Our new District Clerk found some $ for new computers. The money comes from the Office for Court Admin handled through a TAC subsidiary with the acronym CIRA. I rewrote the contract, as it 1) had no place for the County Judge to sign following authorization from the Commissioners, only a place for the District Clerk; 2) had the Commissioners Court accepting the responsibility for insuring that the District Clerk would file reports electronically.

The one attorney (with CIRA) that I have worked with is OK with my revisions; the non-attorney with OCA is unwilling to accept that the Commissioners can't control the clerk. Now, I know I'm not the FIRST county to get this contract...what have the rest of you done? Am I out of line? I did create an affidavit for the clerk to sign affirming that she will abide by the terms, but that wasn't good enough...

I'm about to cost my Commissioners about $5000 - Help, please!!

Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney

One "fall back" we have used in situations like this is to provide in the contract that "Nothing in this contract shall impose on the County any obligation which is contrary to, or exceeds the requirements of, the laws of the United States or the State of Texas." We have also gotten around pesky and "illegal" requirements by amending the provision to read, "...to the extent authorized by law," or something to that effect.

Lisa,

I have used provisions similar to what John put in his post and have never had any problems.


John

There's that ... or you could just enter the contract and then file a D/J action to construe the county's rights under the contract, as well as the Local Government Code and the Constitution, and collect your attorney's fees a-la Texas Educ. Agency v. Leeper.