Texas County Progress

The Official Publication of the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas

Key Concept: Open Meetings

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What are the general statutory regulations regarding Commissioners Court meetings?

MAIN REFERENCE POINT:

Texas Government Code Chapter 551, The Open Meetings Act

 

TALKING POINTS:

  1. The Open Meetings Act provides public access to meetings of governmental bodies – such as the Commissioners Court – except for those meetings expressly authorized as executive sessions.
  2. A meeting takes place when a quorum of the Commissioners Court joins together and discusses an issue within the Court’s jurisdiction. Quorum means majority, thus a quorum of the Commissioners Court is three members. (A special quorum of four is required when the Court is levying a tax.)
  3. The public must be given notice of the time, place, and subject matter of Commissioners Court meetings. Many governmental bodies post the agenda of the meeting with the notice or as the notice, so many people use the terms “notice” and “agenda” interchangeably to refer to the posted document.
  4. The notice must be posted on a bulletin board at the county courthouse. This bulletin board must be readily accessible to the general public at all times for at least 72 hours before the scheduled time of the meeting. Counties with an Internet website must post an electronic notice. Counties that make Internet postings must also make a physical, hard-copy posting at the courthouse; however this notice must be accessible to the general public during normal business hours, rather than “at all times” during the 72-hour period.
  5. The Open Meetings Act requires a governmental body to keep minutes, or make a tape recording, of every meeting. The minutes are a public record. Another statute requires the county clerk to keep the minutes of the Commissioners Court meetings.
  6. Only the members of a governmental body have a right to attend an executive session; however, the governmental body’s attorney must be present when it meets under section 551.071. This means Commissioners Court may exclude the county clerk from an executive session because the county clerk is not a member of the Court. The Commissioners Court has the discretion to include in an executive session officers and employees of the governmental body whose participation is necessary considering the matter under discussion.
  7. If Commissioners Court is unable to discuss all items posted on their notice (agenda) due to time constraints, the Court may recess until the next day without having to post another notice. However, if a meeting is continued to any day other than the one immediately following, the governmental body must post a new notice.
  8. The 81st Legislature enacted a bill to allow a municipality’s governing body to receive staff reports regarding items of community interest during a meeting of the body, provided that no action is taken and there is no discussion of possible action on the information contained in the report. A bill passed by the 82nd Legislature extends the same privilege to county governments.
  9. Commissioners Courts are not required to allow citizens to speak at Commissioners Court meetings. However, the Court may allow the public to speak and may adopt procedures to dictate the format.
  10. District courts have jurisdiction over criminal violations of the Open Meeting Act as misdemeanors involving official misconduct. Thus, complaints should be presented to the district attorney or criminal district attorney.
  11. Section 551.005 requires a member of the Commissioners Court to complete a course of training addressing the member’s responsibilities under the Act. The public official must complete the training not later than the 90th day after taking the oath of office. The attorney general is required to ensure that the training is made available, and must also ensure that at least one course approved or provided by the attorney general’s office is available at no cost on videotape, DVD, or a similar and widely available medium.

 

For additional information on the Open Meetings Act, including sections on “Walking Quorums” and “New Technologies,” go to https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/2018-06/OMA_handbook_2018.pdf.

 

Emergency Management

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KEY CONCEPT: Emergency Management

KEY QUESTION: What is the county’s role in emergency management?

REFERENCE POINT: Chapter 418 of the Texas Government Code, also referred to as the Texas Disaster Act of 1975

TALKING POINTS:

  1. Every county is required by law to maintain an emergency management program or participate in an interjurisdictional emergency management program, as stated in Section 418.102 of the Texas Government Code. The county is the “first channel” through which municipalities request resources when their own resources have been depleted. The county forwards any resource requests beyond county capabilities to the state “as prescribed in the state emergency management plan.”
  1. The presiding officer of the governing body of an incorporated city or county or the chief administrative office of a joint board is designated as the emergency management director for that officer’s political subdivision. In Texas counties, the County Judge serves as the county’s emergency management director and has the authority to designate an emergency management coordinator to serve as an assistant for emergency management issues.
  1. The County Judge or the designated emergency management coordinator must complete a training course through the Texas Division of Emergency Management within 180 days of assuming responsibility of emergency management.
  1. The jurisdiction and authority of the County Judge includes the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county; if a conflict arises between decisions of the County Judge and the mayor, the decision of the County Judge prevails.
  1. Section 418.108 authorizes the County Judge to declare a local disaster within the county. “A declaration of local disaster may not be continued or renewed for a period of more than seven days except with the consent of the governing body of the political subdivision or the joint board…”

KEY CONCEPT: Education Requirements

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KEY QUESTION: What are the education requirements for County Judges and County Commissioners?

 

MAIN REFERENCE POINTS:

Judges: Texas Government Code Sections 56.006 and 74.025. The State of Texas delegated to the Court of Criminal Appeals the authority to establish the rules of judicial education. These rules are posted on the Texas Judicial Branch website at http://www.txcourts.gov/organizations/bar-education/judicial-education.aspx.

 

  • Commissioners: Texas Local Government Code 81.0025.

TALKING POINTS:

Judges:

  1. Each County Judge performing judicial functions will, as an official duty:
  2. complete before taking office, or within one year after taking office, at least 30 hours of instruction in the administrative duties of office and substantive, procedural and evidentiary laws unless the Judge has previously complied with this requirement and has been absent from the bench less than one year before taking the present office;
  1. each fiscal year thereafter complete at least 16 hours of instruction in substantive, procedural and evidentiary laws and court administration.
  1. Instruction credit completed during any fiscal year in excess of the minimum number of hours required may be applied to the following fiscal year’s requirement.
  1. The Court of Criminal Appeals website provides a list of program sponsors approved by the Court of Criminal Appeals Education Committee and the County Judges Education Committee for Constitutional County Judges that can be utilized to satisfy the education requirements. To view the list in full, go to: http://www.txcourts.gov/organizations/bar-education/judicial-education.aspx.
  1. A Constitutional County Judge is exempt from the continuing judicial education requirement for any fiscal year for which the Judge files an affidavit with the Registrar stating that the Judge does not perform judicial functions.

Commissioners:

  1. A County Commissioner must successfully complete at least 16 classroom hours of continuing education in the performance of the duties of County Commissioners at least once in each 12-month period.
  2. The continuing education courses must be certified by an accredited public institution of higher education.
  3. A Commissioner is entitled to carry forward from one 12-month period to the next not more than eight continuing education hours that the Commissioner completes in excess of the required 16 hours.
  4. For the purposes of removal from office under Subchapter B, Chapter 87 of the Local Government Code, “incompetency” in the case of a County Commissioner includes the failure to complete hours of continuing education.
  5. This section does not apply to a County Commissioner who:
  • serves in a county with a population of 1.3 million or more;
  • has served continuously for 12 years or more; and
  • attends at least 15 hours of staff briefing on continuing education subjects in each 12-month period as approved by the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas.

In addition, this section does not apply to a County Commissioner who serves in a county with a population of 225,000 or more and who:

  • has served continuously for 12 years or more; and

in the 12-month period, completes at least three semester credit hours of graduate-level course work in a field of study directly related to county government with a grade of B or higher in each course completed during the period.

Key Concept: Required Road Report

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KEY QUESTION: Are County Commissioners required to file an annual Road Report? 

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REFERENCE POINT: Texas Transportation Code Chapters 251 and 252 

TALKING POINTS:

1. Chapter 251.004 of the Transportation Code states that County Commissioners are the supervisors of the public roads in a county unless the county adopts an optional system of administering the county roads under Chapter 252 of the Texas Transportation Code.

2. Chapter 251.005 states that a County Commissioner who serves as a road supervisor must supervise the public roads in the Commissioner’s precinct at least once each month and make a report during the ninth month of the county’s fiscal year showing:

a)  the condition of each road or part of a road and of each culvert and bridge in the Commissioner’s precinct;

b) the amount of money reasonably necessary for maintenance of the roads in the precinct during the next county fiscal year;

c) the number of traffic control devices in the precinct defaced or torn down;

d) any new road that should be opened in the precinct; and

e) any bridges, culverts, or other improvements necessary to place the roads in the precinct in good condition, and the probable cost of the improvements. (See #7 for additional requirement.)

The road report “shall be entered in the minutes of the Commissioners Court to be considered in improving public roads and determining the amount of taxes imposed for public roads.” In addition, “the report shall be submitted, together with each contract made by the court since its last report for any work on any road, to the grand jury at the first term of the district court occurring after the report is made to the Commissioners Court.”

3.  Chapter 252.001 describes the Ex Officio Road Commissioner System, commonly known as the precinct system. In this system, the County Commissioner takes care of the roads in the Commissioner’s precinct. Under rules adopted by the court, the Commissioner directs the laying out of new roads, construction or changing of roads, and building of bridges.  Subject to authorization of the court, the Commissioner can hire employees, to be paid from the county road and bridge fund.

4.  According to Chapter 252.001, “an ex officio road Commissioner has the duties of a supervisor of public roads…” As stated in Chapter 251.004, one of these duties is filling out a road report, as described above, due the ninth month of the county’s fiscal year. In other words, County Commissioners who supervise their precinct roads are required by statute to complete a road report.

5.  County Commissioners who do not serve as the road supervisor of the county roads in their precinct do not have to complete these reports.

6.  Chapter 252 describes the remaining road systems, where someone other than the County Commissioner supervises the roads, and who is responsible for road-related reports in those systems.

a) Chapter 252.107 requires a “Road Commissioner” to file reports at each term (meeting) of the Commissioners Court.

b) Chapter 252.207 requires a “Road Superintendent” to file a sworn report at each regular term of the Commissioners Court.

c) Chapter 252.309 sets out the duties of a “Road Engineer” or “Administrator” who shall maintain detailed records of all county expenses related to road maintenance.

7.  In the 83rd Legislative Session, the Legislature provided for County Energy Transportation Reinvestment Zones.  This legislation imposed a new reporting requirement by inserting a new section into Chapter 251 of the Transportation Code.  This new section, Chapter 251.018, requires a road report for all counties, including those operating under Chapter 252, to include in all previously required reports a statement of the “primary cause of any road, culvert or bridge degradation if reasonably ascertained.”  This provision is tied to an effort to identify and track the costs to the state and county for road damages attributable to heavy truck traffic in the oil and gas sector.

KEY CONCEPT: Open Meetings

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KEY QUESTION: What are the general statutory regulations regarding Commissioners Court meetings? 

MAIN REFERENCE POINT:

Texas Government Code Chapter 551, The Open Meetings Act

 

TALKING POINTS:

  1. The Open Meetings Act provides public access to meetings of governmental bodies – such as the Commissioners Court – except for those meetings expressly authorized as executive sessions.
  2. A meeting takes place when a quorum of the Commissioners Court joins together and discuses an issue within the Court’s jurisdiction. Quorum means majority, thus a quorum of the Commissioners Court is three members. (A special quorum of four is required when the Court is levying a tax.)
  3. The public must be given notice of the time, place, and subject matter of Commissioners Court meetings. Many governmental bodies post the agenda of the meeting with the notice or as the notice, so many people use the terms “notice” and “agenda” interchangeably to refer to the posted document.
  4. The notice must be posted on a bulletin board at the county courthouse. This bulletin board must be readily accessible to the general public at all times for at least 72 hours before the scheduled time of the meeting. Counties with an Internet website must post an electronic notice. Counties that make Internet postings must also make a physical, hard-copy posting at the courthouse; however this notice must be accessible to the general public during normal business hours, rather than “at all times” during the 72-hour period.
  5. The Open Meetings Act requires a governmental body to keep minutes, or make a tape recording, of every meeting. The minutes are a public record. Another statute requires the county clerk to keep the minutes of the Commissioners Court meetings.
  6. Only the members of a governmental body have a right to attend an executive session; however, the governmental body’s attorney must be present when it meets under section 551.071. This means Commissioners Court may exclude the county clerk from an executive session because the county clerk is not a member of the Court. The Commissioners Court has the discretion to include in an executive session officers and employees of the governmental body whose participation is necessary considering the matter under discussion.
  7. If Commissioners Court is unable to discuss all items posted on their notice (agenda) due to time constraints, the Court may recess until the next day without having to post another notice. However, if a meeting is continued to any day other than the one immediately following, the governmental body must post a new notice.
  8. The 81st Legislature enacted a bill to allow a municipality’s governing body to receive staff reports regarding items of community interest during a meeting of the body, provided that no action is taken and there is no discussion of possible action on the information contained in the report. A bill passed by the 82nd Legislature extends the same privilege to county governments.
  9. Commissioners Courts are not required to allow citizens to speak at Commissioners Court meetings. However, the Court may allow the public to speak and may adopt procedures to dictate the format.
  10. District courts have jurisdiction over criminal violations of the Open Meeting Act as misdemeanors involving official misconduct. Thus, complaints should be presented to the district attorney or criminal district attorney.
  11. Section 551.005 requires member of the Commissioners Court to complete a course of training addressing the member’s responsibilities under the Act. The public official must complete the training not later than the 90th day after taking the oath of office. The attorney general is required to ensure that the training is made available, and must also ensure that at least one course approved or provided by the attorney general’s office is available at no cost on videotape, DVD, or a similar and widely available medium.

 

For additional information on the Open Meetings Act, including sections on “Walking Quorums” and “New Technologies,” go to https://www.oag.state.tx.us/AG_Publications/pdfs/openmeeting_hb.pdf .

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