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 .cardsand 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~lbnersCourt of Harris Count Is authorized to enter Into ;a 'ccintract fbr the sale and or rental < .P of IBM data processingcqrds and cqples~ of mlcrofl~s of Instrumentsfiled for'reqoH,lq ,t,he office of,:the.County Clerk.

A proposed'

contricthas been submittedtogetherwith' additionalln~formatlon regarding the exact mechanicalprotiessea InVolved. Itappears that'the County Clerk prepares IBM data carda reflectingeach document filed In a real estate transaction. These~cardsare then used to prepare the various indices necessary. Also, microfilm copies are mad6 of each Instrumentfiled during a day's business, and these microfilmsare then melded Into tHeietiaeter microfilm record. After the IBM data cards have perfornied their function, they are~dlsposedof as waste paper. .Thlsdisposal Is a parent1 lawful in view of .Attorney Qeneral's OpinionNo. v-k3 (19473, which holda that countieshave power to dispose of useless". or worn out personalproperty 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 obligatedto prepare a duplicate set of IBM cards and mlcrof.llm prints. !RllS duplicate set apparentlycould be prepared at the same time the original set fs preparedwith the expenditureof very little extra effort and expense on the part of the County Clerk. It should be, emphasizedthat the materlals'that would be delivered to the contractorare materials ,speclally

-367-- .

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

prepared for hlm by the County Clerk.
Article 6600, Vernon'sCivil Statutes,requires the County Clerk to give attested copies of lnatrumentsfiled In his office, and requires that the Clerk receive the fee set by law therefor. Articles 3930 and 3930a,Vernon's Civil Statutes,establishthe fee schedule forcopies prepared by the County Clerk. Assuming, without so,holdlng, that the County Clerk'smicrofilmedcopies are equivalentto the original records, It Is the opinion of this office that the Commlsaloners

Court Is without authorityto contract for the sale of copies of the microfilmedrecords. Such a sale would contravenethe fee schedulesestablishedIn Artlcles 3930 and 3930a, unless the sale price was In accord with the fee schedule;this Is clearly not the case here, for the contractwould then be of no apparentvalue. Assuming that the copies of microfilm recordswhich
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 preparationand.sale,of !a ,dupllcate

set of..IRR. data cards reflectingthe 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 mlcrofllmsof lnatrumentsfiled in the County Clerk's office,when such sale ls.of the type contemplated by the submittedcontract.

SUMMARY r The Ccmmlssloners

Court Is authorizedto dispose of personalpropezjty 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 derogationof this statute would be a nullity.

Yours very truly,

WAGGONER CARR AttorneyGeneral 

# w&a,

Assistant' ML&ma

APPROVED:

OPINION COMMITTEE W. V. Geppert, Chairman Pat Bailey Howard Fender Edward Moffett James M. Strock

APPROVEDFOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. By: Stanton Stone