to
improve,rcriatain and conductthe same as au alrDort,
and for that Dur~oseto make and providethereinall
neceesaryor fit‘improvements and~faoilities and to
fix euch reasonablechargesfor the uee thereofas such
governingbody or Coxmissionere' Court shall deem fit,
and to make rules and regulationsgoverningthe uee
thereof. All proceedsfrom such chargesshall be
devotederclnsirelyto the maintenance,upkeep, lm-
provementand operationof such airportand the
facll.ltiee, ltruoturee,and improvementstherein. a ."
(underscoring ours)
In *nswer to your first questionwe refer you to 'ourOpinionlio.
O-3865,a copy~ofwhich Is herewithenclosed,wherein it states:
"It Is our opinionthat the Cwsmlssionera' Court'has no authorityto lease
an airportto any party exceptthose set out in paragraphD of Section 1,
Article l26ph." Thus, the Cosmlssionera'Court oan on4 leasean airport
to "any incorporatedcity or munioipalltywithin suoh county or the Federal
Government." It Is, therefore,the opinionof this departmentthat the
Commissioners'Court cannot lease a county owned airportto an individual.
The Cmlssloners' Court is a court of limitedJurisdictionand has
on4 suoh powers as are expresslyprovidedfor by the Conetltutloaand
laws of this State or reasonablyimpliedtherefrom. Van Rosenbergv.
Low&t, 173 S.W. 508, 511,writ refused;Foster Y. City of Waco, ll.3Tex.
Ron. R W. Calvert,page 4, O-6878
352, 355, 255 5. W. 1104;Roper Y. Hall, 280 S.W. 289, 291. The CormIs-
sloners'Court has the impliedauthorityto do the thlllgs reasonable
necessaryto dischargethe expressduties or powers conferredupon It.
City RationalRank v. PresidioCounty @Iv. App.), 26 S.W. 775, Roper
v. Hall, supra,Ton RosenbergY. Lovett,eupra, 11Tex. Jur. 566. In the
oase of Van Rosenbergv. Lovett,the oourt after statlaRthe foregoing
rules said ou page 5145 "It would be a vain thing to imposeupoa auyone
a duty, and deny hip the peaus wherebyhe could performsuch duty."
It will be noted that the Commieslonera'Court is given the express
power and authorityby Artiole l269h,snpra, "to aoqulre,maintainand
operate"*u airport. It Is common knowledgethat a manager of an airport
is necessaryto the maluteuanceand operationof an airport. It is, there-
fore, the opinionof this departmentthat Artiole l26yh,eupra,confers
upon the Comniasioners' Court the impliedauthorityto appointa mauagsr
for the county owned airport. It Is within the sound discretionof the
Comissioners' Court to determinethe amount of compensationof the manager
for his servioee,and whether such compensationshall be a salaryor a
commission.
We wish,-topoint out, however,that Section 3 of Artiole l269h,
supra, states that all proceedsfrom ohargeederivedfrm the operation
of the airportshall be "devotedexolusire4 to the malutenauce,upkeep,
improvementand operationof sash airport." This In effectmakes all money
derivedfrom the operationof the airportoouuty'aoney subjectto a
limiteduse.
Article 1709,V. A. C. S., providesthat *the county treasurershall
receiveallinonlerbelongingto the countyfrom whateversource they may
be derived,and pay and apply the same as requiredbylaw, In such mauuer
as the Comalssiouers'Court of his countymay requireand direct."
It Is, therefore,the opinionof this departaent‘that before any
mosey may be paid the manager of the airportArticle I709, as well as the
budget law (Article689a-II),must be compliedilth.
We hereby expressour appreoiatioufor your discussionon the ques-
tions submitted.
V-Y -4 Yom,
J. 0. Davis, Jr.
Aeslstant
BY
John Reeves
JR:IJ