MAY 14, 1963 

Honomble Joe Resweber 

County Attorney 

HarTIs county Re: Authority of'the ComHouston, Texas mlssloners Count tb 

enter into a contract 

for the,sale or rental 

'of IBM data processing 

.cards and copies of 

mlcroPllms of lnstruments filed In the 

Dear Mr. Resweber: County Clerk's office. 

.You h&e requested the opinion of~thls' office as to 

whether the Gmimis~lbners Court of Harris Count Is authorized to enter Into ;a 'ccintract < fbr the sale and .P or rental 

of IBM data processing cqrds and cqples~ of mlcrofl~s of 

Instruments filed for'reqoH,lq ,t,he office of,:the.County 

Clerk. 

A proposed' contrict has been submitted together with' 

additional ln~formatlon regarding the exact mechanical protiessea InVolved. Itappears that'the County Clerk prepares 

IBM data carda reflecting each document filed In a real estate transaction. These~cards are then used to prepare the 

various indices necessary. Also, microfilm copies are mad6 

of each Instrument filed during a day's business, and these 

microfilms are then melded Into tHeietiaeter microfilm record. 

After the IBM data cards have perfornied their function, they 

are~dlsposed of as waste paper. .Thls disposal Is a parent1 

lawful in view of .Attorney Qeneral's Opinion No. v-k3 (19473, 

which holda that counties have power to dispose of useless". 

or worn out personal property as a nkcessary adjunct of t'hepower to conduct county business. 

With reference to the contraot that Is proposed, It 

appears that the County Clerk would be obligated to prepare 

a duplicate set of IBM cards and mlcrof.llm prints. !RllS 

duplicate set apparently could be prepared at the same time 

the original set fs prepared with the expenditure of very 

little extra effort and expense on the part of the County 

Clerk. It should be, emphasized that the materlals'that 

would be delivered to the contractor are materials ,speclally 

-367- 
- . 

Hon. Joe Resweber, page 2 (C-75) 

prepared for hlm by the County Clerk. 

Article 6600, Vernon's Civil Statutes, requires the 

County Clerk to give attested copies of lnatruments filed 

In his office, and requires that the Clerk receive the fee 

set by law therefor. Articles 3930 and 3930a, Vernon's 

Civil Statutes, establish the fee schedule forcopies prepared by the County Clerk. Assuming, without so,holdlng, 

that the County Clerk's microfilmed copies are equivalent to 

the original records, It Is the opinion of this office that 

the Commlsaloners Court Is without authority to contract 

for the sale of copies of the microfilmed records. Such a 

sale would contravene the fee schedules established In Artlcles 3930 and 3930a, unless the sale price was In accord 

with the fee schedule; this Is clearly not the case here, for 

the contract would then be of no apparent value. 

Assuming that the copies of microfilm records which 

are the subject, of this proposed contract .are not ,equlvalent 

to the'orlglnal .records, the .contract..,'w.ould'.st.mbe beyond 

the power vested In the Commlsslondrs.~,Court.4,' :~lh.e County 

Clerk would be preparlng,'coRles..of ~fllins,.soleIy.f.or a profltmaking sale under a contract. Such; is note the,qurpos,e of i: 

the office of counts clerk. and no statutory .lustlflcatlon 

for the action can be found. See Tobln v. &gp;s, 107 S.W. 

26 677 ,(Tex.Clv.App. 1937, error.ref.!. ~ ., ~, 

The same reasonlng,and authority .apRlles with equal' 

force to'the preparation and.sale,of !a ,dupllcate set of..IRR. 

data cards reflecting the daily,,fi+gs,.ln the CountybClerkls 

office. II 

It Is therefore,the opinionof .,thls office that the 

Commlssloners Courtha~no authority 'to enter Into a contract for the sale or rental of I~.data.processlng cards 

and copies of mlcrofllms of lnatruments filed in the County 

Clerk's office, when such sale ls.of the type contemplated 

by the submitted contract. 

SUMMARY r 

The Ccmmlssloners Court Is authorized to 

dispose of personal propezjty for which' 

the County haa no further use.,. However, 

the County Is not authorized to prepare 

a.neclal sets ,of records for aale to prlvate contractors'ln ,the abaetice of statutory authority therefor. 
- . 

Hon. Joe Resweber, Page 3 (C-75) 

Article 6600, V.C.S., provides the method 

for sale of attested coples of records In 

the office of the County Clerk and a contract which Is In derogation of this statute would be a nullity. 

Yours very truly, 

WAGGONER CARR 

Attorney General 

w&a, Assistant' 

ML&ma 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Pat Bailey 

Howard Fender 

Edward Moffett 

James M. Strock 

APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

By: Stanton Stone