Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion: KP-0450

• Court: Texas Attorney General Reports
• Decided: October 23, 2023
• Docket: KP-0450
• Status: Published

Opinion

October 23, 2023 The Honorable Matthew A. Mills Hood County Attorney 1200 West Pearl Street Granbury, Texas 76048 Opinion No. KP-0450 Re: Authority of the Hood County Development District No. 1 to add an additional member to its board of directors under Local Government Code chapter 383 (RQ-0002-AC) Dear Mr. Mills: You ask whether Local Government Code chapter 383 authorizes the board of Hood County Development District No. 1 (“the District”) to appoint a sixth director. 1 You tell us that the District’s board of directors believes Local Government Code subsection 383.048(d) allows such an appointment despite the statement in Local Government Code subsection 383.041(a) that the District is to be governed by a board of five directors. Request Letter at 1; TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE § 383.041(a). In particular, you tell us that “[t]he District’s position is that the reference [in subsection 383.048(d)] to appointing another director allows them to add one member to the board, raising the total from five to six.” Request Letter at 1. Your question requires us to consider several provisions in chapter 383, which provides for county development districts. See generally TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE §§ 383.001–.123. Subsection 383.041(a) states that “[a] district is governed by a board of five directors appointed by the commissioners court of the county in which the district is located.” Id. § 383.041(a). Section 383.047 directs the board’s members to “organize by electing a president, a vice president, a secretary, and any other officer the board considers necessary.” Id. § 383.047. Subsection 383.048(b) sets forth the duties of the president and vice president, while subsection 383.048(c) establishes the secretary’s duties. Id. § 383.048(b), (c). Subsection 383.048(d), the provision at issue in your request, provides that the “board may appoint another director, the general manager, or an employee as assistant or deputy secretary to assist the secretary.” Id. § 383.048(d). Courts “interpret statutes by looking to their plain language and construing the text in light of the statute as a whole.” City of Austin v. Quinlan, 669 S.W.3d 813, 821 (Tex. 2023). By its plain 1 See Letter from Honorable Matthew A. Mills, Hood Cnty. Att’y, to Off. of the Provisional Att’y Gen. Angela Colmenero at 1–2 (July 31, 2023), https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/request-files/request/ 2023/RQ0002AC.pdf (“Request Letter”). The Honorable Matthew A. Mills - Page 2 text, subsection 383.048(d) merely delineates the pool of individuals from which the assistant or deputy secretary may be drawn: “another director, the general manager, or an employee . . . .” TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE § 383.048(d). Read in context, the phrase “another director” refers to a director other than the director that is serving as the secretary. The provision cannot be construed as independent authority for the District to add an additional board member, especially in light of subsection 383.041(a), which identifies the number of board members as five. 2 Accordingly, a court would likely conclude that subsection 383.048(d) does not allow the District’s board to appoint a sixth director. 2 Other aspects of Local Government Code chapter 383 also support this conclusion. See, e.g., TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE §§ 383.041(a) (providing that directors must be “appointed by the commissioners court”), 383.048(a) (“Three directors constitute a quorum and a concurrence of three is sufficient in any matter relating to the business of the district.”), 383.064 (providing that district expenditures “must be signed by at least three directors”). The Honorable Matthew A. Mills - Page 3 S U M M A R Y Local Government Code section 383.041 provides that a county development district is governed by a board of five directors. Local Government Code subsection 383.048(d) establishes who may serve as a board’s assistant or deputy secretary. A court would likely conclude that subsection 383.048(d) does not authorize a county development district to add a sixth director to its board. Very truly yours, KEN PAXTON Attorney General of Texas BRENT WEBSTER First Assistant Attorney General LESLEY FRENCH Chief of Staff D. FORREST BRUMBAUGH Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel AUSTIN KINGHORN Chair, Opinion Committee J. AARON BARNES Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee