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2015 Op. Iowa Att'y Gen. [i] (2015)

handle is hein.sag/sagia2015 and id is 1 raw text is: The Honorable Rich Taylor Office of the Attorney General January 16, 2015 2015 WL 10014872 (Iowa A.G.) Office of the Attorney General State of Iowa *1 Opinion No. 15-1-1 *1 January 16, 2015 *1 COUNTIES: Iowa Constitution art. Ill, §§ 30 and 39A; Iowa Code §§ 331.301; 1848 Iowa Acts, 1 st G.A., extra session, ch. 52. Lee County, under County Home Rule powers granted under Iowa Constitution art. Ill, sec. 39A, may eliminate one of its county seats designated by the special law contained in 1848 Iowa Acts, 1st G.A., extra session, ch. 52, requiring district court be held in two cities in Lee County provided such action does not seek to close the district court, clerk of court's office or discontinue sheriffs services to these courts in either city. (Thompson & Bennett to Taylor, 1-16-15) *1 The Honorable Rich Taylor *1 State Senator Dear Senator Taylor: *1 You have requested an opinion from this office whether current Iowa law would permit the Lee County Board of Supervisors to eliminate one of the two county seats in that county.1 It is our determination that action by Lee County to designate a single county seat by ordinance would be permitted under County Home Rule as long as such action does not close or move the district court and clerks of court offices maintained in Fort Madison and Keokuk or discontinue sheriffs services to both courts at these cities. County Seat under Iowa Law *1 County seat, as defined in Way v Fox, 109 Iowa 340, 80 N.W. 405 (1899), is the place properly designated for doing the business of the county, where public buildings are to be erected, where the courts are held, and where county offices are located. This is consistent with the following description of the purpose of county seat made during debate on Article Ill, Section 30 of the Iowa Constitution during the 1857 Constitutional Convention: *1 Every county must have a point, a public place in which to transact county business, hold their courts, have their public offices, keep their records, receive their taxes, &c. *1 Comments by J. C. Hall, Debates of the 1857 Iowa Constitutional Convention, Vol. 1, p. 536. See also 56 Am. Jur. 2d. Municipal Corporations § 27 (county seat is principal city of the county where county officers perform their functions, county records are kept, and ordinarily the principal county buildings including the county courthouse are located). *1 The current Code of Iowa uses county seat as a legal designation for a variety of matters. See Iowa Code § 6B.46 ( 2014) (location for court of condemnation for condemnation of existing utility); Iowa Code § 62.10 ( 2014) (location for trial of contested election); Iowa Code § 346.27 ( 2014) (allow county and its county seat to create an authority to construct joint buildings); Iowa Code § 450.66 ( 2014) (location to appear before director of revenue under citation to locate inheritance tax property); Iowa Code § 455C.14 ( 2014) (location for beverage container redemption center); Iowa Code § 468.184 ( 2014) (place for hearing on reclassification of levee district lands); Iowa Code §§ 478.6, 479.8, and 479C.6 ( 2014) (location for condemnation hearing on utility improvements); Iowa Code § 602.1303 ( 2014) (city supplies courtrooms for court held outside county seat); and Iowa Code § 602.81 02(1) ( 2014) (clerk of court to keep office at county seat). *2 Significantly, designation as the county seat triggers a duty for the county board of supervisors to provide offices to the recorder, treasurer, auditor, county attorney, county surveyor or engineer, county assessor and city assessor at the county seat. Iowa Code § 331.322 ( 2014). Iowa Code section 331.322 is titled Duties relating to county and township officers and generally lists responsibilities of the board of supervisors to provide adequate resources for the other county officers to conduct their duties. When the board has not provided such office space at the county court house, this duty has been interpreted to require the board to compensate county officers for necessary office space elsewhere. 1970 Op. Atty. Gen. 607 (#70-4-37), 1970 WL 207689. Iowa Code section 331.322(5) provides no requirement on the staffing of these offices, nor does it provide hours that county offices must be open. Contrast this to the pre-county home rule provision, Iowa Code section 335.2 (1981), which required the recorder to keep an office at the county seat. *2 While county seat continues to have legal significance post-home rule, the requirement that court be held at the county seat is no longer a mandatory requirement in all instances. See Iowa Code § 602.6105(1) ( 2014) and Iowa Code § 331.381(16) ( 2014) (allowing a county with less than fifteen thousand residents to enter an agreement with a contiguous county to provide space for the district court); Iowa Code § 602.1303(9) ( 2014) (county may elect not to maintain space for district court in the county by cost sharing with contiguous county and approval of the Supreme Court). Other provisions allow for court to be held at places in the county outside of the county seat. See Iowa Code §602.1303()(c) ( 2014) (city to provide court rooms when court is held in city not the county seat); lowa Code § 602.6105(2) ( 2014) (court in Pottawattamie County to be held at Avoca in addition to the county seat); lowa Code § 602.6106 ( 2014) (providing all code provisions relating to district courts applicable when court not held in county seat). These authorities suggest that while holding district court in a city

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