Case Information
*1 OFFICE OF THE AITORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Bonorable Olevelend Davis county Attorney
BrazOPia COULty
LLngleton, Texas
Dear Sir:
~Your request for
.>$. - has been reeelved snd ears
g! nlent .
i‘.i ad Texas Girl1
, Vemon*e Annotated Texas Civil
*The ooumdsslonera ooulrt shall eee that the road and bridge fund of thefr Bounty ia judiciously and equitably expended on the roads and bridges of their aounty, and, 88 nearly ae the oondltlon andneoemitp ef *2 Wsnsrabla Clsreland Davis, Page 2
the roads wIl1 pewlt, It shall besvpsndsd la each oounty oolrmi~sioners preoinot In pr&portlon to the amount oolleotsd In suoh preoinst. Money used In building permanent roada shall first be used only on first or seoond-olass roads, and on those whioh shall have the right of way furnished free of cost to make as straight a road as Is praotioable and having the greatest bonus oftered by the aitizens of money, labor or other property."
Article 6741, Vernon's Annotated Texas Civil statut 04 ) read8 as follows:
"The oommlaelonera court may make and enfbroe all reasonable and necessary rules and orders for the working and repawIng of pub110 roaas, and to utlllse the lab& to bo used and money expended thereon, not in oonfllot with the laws orthla State. Said oourt may purebase or hire all neoelsaary road maohlnery, tools or tsams, and hire suoh labor ata may bs needed In addition to the labor required of oitiaens to build or repair the Toads."
The oases of Willisma, et al v. De Pee, Osunty Judgs, 77 9. w. (2d) 729 and HI11 county v. Bryant 8 mrr- man, ~6 S, W. (2df 513, cited by you In your brief, hold that the Commissioners Court has authority to employ an ion al&i maln- engineer to supervise sn% aid In ths oonsttiot tananoe 0r oouoty road8. We quote from 21 Texas Jurlsprudenoe , pai3es a6 ronowe:
644-5,
"I 126. IPnployment or Engineer. - The state highway englnoer ia a statutory offioer. But for a oounty or road diatrlot the State Highway CommIssIan nay, upon applloetlon, reoommend a oompstent oIvi1 engineer, and there is no doubt that under the general road law a oounty has Implied power to employ an *3 ._ 343.
fioaorablo Olereland Davlr, Page 3
engineer to mpervlse oonstructIon oaatraot8.
It Is now expreeely provided the engage- meat of an engineer shall not eubjeot to oompetltive bidding. Whether a speolal road law governIn@ a partloular oounty authorize8 muoh employment, end, If 60, whether the
engineer may be employed on a oomulaelon..~ bada, depend on what le expxessed OP,~
plied by the law In question.
Generally, of oourse, the oompenrra- tlon of the engineer and other oblI@tlona
Inter se are determined by the oontraot
lteelf. The question has been raised a8 to what oompensation la 80 exaesslva as to be of itself arldenae of fraud, and It ha been hold that a eontraot wa@ not Invalid beoause 81x per oat. the
ror.rraud ooet of the oonatruotion work wa8 payable
thereunber.
'Where road Improvmnt work Is under- tkkn by the oou&y 88 employer Or the
uorben engaged, the en@neer-rupervlsor
10 not a oontraotor within the pu.rrIeV~of the statute requiring oontraotor8 ior
pub110 norks to fornlih a bond.
traotl(-%ng%s~~ %~~~p%%d
oharged with the duty or oreatlng and maintaining adequate road@, a oOmmlasioner8* court neoessarlly hars authority to oontraot for road oonetruotion end Improreraent work.
"*The bglalature has Been proper to oonfer upon the commlseIonermS court the
pourer and authority to nake contraotrr for
the repairing and oonatruotlon of soad@
within Its oounty, and so long ES eaid
aourte make oontrtiota within the matrio-
tione of the oonstltution and under the
authbrlty of the law, it Is not for the
honorable Cleveland Davia~, Pags 4
oourts to substitute their judgment for
that of the sommlasioners* oourt as to
the wisdmn of such oontraots.' . . . . ,*
You do not state in your letter whether not BrazorIa County Is governed by the general road law but us assume from your letter that euoh Is the base and we base our answer to your question upon the assumption that your oounty Is governed by the general road law.
On May 13, 1938, this departmsnt held, In a letter opinion written by Honorable R. X. Qray, Assrle- tant Attorney General, reoorded In Vol. 361, page 509, latter Opinions of the Attorney Daneral, the Wm- timloners* Court had authority to maploy an en&tsar to and aid In the ooustruotion and malntenauoe aI uparvise aaunty roads, and that his salary should paid from the road and bridge funda ot the oounty.
It la therefore our opinion that the en&neer employ46 by Brazorla Cmmty to aonatruot and maintain tha publIo roada of said oounty should be paid from the read ra8 bridge funds oi mid aounty. AFPL:'.':.FLE 20, 1941
W3FtGO ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS