Can a Texas general-law city council cancel its meetings for several months in a row?

Texas AG Opinion JC-0028: Can a General-Law City Council Skip Several Months of Meetings?

Plain-English summary

The city council of Indian Lake voted in April 1998 to hold no meetings in June, July, and August. After the early-May meeting, most of the aldermen left town for the summer, leaving fewer than a quorum available. A senator asked the Attorney General whether a general-law city council may dismiss or simply not convene its regular meetings for three months in a row.

The Attorney General found no legal bar. Indian Lake is a Type A general-law city governed by a mayor and five aldermen, where three aldermen ordinarily make a quorum (four for a called meeting or a tax meeting). On the facts given, a quorum could not have assembled during those summer months, and a governmental body can act only at a meeting of a quorum. More fundamentally, no statute in chapter 22 of the Local Government Code requires a Type A council to meet every month or sets any meeting schedule. Section 22.038 instead lets the council set its own meeting times by resolution. Without knowing of any fixed schedule the council had adopted, the opinion found no basis to call the decision not to meet inconsistent with law.

The opinion gave the same answer for a Type B city: nothing in chapter 23 establishes a meeting schedule either. It also noted the safety valves that remained: the mayor may call a special meeting on the mayor's own motion or on the application of three aldermen, and an alderman who misses a meeting can be fined $3 unless excused for illness. So a meeting could still have been held over the summer if a need had arisen, and the opinion was not told any public business had been neglected.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1999. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Does Texas law require a general-law city council to meet every month?
No. The opinion found no statute in chapter 22 of the Local Government Code requiring a Type A city council to meet monthly or setting any meeting schedule, and no provision setting a schedule for Type B cities in chapter 23.

Who decides when a Type A city council meets?
The council itself. Section 22.038 provides that the council shall meet at the time and place set by resolution and determines its own rules of proceeding. The opinion noted it had not been told of any fixed schedule the council had adopted that a later majority vote could not change.

Could the city still meet during the canceled months if something came up?
Yes. The opinion pointed out that under section 22.038 the mayor may call a special meeting on the mayor's own motion or on the application of three aldermen, and an alderman who skips a meeting may be fined $3 unless excused for illness. So a summer meeting was still possible if needed.

Background and statutory framework

A Type A general-law city is governed by a mayor and five aldermen (Local Government Code sections 6.001 and 22.031). Under section 22.039, a majority of aldermen is a quorum, except that a called meeting or a meeting to consider imposing taxes requires two-thirds, so three of five aldermen form an ordinary quorum at Indian Lake and four for a called or tax meeting. Because a governmental body may act only at a meeting of a quorum (Webster v. Texas & Pacific Motor Transport Co.), and a quorum could not assemble that summer, no action could have been taken in any event.

The opinion's core point was the absence of any scheduling mandate. Section 22.038 lets a Type A council set its own meeting times by resolution rather than imposing a monthly requirement, and chapter 23 contains no schedule for Type B cities. The opinion noted a constituent's belief that Indian Lake might have fewer than the 600 residents needed to incorporate as a Type A city under section 6.001, but declined to decide whether a population drop would reclassify it. Either way, no statute required the council to meet, and the mayor's special-meeting power and the attendance fine remained available.

Citations

Statutes:

• TEX. LOCAL GOV'T CODE ANN. §§ 6.001, 22.031, 22.038, 22.039 (Vernon 1988); chapters 22 and 23

Cases:

• Webster v. Texas & Pac. Motor Transp. Co., 166 S.W.2d 75 (Tex. 1942)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/john-cornyn/jc-0028
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1999/jc0028.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF TEXAS
JOHN CORNYN

March 31, 1999

The Honorable Eddie Lucio, Jr.,
Chair, Special Committee on Border Affairs
Texas State Senate
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711-2068

Opinion No. JC-0028

Re: Authority of the city council of a general-law city to dismiss council meetings for three successive months (RQ-1192)

Dear Senator Lucio:

You ask whether the city council of Indian Lake may dismiss or not convene regular council meetings for three months in a row. Information submitted with your request provides the background for your question. The minutes of the city council meeting for April 13, 1998, state that a motion to have no meetings in June, July and August was seconded and carried with four votes. According to a letter submitted with your request, only one or two aldermen and the mayor remained in town after the last regular meeting on May 4, 1998, and the other three aldermen were on vacation after the May 4th meeting.

Indian Lake is a Type A general-law city, the governing body of which consists of a mayor and five aldermen. See TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE ANN. §§ 6.001 (authority to incorporate as a Type A general-law municipality); 22.031 (composition of governing body) (Vernon 1988). A majority of the number of aldermen constitutes a quorum, except for a called meeting or a meeting to consider the imposition of taxes, where the quorum consists of two-thirds of the aldermen. Id. § 22.039. Thus, three of the five aldermen constitute a quorum of the council of Indian Lake under ordinary circumstances, while the quorum for a called meeting or a meeting to consider the imposition of taxes will be four city council members. Based on the facts provided, it was not possible for a quorum of the city council to assemble to hold a meeting during the months of June, July, and August. See Webster v. Texas & Pac. Motor Transp. Co., 166 S.W.2d 75 (Tex. 1942) (authority vested in a governmental body may only be exercised as a meeting of a quorum).

We find no statute that requires the city council of a Type A city to meet every month or that otherwise establishes a meeting schedule. Section 22.038 of the Local Government Code provides that the city council of a Type A city "shall meet at the time and place determined by a resolution" and shall determine the rules of its proceedings. Thus, the city council is authorized to determine its own meeting times. See TEX. LOCAL GOV'T CODE ANN. § 22.038 (Vernon 1988). We have not been informed of any resolutions or rules adopted under this statute and thus do not know whether the city council had adopted a meeting schedule that could not be changed by the council's majority vote on April 13. Accordingly, we find no basis for concluding that the council's decision not to hold meetings in June, July, or August, was inconsistent with law.

You also ask whether our answer would be different if Indian Lake were a Type B general-law city? We find no statutes governing the meeting schedule of Type B cities. Accordingly, we find no basis for concluding that the city council's decision not to hold meetings in June, July, or August would be inconsistent with the law applicable to Type B cities.

We have not been informed that any public business was neglected because of the city council's decision not to meet in June, July and August. We note that section 22.038 of the Local Government Code provides that "[t]he mayor may call a special meeting on the mayor's own motion or on the application of three aldermen." Moreover, "[a]n alderman shall be fined $3 for each meeting that the alderman fails to attend unless the absence is caused by the alderman's illness or the illness of a family member." Id. Thus, it was possible to hold a meeting during the summer months if the need arose.

Accordingly, no statute in chapter 22 of the Local Government Code requires the city council of a Type A city to meet every month or otherwise establishes a meeting schedule, nor does any provision of chapter 23 of the Local Government Code establish a meeting schedule for the city council of a Type B city.

[Footnote: A letter submitted with your request expresses the opinion that Indian Lake may have fewer than the 600 residents necessary to incorporate as a Type A city, see TEX. LOCAL GOV'T CODE ANN. § 6.001 (Vernon 1988), and expresses the belief that it is actually a Type B city. McKinley letter of 8/14/98, supra, note 2. In answering your question about a Type B city, we do not consider whether a drop in population below the 600 level would automatically reclassify Indian Lake as a Type B general-law city.]

SUMMARY

No statute in chapter 22 of the Local Government Code requires the city council of a Type A city to meet every month or otherwise establishes a meeting schedule, nor does any provision of chapter 23 of the Local Government Code establish a meeting schedule for the city council of a Type B city.

JOHN CORNYN
Attorney General of Texas

ANDY TAYLOR
First Assistant Attorney General

CLARK KENT ERVIN
Deputy Attorney General - General Counsel

ELIZABETH ROBINSON
Chair, Opinion Committee

Prepared by Susan L. Garrison
Assistant Attorney General