Commissioners authorize title searches after attorney general opinion, debate county role in exhumations

Dimmit County commissioners on Feb. 24 authorized outside counsel to conduct title examinations for four local cemeteries and delayed any direct county involvement in exhumations until ownership and statutory limits are clear.

The action came after an extended discussion prompted by Operation ID and Texas State anthropologists requesting county help in exhuming graves at Guadalupe (Pantheon) Cemetery and others. County outside counsel Keith Franklin reviewed an Attorney General opinion saying counties generally may not assist in exhumations of private cemeteries, then pointed to Health and Safety Code provisions that allow county assistance for cemeteries older than 50 years for historical-preservation or public-health reasons.

The discussion mattered because county staff and several commissioners described a long history of county equipment, employees or inmate labor assisting with opening and closing graves for indigent burials. Commissioners said constituents regularly ask for that help and some local cemeteries lack clear title records.

Franklin recommended ordering formal title examinations to verify whether each cemetery is the kind of site the Health and Safety Code authorizes counties to serve (for example, not perpetual-care cemeteries or those maintained by a religious or fraternal organization). Mount Hope Cemetery appeared, based on materials presented by cemetery representative “Mr. Bell,” to be a public-type cemetery and older than 50 years; Franklin said an independent title commitment would confirm ownership and any restrictions.

After questions from multiple commissioners and back-and-forth over historical practice, the court voted to authorize Franklin to conduct title searches for the county’s cemeteries and to return the matter to a future agenda with the title results and recommended next steps. The court also heard counsel’s suggestion to table immediate action on exhumations (Operation ID requests) until the title work and documentary clarifications are complete.

Commissioners and county counsel repeatedly emphasized the difference between (1) discussion and direction to staff or counsel to research legal options and (2) a formal decision to dig or pay for exhumations. The court’s motion authorized the title work only; no exhumations or commitment of public funds, inmate labor or county equipment were approved at this meeting.

County Attorney Gonzales and local cemetery representatives spoke at length; several commissioners described past informal assistance and expressed concern about legal exposure and constituent needs. Outside counsel said a later condemnation or dedication process could be used if title searches showed ambiguous ownership and the county wished to clarify public interest in continued burials or preservation.

The court voted to authorize title examinations and to place the issue back on a future agenda after counsel delivers the search results.