OFFICE OF THE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

Bon. J. Y. Boyd 

COuntyAuditor 

Lubbook County 

Lubbook, Texea 

Deer Sirl i' 

opinion BO. O-2944 

Rer Appgiotment of a dopnty.,.~, 

l+b*afiy end eerrlrt~t. 

thie Department upon the 

another per8on;A.e L%$rariti.whd$ad no orrtifloete from the 

Auditor have 

suoh eeafstent?" 

Librarian who shell hold office for a tenu of tro (8) years 

subjeot to removal ror oauae after e hearing by said Court. 

No person shall be eligible to the office of County Llbrerien 

unless prior to his appointment he has reoelved rrom the 

State Board of Library Exemitn@Tl a certificate oi qualifioation for oftioe; and when any OOuuty Librarian hee heretofore 
Eon. J. Y. Boyd, pegs I! 

*received a certificate of quelifioatlon for office from 

State Board of Library Examiners, and has served as 

County Librarian for any oounty In this State, said 

Librarian may be employed or reemployed by any oounty 

es Librarian wlthout further examination and issuance 

of Oertifioete from raid State Board of Library Examiners. 

The County Librarian shell, prior to entering upon the 

duties of hia office, file with the County Clerk the 

offiolal oath end meke e bond upon the felthiul performenoe of hi8 duties with suffiolent sureties approved 

by the County Judge of the county ot whioh the Librerian 

Is to be the County Librarian, in suah sum es the Commlrrsioners Court may determine.” 

Article 1684, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, provldee: 

*The salary of the librarian and assistants shell 

be fixed by said oourt at the time they fix the salary 

or the appointire county ofricers. The oounty llbrerlen 

and assistants shell be allowed aotuel and nsoeseery 

traveling expensma inourrsd in the business of the library.” 

Arti 1085, Vernon’s Civil Stetutes, provides : 

“The librarian shell endeavor to give an equal and 

oomplete service to all parts of the county through brenoh 

libraries end deposit stations in schools end other loaations where suitable quarters may be obtained, thus dirtrlbuting printed matter, books, and other eduoetional 

matter es quiokly es oiroumstanoes will permit. The 

county librarian shall have the power to make rules and 

regulations for the county free library, to establish 

branohes end station8 throughout the county, to determine 

the number and kind of’ employees of such library, end, 

with the approval of the oommissioners’ oourt, to eppoint 

and dismiss suoh employees. The county librarian shall, 

subject to the general rules adopted by the oommirsioners* 

court, build up end manage according to eooepted rules 

of library management, a library for the people of the 

aounty and shall determine what books and other library 

equipment shall be purohesed.” 
Hon. J. Y. Boyd, page 3 

Your attention is oelled to the provision in tha 

first 'statute quoted above that "No person ahell be eligible 

to the offloe of County Librarian unless prior to his eppointment he has received from the State Board of Library Examiners 

e oartifioate 0s qualiricetion for 0triOel . . .- 

Title 33 of our atetutes containing the above 

ertiolea end from which the oommiaaionora~ oourt receives 

its authority and la authorized to oraata, meintein end 

operate county free librariaa, also creates the Stats Board 

of Library Exeminera. Xhlle the law grants to the oomai8- 

aionerat court the authority to operate and meintein the 

libraries, creating the office of oounty librarian with 

power in the oommiaaionara * oourt to appoint a person to 

riii that 0rfi08, this power la expreealy limitad in the 

reapeot that auoh person, prior to hia appointment, end es 

e condition of eligibility to hold the offioe muat here 

received a certifioate of qualification for the offiae from 

the State Board of Library Examiners. 

It will be noted that Art1oJ.e 1634, arpre, requires 

that the salary of the librarian end aaaiatent shell be fixad 

by the oommiasionera~ court et the time they fix the aeIeriaa 

0s the appointlYe oounty orfioera. The oommisalonera~ oourt 

w8ul.d have no euthority to fix tha ael.ery of en IneIigible 

parson ae county librarian, end it would neoeaaerily follow 

thet auoh ineligible person, ocoupying the position of oounty 

librarian, could not legally reoeive the salary whioh ettaohaa 

to the ofrioe, the ruIrilling 0s whloh is conditioned upon ona 

being quellfled and el1gibla at the time ,of the appointment. 

This brings us to your seoond question which aonoarne the temporary appointmant of an eaaiatent librarian to 

serve In the oapaoity of librarian under the fact.8 outlined. 

Tha oommiesloners~ oourt is a oourt of limited juriadiotion 

end powers and Its authority to appoint en eaei8tant librerlen 

under the facts a8 stated must naoeaaarf~ be axpreeaad Or 

implied from the statutes quoted. The only expressed power 

given to the court oonoerning en eaeiatant librarian is that 

0s fixing his salary. The court is further expraaaly granted 

authority to a_cprwe the appointment of library employear nude 

by the oounty librarian and approve any diamiasel of sunoh 

employees by the county librarian. AR eaaiatent librarian, 
Eon. J. Y. Boyd, page 4 

working under the supervision and oontrol of the oounty 

librarian, la an employae within the meaning of the term 

~amployses of such library* es ueed in Article 1683, aupre. 

We are unable to reoogniae 'any implied authority 

on the pert of the aommiasionera 1 oourt to appoint en eaaiatent librarian from the language of these statutes. suoh 

power to appoint employees or en eaaietest librarian is 

l xpreaaly vested by stetuto in the bounty librarian. The 

oommissioneral court merely approvea auoh appointments. 

In the oeae of Waapar vs. Stewart, 66 S. W. (8d) 

818, the court held that the word wesaiatantn es used in 

lear authorizing en assistant to the oounty superintendent, 

neoesaerily implied that duties were to be performed in 

conneotion with, end under the diraotion of the auparintendent. The language of the atetutea involved in this case 

wee stronger for implying authority in the oommiaaionera~ 

aourt to employ or appoint ~JI aaaiata.nt then in the above 

statutes. 

In aocordenoe with the views expressed, it la 

therefore the opinion of this Depertmant that the oommia- 

@loners' court has no euthority to appoint a person oounty 

librerien who does not have a OartifiOat8 ee required by 

Artiole 1688. It naturally followa that a person appointed 

to the offioe of county librarian who la ineligible to hold 

that office may not legally demand the selery'etteohed to 

said office. It la presumed that all publi,o orfioara will 

perform their duties in eooordenoe with law, In the instant 

case, the law presumed that the Commlaaione~aE Court of Lubbook county will not appoint to the ofrice of oounty librarian 

any person who is, under the plain provisions of' the statute, 

ineligible to hold that office. Therefore, we do not deem it 

necessary to categorioelly enawar thet pert of your first 

question relating to your euthority to approve a warrant drawn 

on the oounty treasurer in payment of the salary of auoh 

inaligible offioar. In this conneotion, we invite your ettention to the provision found in both Artiolaa 1988 end 8340, 

R. C. S., whiah must be incorporated in the oftioiel bond Of 

e oounty judga or county oommiaaionar:ea one of the oonditions 

thereof, end is as follows: *. t . that he will not rote or 

give his oonaent to pay out oounty funds except for lawful 

purposes .* 
632 

Hon. T. Y. Boy4, page 5 

In answer to your amoon question, it is~ our 

further opinion that when them ir no qualiried county 

&ibrarian in oharge of a county free library the oodsdonerat oourt hae no authority to appoint an l erlrtant 

librarian to serve in the oapaolty of oounty llbrarlan. 

Tours very truly 

Al?fOHNBY OEBEXAL OF ‘.PEXAS 

ATTORNEY GXNEF.AL OF TMAS