Our county judge has adopted the philosophy that the court may delegate non-statutorily assigned duties to other county elected officials and so long as the elected official is provided sufficient staff the elected official cannot refuse the delegated duty. Needless to say I do not want to end-up being responsible for the courthouse lawn or some other such nonsense. I have not been able to locate any case law or AG opinions on point. There are multiple opinions discussing com. ct. implied powers, but nothing discussing elected official's rights/duties. I have talked to the AG and to David Brooks. AG says "good question, not previously addressed, maybe so based on Com. Ct. being principal governing body of county and empowered to do what is necessary to conduct business." David Brooks says:" absolutely not. The elected official is autonimous from the court and derives his/her job description from the legislature who adopted the statutes and if it is not in the statutes it is not in the job description."

I agree with Mr. Brooks and disagree with the AG. The fact that the Commissioners Court is the principal governing body of the County does not imply the authority to direct the functioning of another independently elected official by adding to the elected officials statutory responsibilities.

This topic is being moved to the Civil forum to facilitate greater discussion.