City council is unauthorized to convey real estate, legal title of which is in board of trustees of city library for use and benefit of library. When board of trustees of city library uses library tax funds to purchase real estate to be used for library purposes, deed of conveyance should be to board of trustees.

CITY LIBRARIES: REAL ESTATE: OWNERSHIP: SALE OF: City council is unauthorized to convey r0.al estate, legal title of which is in board of trustees of city library for use and bP.ncfit of library. When board of trustees of cjty library uses library tax funds to purchase real estate to be used for library purpor-es, deed of conveyance should be to board of trustees. OPlliiON NO. 21 ( 196(> l OPINION NO. 279 (196?J April 8, 1966 Honorable Charles O'Halloran State Librarian State Office Building Jefferson City, Missouri Dear Mr. O'Halloran: F t L E 0 l This office is in receipt opinion regardin~ o~mership of board and asks two questions. follows: of your request for a legal property by a city library The first inquiry reads as "May the City Council of a city sell a building to which a library board has clear title on the theory that the li- brary board is a 'creature of the city?' " The above inquiry does not state that the purchased by the library board of trustees for providing a library building, site, grounds or poses necessary or useful to the city ljbrary. surne such facts in this opinion. real estatP was the purpose of for other pur- However, we as- Sections 182.140 to 182.301, RSMo 1959, as amended, is the statutory law of Missouri pertaining to public libraries in all classes of cities, and we shall presently refer to some of thcnP sections. Honorable Charles O'Halloran Section 182.200, provides for the organization of the board of trustees of a city library, which procedure shall be followed immediately after the members have been appointed. Paragraph 4 of said section provides that the board shall have exclusive con- trol of the expenditure of all moneys collected to the credit of the library fund, as well as exclusive control over the construc- tion, supervision and custody of all library buildings and grounds. All money received for the library shall be deposited in the city treasury to the credit of the library fund, which fund shall be kept separately from other funds of the city, and the library fund shall be disbursed only upon the properly authenticated warrants of the library board. Paragraph 5 of Section 182.200, is of particular significance to the above inquiry, and reads as follows: "The board, as a body corporate, may sue and be sued, complain and defend, and make and use a common seal, purchase or lease grounds, purchase, lease, occupy or erect an appropriate building or buildings for the use of the public library and branches thereof, sell and convey real estate and personal property for and on behalf of the public library and branches thereof, re- ceive gifts of r eal and personal property for the use and benefit of the public li- brary and branch libraries thereof, the same when accepted to be held and controlled by the board of trustees, according to the terms of the deed, gift, devise or bequest of such property." From the above quoted section the board of trustees has been granted certain specific powers, among which, as a body corporate, are those of purchasing, leasing, occupying or erecting an appro- priate building or buildings for the library and branches, selling and conveying real and personal property for and on behalf of the library; receiving and controlling gifts of real and personal pro- perty for benefit of the library and branches, according to the terms of the deed, gift, devise or bequest of such property. It is noted that the above mentioned powers have been granted to the library board, and while Section 182.170 provides for the appointment of a nine-member library board b~ the mayor, with the approval of the city council, and Section 182.190 author- -2- Honorable Charles 0 1Ha loran i zes the filling of vacancies on the library board in the same manner as original appointments are made, these two sections are the only Missouri statutes authcrizing any connection or dealings between the mayor and city council, and the library board of trustees . Legally, the mayor and council have no directory or supervisory control over the library board, nor can the council perform the offici al duties of the library board. It neces- sarily follows that the mayor and council, the mayor, or the council are unauthorized by any Missouri statute to sell real estate of which the legal title is in the library board of trustees. It is also true that the city is legally unauthorized to take title of city library property. Clearly, Section 182 . 200 (5), supra, grants exclusive control over all library funds and other property, including the purchasing and selling of real estate belonging to the library. Therefore, in view of the foregoing, our answer to the first inquiry is that a city council is legally unauthorized to sell and convey real estate of a city library \'Then the legal title of such property is in the board of trustees of euch library. The second inquiry of the opinion request reads as follows: "If tax funds levied and collected for library purposes are used to purchase real estate, must the title to that real estate be in the city, or may it be in the city library board? " We have previously noted that Section 182.200(5), supra, grants exclusive control over all library funds to the library board, and when the proper procedure has been followed, in com- pliance with the section, such funds or any part of same rna~ be used to purchase real estate for a public library (building) or grounds. When real estate is purchased for library purposes, the deed of conveyance should be to the "City Library Board of Trustees," as grantee. It is unnecessary and undesirable to name each board member as a trustee- grantee, because the Board is a corporate body. A deed to the Board as grantees, without naming them is sufficient to vest title of the real estat e in such city library. Missouri Wesleyan College v. Shulte, 142 S.Wo 2d 644. -3- Honorable Charles O'Halloran CONCLUSION Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that a city council is unauthorized to sell and convey real estate, the legal title to which is in the board of trustees of such city library. It is the further opinion of this office that when the board of trustees of a city library uses library tax funds to purchase real estate to be used for library purposes, as pro- vided by Section 182 . 200{5), RSMo, a deed of conveyance to such trustees as grantee is proper. The foregoing opinion which I hereby approve was prepared by my assistant, Paul N. Chitwood.