MCA Chapter 7

in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-1 Acquisition of certain real estate.

[With regard to any county that is required to operate on a countywide system of road administration as described in Section 19-2-3, this section shall read as follows:] The board of supervisors shall have power to accept as a gift, or to purchase for the county, so much real estate, in fee simple, at the place where the courts may be required to sit, as may be convenient and necessary for the building and use of the courthouse, county facilities and jail, and, at any convenient place in the county, property for fire protection purposes and homes and farms for the poor, the purchase money to be paid out of the county treasury, and the title to the property be made to and in the name of the county. Subject to the provisions of Section 65-7-91, the board of supervisors of any county may purchase or lease grounds and buildings or may erect buildings on grounds owned or leased by the county, to be used by the county in storing and preserving road machinery, trucks or other county property. The same shall be paid for out of the general fund of the county or out of road maintenance and bridge funds.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-3 Disposal of real estate.

In case any of the real estate belonging to the county shall cease to be used for county purposes, the board of supervisors may sell, convey or lease the same on such terms as the board may elect and may, in addition, exchange the same for real estate belonging to any other political subdivision located within the county. In case of a sale on a credit, the county shall have a lien on the same for the purchase money, as against all persons, until paid and may enforce the lien as in such cases provided by law. The deed of conveyance in such cases shall be executed in the name of the county by the president of the board of supervisors, pursuant to an order of the board entered on its minutes. Before any lease, deed or conveyance is executed, the board shall publish at least once each week for three (3) consecutive weeks, in a public newspaper of the county in which the land is located, or if no newspaper be published in said county then in a newspaper having general circulation therein, the intention to lease or sell, as the case may be, the county-owned land and to accept sealed competitive bids for the leasing or sale. The board shall thereafter accept bids for the lease or sale and shall award the lease to the highest bidder in the manner provided by law. The board of supervisors of any county may contract for the professional services of a Mississippi-licensed real estate broker to assist in the marketing and sale or lease of the property for a reasonable commission, consistent with or lower than the market rate, for services rendered to be paid from the sale or lease proceeds. Whenever the board of supervisors shall find and determine, by resolution duly and lawfully adopted and spread upon its minutes (a) that any county-owned property is no longer needed for county or related purposes and is not to be used in the operation of the county, (b) that the sale of the property in the manner otherwise provided by law is not necessary or desirable for the financial welfare of the county, and (c) that the use of the county property for the purpose for which it is to be sold, conveyed or leased will promote and foster the development and improvement of the community in which it is located and the civic, social, educational, cultural, moral, economic or industrial welfare thereof, the board of supervisors of such county shall be authorized and empowered, in its discretion, to sell, convey, lease, or otherwise dispose of same for any of the purposes set forth herein. In addition to such authority as is otherwise granted under this section, the board of supervisors, in its discretion, may sell, lease, or otherwise convey property to any person or legal entity without public notice, without having to advertise for and accept competitive bids and without appraisal, with or without consideration, and on such terms and conditions as the parties may agree if the board of supervisors finds and determines, by resolution duly and lawfully adopted and spread upon its official minutes: 1. By reason of a tax sale; 2. Because the property was abandoned or blighted; or 3. In a proceeding to satisfy a county lien against the property; That the subject property is real property acquired by the county: That the subject property is blighted and is located in a blighted area; That the subject property is not needed for governmental or related purposes and is not to be used in the operation of the county; That the sale of the property in the manner otherwise provided by law is not necessary or desirable for the financial welfare of the county; and That the use of the property for the purpose for which it is to be conveyed will promote and foster the development and improvement of the community in which it is located or the civic, social, educational, cultural, moral, economic or industrial welfare thereof; the purpose for which the property is conveyed shall be stated. All costs associated with a conveyance under this subsection shall be paid by the person or entity to whom the conveyance is made. Any deed or instrument of conveyance executed pursuant to the authority granted under this subsection shall contain a clause of reverter providing that title to the property will revert to the county if the person or entity to whom the property is conveyed does not fulfill the purpose for which the property was conveyed and satisfy all conditions imposed on the conveyance within two (2) years of the date of the conveyance. In any such deed or instrument of conveyance, the county shall retain all mineral rights that it owns, together with the right of ingress and egress to remove same. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit, restrict or to prescribe conditions with regard to the authority granted under Section 17-25-3 or Section 57-75-37.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-5 Disposal of personal property.

The board of supervisors shall have the power to sell and dispose of any personal property and real property belonging to the county or any subdivision thereof according to the uniform personal property and real property disposal requirements for local governments in Section 17-25-25. For purposes of this section, the term “personal property,” includes, but is not limited to, equipment, vehicles, fixtures, furniture, firearms and commodities. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit, restrict or to prescribe conditions with regard to the authority granted under Section 17-25-3.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-7 Insurance on county property.

The board of supervisors may have the courthouse, jail and other buildings of the county, the furniture thereof, the books of the county, and the personal property of the county, insured against loss by fire, cyclone and tornado, and other hazards. The board of supervisors may carry steam boiler, plate glass and other miscellaneous casualty insurance against loss of county property, as in the discretion of the board of supervisors may seem proper. The cost thereof shall be paid out of the county treasury. The boards of supervisors of two (2) or more counties may pool their risks under this section and may provide for the purchase of one or more policies of property insurance, or the establishment of a self-insurance fund or self-insurance reserves, or any combination thereof. The cost of participation shall be paid out of the general fund of the county. The administration and service of any such self-insurance program shall be contracted to a third party and approved by the Commissioner of Insurance.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-8 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws of 1992, ch. 491 § 11, eff from and after October 1, 1993. [Laws, 1973, ch. 430, § 1; repealed, Laws, 1984, ch. 495, § 36, and Laws, 1984, 1st Ex Sess, ch. 8, § 3; reenacted and amended, Laws, 1985, ch. 474, § 40; Laws, 1986, ch. 438, § 8; Laws, 1987, ch. 483, § 14; Laws, 1988, ch. 442, § 11; Laws, 1989, ch. 537, § 10; Laws, 1990, ch. 468, § 1; Laws, 1990, ch. 518, § 11; Laws, 1991, ch. 618, § 1]

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-9 Tagging of motor vehicles.

The board of supervisors shall place license tags or identification tags on all county automobiles, trucks and tractors.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-11 Erection or renovation of courthouse or jail.

If a new courthouse or jail shall be required in any county, or if the courthouse or jail shall need remodeling, enlarging, or repairing, the board of supervisors shall determine the material, the dimensions, and the plan thereof, and may make the necessary contracts for the erection, remodeling, enlarging, or repairing thereof, and for furnishing the materials. The board may appoint one or more commissioners to superintend the work as it progresses, which commissioner or commissioners shall take care that the proper materials are furnished, and that the work is faithfully performed according to contract, and who, for his or their services, shall receive a reasonable compensation. The board of supervisors of any county having two judicial districts, and in which State Highways 18 and 15 intersect, is further authorized to issue negotiable bonds of either of the judicial districts of such county for the purpose of erecting, equipping, repairing, reconstructing, remodeling, and enlarging the courthouse in and for the judicial district for which such bonds are issued. All such bonds shall be issued in like manner and subject to the same limitations and provisions as are set forth by law with reference to the issuance of county-wide bonds.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-13 Employment of janitor and assistants.

The board of supervisors, in its discretion, may employ a janitor and necessary assistants for the courthouse and county buildings, their salaries to be fixed by the board and to be paid out of any funds in the county treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-15 Employment of caretaker of county lands.

The boards of supervisors of the various counties of this state may, in their discretion, employ a competent person to look after the interest of the county in any lands that may be owned by such county other than sixteenth section or lieu lands, or lands acquired under foreclosure proceedings under deeds in trust securing loans of sixteenth section school funds, and to pay such person a salary of not exceeding Eighteen Hundred Dollars ($1800.00) annually for such services. Such salary will be paid out of the revenue derived from such lands, and at the end of the year during which such services are rendered. The boards of supervisors may, in their discretion, employ the county superintendent of education to perform the duties and services provided for herein, and pay such county superintendent the salary provided for herein in addition to the salary as superintendent of education. Moreover, the boards of supervisors of said counties in this state are hereby authorized in their discretion to pay to the secretary of the superintendents of education in said counties in this state, an additional sum of Six Hundred Dollars ($600.00) per annum out of the revenues derived from such lands in said counties, at the end of the year during which such services are rendered. Said sum of Six Hundred Dollars ($600.00) per annum shall be in addition to the salaries now authorized by law to be paid to said secretaries of the county superintendents of education in this state.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-17 Employment of caretaker of county lands; duties of caretaker.

It shall be the duty of such person when employed to look after and collect the rents on such land, to see that the improvements on the same are kept in good condition, and to prevent waste and depredation to such property.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-19 Employment of caretaker of county lands; minutes of board to be sole authority.

The boards of supervisors shall not enter into a contract, as provided for in Section 19-7-15, except by placing the same on their minutes, and in the event any such contract be made without complying with this section, the party attempted to be employed shall not receive any compensation whatever for any services that he may have performed thereunder.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-21 Counties conveying land for state park may lease retained mineral interests.

Any county which has acquired and conveyed or may hereafter acquire and convey any land for state park purposes and has retained or does retain the mineral rights thereunder may lease the same for oil, gas and other minerals either jointly or severally. Such lease or leases may be made only after legal advertisement for bids therefor have been published once a week for three consecutive weeks in some newspaper having a general circulation in the county. It shall be necessary to describe the property in the advertisement by its popular name and by giving a definite legal description by metes and bounds. Said lease, with the legal description of the property set out therein, shall be executed to the highest and best bidder therefore on all the tract involved and shall contain a provision therein that no part of the property involved in said lease shall be dropped during the lifetime of said lease, which shall not be for a longer period than ten years, unless production in commercial quantities results, and that if the delay rentals are not paid on all the property then said lease in its entirety shall become null and void. No lease shall become effective after its acceptance by the board of supervisors until the same shall have the written approval of the state mineral lease commission and the Mississippi Board of Park Examiners affixed thereto. From the proceeds arising from the execution of the original lease there shall be paid all cost of advertising herein required and other expenses necessary and incident to the execution thereof, and any balance then remaining on hand and accruing thereafter as a result of the rents, profits and income accruing from the lease shall be used, first, to build necessary bridges in the particular park property affected and, second, any balance then remaining on hand shall be used to call or pay any county-wide bonds now or hereafter outstanding and, third, if there be no outstanding county-wide bonds, then such balance shall be paid into the general funds of the county. Whenever production in commercial quantities is made on any property involved in such lease, the lessee shall not be required to pay delay rentals thereafter so long as such production continues. The proceeds to be paid to the county from the production of the oil, gas or other minerals shall be subject to all severance taxes imposed by law, just the same as if the county was an individual or corporation. The lessee shall be liable for all damages to property incurred by any operation in carrying out the terms of said lease. Nothing in this section shall in any way be construed to limit, abrogate, or otherwise restrict any right, title, or interest in the State of Mississippi.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-23 Furnishing of courthouse.

The board of supervisors shall provide for properly furnishing the courthouse and for supplying all county offices with necessary record books, stationery, seals, presses, iron safes, tables, chairs, furniture, and all other necessary articles, and the board shall provide the chancery clerk’s office with a copy of the field notes of the United States survey, transcripts of records of other counties which relate to or affect titles of property in its county, the original entries of land and the necessary township maps, and provide for the safe and orderly keeping of all the records thereof, and shall make all needful allowances, payable out of the county treasury, therefor. On the order of the circuit court, or the chancery court, the board shall allow all sums expended for supplying the offices and courtrooms with all such necessary articles, but an allowance shall not be made for printing in record books of conveyances.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-25 Providing books and bookcase for courtroom.

The board of supervisors of each county shall provide and have placed in the courtroom of the courthouse a suitable bookcase, with doors and lock, of sufficient capacity to hold not less than two hundred law books, in which the Mississippi reports, digests thereof, statutes of the state, and other books belonging or furnished to the county, shall be kept, The board of supervisors shall purchase any volume of said reports, digests and statutes which may be lost or destroyed, and shall have bound all of such books as need to be rebound for preservation, all of which shall be paid for out of the county treasury. Additional bookcases shall be furnished when necessary.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-27 Providing bulletin boards for legal notices.

The board of supervisors shall provide suitable bulletin boards, to be placed conspicuously at or near the main entrance to the courthouse, upon which all notices required to be there posted may be placed.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-29 Maintenance of courthouse yard.

The board of supervisors of each county may in their discretion maintain a good and sufficient fence around the courthouse yard, and, when necessary, a substantial pavement on the walks of the same, and may have shade trees planted therein, and shall provide for the absolute exclusion of all livestock therefrom. No tent or booth may be erected on the courthouse yard to be used for the advertising or the vending of any goods, wares, notions or nostrums, or for doing the business of a photographer, unless written authorization therefor is obtained from the board of supervisors. The board of supervisors may pave and improve the streets around the courthouse yard.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-31 Law libraries.

The board of supervisors of each county in the state shall have power, by an appropriate order or orders on its minutes, to establish and maintain in the county courthouse or other suitable public building adjacent or near thereto, a public county law library under such rules, regulations and supervision as it may from time to time ordain and establish, and to that end, the board may accept gifts, grants, donations or bequests of money, furniture, fixtures, books, documents, maps, plats or other property suitable for that purpose. The board of supervisors shall have power to exchange or sell duplicate volumes or sets of any such books or furniture, and in case of sale, to invest the proceeds in other suitable books or furniture. The board may also purchase or lease from time to time additional books, furniture, or equipment for the public law library. For the purpose of providing suitable quarters for the public law library, the board of supervisors may, in its discretion, expend such sums as may be deemed necessary or proper for that purpose, and may also employ a suitable person as librarian and pay the law librarian such salary as the board, in its discretion, may determine. The board may employ additional librarians or other employees on either a part-time or full-time basis and may pay these additional employees as the board, in its discretion, may determine. The board of supervisors, in their discretion, may contract with the county or municipal library for any staff or facilities as they deem necessary for the overall management and operation of the county law library. The board of supervisors may contract with the State Law Library for law library services that may be offered by the State Law Library. In case the public law library is so established, all books, documents, furniture and other property then belonging to the county library, as provided for in Section 19-7-25, shall be transferred to and become part of the public law library, and all books, documents and publications donated by the state to the county library shall also become a part of the public law library. In that case, Sections 19-7-25 and 19-25-65, relating to the county library, shall be superseded in that county for as long as the public law library is maintained in the county. The board of supervisors of any such county, in its discretion, may levy, by way of resolution, additional court costs not exceeding Two Dollars and Fifty Cents ($2.50) per case for each case, both civil and criminal, filed in the chancery, circuit and county courts or any of these in the county, and may levy, by way of resolution, additional court costs not exceeding One Dollar and Fifty Cents ($1.50) per case for each case, both civil and criminal, filed in the justice courts of the county, for the support of the library authorized in the county. If the additional court costs authorized in this section are levied, the clerk or judge of those courts shall collect those costs for all cases filed in his court and forward same to the chancery clerk, who shall deposit the same in a special account in a county depository for support and maintenance of the library, and the chancery clerk shall be accountable for those funds. However, no such levy shall be made against any cause of action the purpose of which is to commit any person with mental illness, alcoholic or narcotic addict to any institution for custodial or medical care, and no such tax shall be collected under this subsection on any cause of action that the proper clerk handling same deems to be in its very nature charitable and in which cause the clerk has not collected his own legal fees. To accomplish the purposes of this section, the board of supervisors may enter into such arrangement or arrangements with the county bar association of any such county as may seem advisable for the care and operation of the law library, and the board may receive and consider, from time to time, such recommendations as the bar association may deem appropriate regarding the library. The board of supervisors of each county in which there are two (2) judicial districts, in its discretion, may maintain a law library in each judicial district. In those counties the board, in its discretion, may pay from the county general fund or from the special fund authorized in this section all the costs authorized in this section, provided that the board shall not spend in each judicial district less than the amount of the special court costs authorized in this section and collected in each such district. The governing authorities of any municipality, in their discretion, by resolution duly adopted and entered on their official minutes, may levy additional court costs not exceeding One Dollar and Fifty Cents ($1.50) per case for each conviction in the municipal court of the municipality, for the support and maintenance of the county law library in the county within which the municipality is located. The additional costs shall be collected by the clerk of the court, forwarded to the chancery clerk of the county for deposit in a special account in the county depository, and expended for support and maintenance of the county law library in the same manner and in accordance with the same procedure as provided for costs similarly collected in the chancery, circuit, county and justice courts of the county.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-32 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws of 1977, ch. 408, § 2, eff from and after passage (approved March 29, 1977). [En 1974, ch. 320, §§ 1, 2]

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-33 Regulation of parking on courthouse and other county lands.

The board of supervisors of any county is hereby authorized and empowered to regulate the parking of motor vehicles on county public lands on which the courthouse and other county buildings are located, or any other lands under the control and jurisdiction of the county.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-35 Procurement of artesian well on county property.

The board of supervisors may procure an artesian well on the property used for the courthouse, jail, county farm, or poorhouse, and owned by the county, by contract with some person or corporation to complete said well on said property, or by hiring laborers, manager, and machinery to sink the well under supervision of the board or some one appointed by it to superintend the work. The cost of said well shall be paid out of the county treasury, on the allowance of the board, as other accounts against the county are paid. The board of supervisors shall make the best contracts it can in the interest of the county in procuring said well, without advertising for the bidders as required by law in letting other contracts, but having the clerk of the board write a number of persons or corporations engaged in such work, inviting them to come before the board to submit propositions. If no proposition submitted is satisfactory, the board shall not accept any proposition at that meeting, but shall extend invitations as before for another meeting, and so continue until the board gets a proposition submitted that is satisfactory.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-37 Use of part of oil severance tax funds for building and permanent improvements.

The board of supervisors of any county receiving a part of the oil severance tax under the provisions of Sections 27-25-501 et seq., is hereby authorized to allocate a part of the money so received to a fund or funds for building and permanent improvements for the county or for any school district or for any road district, and the money so allocated to any such fund or funds may be expended for any purpose as now authorized by law. The authority to allocate a part of the oil severance tax to a fund, or funds, for buildings and other permanent improvements shall be in addition to the authority of the board of supervisors granted by Section 27-25-3.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-39 Maintenance and repair of public or private nonprofit cemeteries in certain counties.

The board of supervisors of any county is authorized, in its discretion, to maintain and repair any abandoned public or private nonprofit cemetery located within the county but located outside the corporate boundary of any municipality in the county. The expense of such maintenance may be paid from any available county funds. For the purposes of this section, the term “public or private nonprofit cemetery” includes an abandoned community, religious or fraternal cemetery; however, the term does not include family burial grounds or a for-profit perpetual care cemetery that is subject to Sections 41-43-31 through 41-43-57. “Abandoned cemetery” means a cemetery which shows signs of neglect, including, without limitation, the unchecked growth of vegetation, repeated and unchecked acts of vandalism, or the disintegration of grave markers or boundaries and for which no person can be found who is legally responsible and financially capable of the upkeep of such cemetery. The board of supervisors of any county is authorized to accept, in the name of the county, title by deed to any cemetery located within the county but located outside the corporate boundary of any municipality in the county which, due to age, abandonment of graves by private owners or for other good cause, is not being properly maintained or repaired and thereby have become detrimental to the public health and welfare. No acceptance of title by deed shall be valid unless a motion thereof shall be made at a regular or special meeting of the board, adopted by a majority of the board’s membership, and entered upon the minutes. No county funds or other public funds shall be expended by the board for the purpose of purchasing such cemetery. The board shall have the power to maintain, repair, enlarge, fence or otherwise improve any cemetery, title to which has been accepted by the board.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-7-41 Authority of county boards of supervisors to exercise power of eminent domain for construction of penitentiaries.

The board of supervisors of any county is authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain for the acquisition of land whenever public necessity and convenience so requires for the construction of a penitentiary in the county. In the exercise of such power pursuant to this section with respect to the construction of a federal correctional facility or other federal penal institution, the board of supervisors of any county having a land area of more than nine hundred (900) square miles and a population of more than twenty-five thousand (25,000) but less than twenty-five thousand six hundred (25,600) according to the 1990 federal census may exercise the right of immediate possession to real property, including oil, gas and other mineral interests, as provided in Section 11-27-81 et seq.