Opinion ID: 481732
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Vocational Center.

Text: 55 The vocational center, operated as a joint venture between the two school boards, was created pursuant to an Agreement for Joint Venture. Plaintiffs' Exhibit D. Unlike in the Creel case, where the shared vocational center was under the exclusive control of the county school board, 531 F.2d at 287, the joint venture contract gives exactly equal control and responsibility for the vocational center to the county and the city school boards. 56 It is true that the city school board has informally withdrawn from full participation in the operation of the school. Nevertheless, the city has the fully equal contractual right to influence the vocational center, and the city's voluntary decision to forego that right cannot be used to explain why the city residents need to vote in the county elections. If the city wants to influence the vocational center, it can do so under the contract, without needing the vote. 4 57 In another important respect, the vocational center is quite unlike that in the Creel case. In Creel, the city had contributed $212,500 toward the construction of the vocational center, and thus the Creel Court reasoned that the city had made a substantial investment in the center. 531 F.2d at 287, 289. In this case, the situation is exactly the opposite. The establishment of the school was financed by state funds, but the county contributed 15 acres of land and a school building. Plaintiffs' Exhibit D at 2. This contribution by the county was worth over $300,000. Record, Vol. 2, at 31. As far as the record reveals, the City of Brewton made no financial contribution toward the establishment of the vocational center. Thus, unlike in Creel, the city has made no substantial investment in the center. 5 Whatever interest the city has in the center is fully satisfied by the absolutely equal control it can exercise over the center's operation. 58