Honorable Robert C. Koehl Opinion NO. C- 67% 

County Attorney 

Atascosa County Re: Whether the Commissioners 

Jourdanton, Texas Court of Atascosa County 

has authority under Article 

2370, Vernon'0 Civil Statutes, 

to lease a county owned 

building to a furniture 

Dear Mr. Koehl: manufacturing firm. 

You have requested an opinion in regard to the above 

matter. Pertinent facts from your request are quoted as follows: 

"In 1952 the Commissioners Court of 

Atascosa County, Texas purchased from the 

Sourdanton Independent School District certain real estate and improvements situated 

thereon. Said improvements consiatlng of 

a complex of buildings . . . After then purchase of the complex, Atascosa County renovated 

one ?f the build~lngs for use by Federal agencies. 

The gymnasium building was not renovated nor 

put into use by Atascosa County and pl;;esently 

is in a state df dilapidation. :'. . 

%ec&ntly the Commissioners Court has 

been approached by a Furniture Manufacturing 

Firm to lease the premises and this building. 

The lease to be for a term of years to be 

agreed upon and part of the consideration for 

the use and occupancy of this building would 

be the Purniture firm renovating the building 

which costs would be approximately $6,000 to 

$0,000." 

"There la no present need for this building by the Commlssloners Court." 

Article 2370, Vernon's Civil Statutes, provides that 

the Commissioners Court of any county may, when necessary, furnish 

-3264- 
Hon. Robert C. Koehl, page 2 (C&78) 

suitable quarters, other than the Courthouse, for holding Court 

and carrying on other public business and may rent such part 

of any such quarters not necessary for public use. 

Section 1 of Article 2370 provides as follows: 

"The Commissioners Court of any Cou&y 

rnx, iihen necessary provide buildings, rooms, 

or aoartments at the county seat other than 

the courthouse for holding-the sessions of 

the County Courts, District Courts and for 

carrying on such other public business as may 

be authorized by the Commissioners Court and 

may lease or rent such part of any such build1 8, rooms or apartments as may not be necessary 

P- or public use:' (Emphasis added) 

Section 2 of Article 2370 provides in part asfollows: 

vhenever any county in this State may 

have acquired a building (other than the courthouse) at the County seat which la used partly 

for public business and whxch is pextly rented 

for private purposes, . . :' (Emphasis addedr 

Section 3 of Article 2370 provides In part as follows: 

” 

. . . 

"There shall be charged and collected as 

rental for those parts of such building not 

used for publ'lc purposes, . . .- (Eiiiphasls 

addea) 

The relevant aectlons of Article 2370 (cited above) 

clearly state that parts of public buildings may be leased by 

the county, but nothing Is said about the lease or rental of a 

whole building owned by the county. 

In Dancy v. Davidson, 183 S.W.2d 195 (Tex.Civ.App. 

1944, error ref.], the CouFt stated (page 200) 'The statutes 

;ia+ovide that certain offices shali-be located at the county 

It may be Implied from the provisions of Article 2370 

(prior to Its amendment In 1941) that all courts other than 

the 'county courts' were required to hold their sessions In 

the courthouse. The amendment of the article largely did away 

with this restriction and provided a permlssable method for 

financing and acquiring a public building other than a courthouse 

-3265- 
. . . 

Hon. Robert C. Koehl, page 3 (c-678) 

In the county seat.ll (Emphasis added). Although the court 

‘i th Dancy case was dealing with a different Issue than the 

on"e udder consideration, the court nevertheless recognized that 

buildings acquired under the provisions of Article 2370 are 

public buildings $0 be used prlmarlly for public purposes. A 

thorough discussion of the use of public buildings for a public 

purpose may be found In Attorney General's Opinion No. C-342 

(1964). 

In view of the foregoing, It 1s our opinion that the 

Commissioners Court of Atascosa County does not have the authority under Article 2370, Vernon's Civil Statutes, to lease 

a county owned building to a furniture manufacturing firm. 

S U MM A RY 

The Commissioners Court of Atascosa County 

does not have the authority under Article 2370, 

Vernon's Civil Statutes, to lease a county owned 

building to a furniture manufacturing firm. 

Very truly yours, 

WAGGONER CARR 

Attorney General 

JCMcC:mkh 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMI!l!TEE 

W. 0. Shultz, Chairman 

John neeves 

Paul Phy 

John Banks 

Arthur Sandlln 

APPROVED FOR TEE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: T. Bi Wright.