THE ~7llTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

Hon. Ray Lackey CountyAuditor Yoakum County Plains, Texas
Dear Sir: OpinionNo. o-7215 Removal of County Seat. Authority'of County Auditor to serve as trustee of Rural High School District

Your request of recent date for an opinion from this department on the above subjectmatter is as follows:

"Iwould like an opinion from you on the following: "May the County Seat of a County be moved by a two thirds vote from the present positionwhen it is located within a five mile radius of the center of the county and has been located here for a period of 35years. %ag the CountyAuditor serve as trustee of a Rural High SchoolDistrict which is operating as an IndependentDistrict & having their own tax collector and assessor and containingmore than one hund,redsquaremiles of territoryand electing their trustees at large over the district."
The answer to your first question is found in the provisions ofArticles 1595, 1596, 1599 and 1600,V.A.C.S.

Article 1595, supra, read~s,in part, as follows:
"Nocounty seat situatedwithin fivemiles of the geographical center of any county shallbe removed except by a note of two-thirds ;f all the electors in said county voting on the subject. Article 1596, supra, is as follows: "When it becomes desirable to remove the county seat of any county, the county judge of said county, upon the written application of not less than one hundred freeholders and qualified voters,who are resident citizens ofHon. Ray Lackey, page 2 O-7215

said county shallmake a written order upon the minutes of said commissionerscourt for the holding of an election at various voting precincts in said county on a day therein named,which shall not be less than thirty nor more than sixtydays from date of order, for the purpose of submitting the question to the electors of 

### said county. When a county seat has been established for more than ten years, it shall reouire two hundred freeholdersand aualified voters to make said aoolication. In counties having less than three hundred and fifty legal voters, to be determined by the number of votes cast at the last preceding general election such applicationmay be made by one hundred resident freeholdersand qualified voters of said county. When a county seat has been established for more than forty years, if shall require a majority of the resident freeholders and qualified voters of said~ county to make the application, saidmajority to be ascertainedby the county judge from the assessment rolls thereof. In counties having not more than 150 qualified voters, such application shall be held sufficientwhen it shall have been signed by a majority of the resident freeholders and qualified voters of said county, saidmajority to be ascertainedby the county judge,from the assessment rolls thereof. In the event of the fallure,refusal or inabilityof the county judge to perform any duty imposed upon him by this article suchduty may be pzrformed by any two county commissioners of the county. (Underscoringours) Article 1599, supra, provides:
"Thecounty judge or commissioners shall order said election in each voting precinct in said county,which shallbe conductedas near as may be, as elections for county officers. The officers holding the elections shall make return thereof to the authority ordering said electionwithin ten days after the samewas held,who shall then proceed to open said returns and count the same, and declare the result, which shall be entered upon the records of said commissionerscourt, and shall also state the name of the place fromwhich, and the name of the place to which, the same is removed. A certified
copy of such entry shall theTeuponbe recorded in the proper deeds of such county. Article 1600, supra,reads as follows:
"When such entry has been made. the count-iseat,if the electionbe held tomove the county seat from a Point- .

Hon. Ray Lackey, page 3 O-7215

within five miles of the neoarauhical center, to a woint more or less than five miles from the geograwhical centar, or from a point more than fivemiles from the geographical center, to any other point more than five miles from such center, shall be removed to the olace receiving the votes of two-thirds of allythe electors voting on the subject; and suchplace shall thereafter be the counts seat of such county. If the electionbe held to move"the county seat from a pointmore than five miles from the geographical center to a pointwithin five miles of such center, then the county seat shallbeg moved to the place receiving a majority of,all the electors in the county voting at such election,and such place shall thereafterbe the county seat of such county." (Underscoringours)

In view of the above quoted provisions it is the opinion of this department that the county seatmay be moved from a pointwithin five miles of the gsographic center of the county to a point more or less than fivemiles from the geographic center of the county by a two-thirdsvote of all the electors voting on the subjectprovided the provisions of the foregoing Articles have been compliedwith. We are sending for your considerationa copy of our OpinionNo. O-1681 dealingwith a similar situation.

In answer to our request for additional information concerningyour secondquestion,we received the following from Hon. G. P. Beane, County Judge and Ex-Officio County School Superintendent:

"Inanswer to your inquiry of April 25th relative to PlainsRural High SchoolDistrict, Iwish to state that this SchoolDistrict is a rural High SchoolDistrict formedby grouping a number of rural common school districts.
"The status of this district is hard to determine since itpertakes of both the nature of an Independent SchoolDistrict and a Common SchoolDistrict. In some respects it is governed as an IndependentSchoolDistrict and in others, it is governed by the laws relating to Common SchoolDistricts."
We, therefore,assume that the PlainsRural High School was establishedunder the provisions of Article 2922a. Article 2922b states that all rural high schooldistricts as provided for by Article 2922a shallbe classed as common schooldistricts... -

Hon. Ray Lackey, page 4 O-7215

Therefore,your secondquestion is answered in the negative by our OpinionNo. O-7191, a copy ofwhich we are herewith enclosing.
Yours very truly
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

By s/J. C.Davl.s, Jr. J. C. Davis, Jr. Assistant By s/JohnReeves John Reeves JR:djm:wc

APPROVED MAY 8, 7~946 s/Carlos C.Ashley FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL Approved Opinion CommitteeBy s/BWB Chairman