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County Line Disputes

   

  Procedures for Settling a County Line Dispute

  Document produced by Ingrid Shields, of the Georgia Archives, 2002

 

1.      In the event, two (or more) counties cannot agree on their common boundary line, a county line dispute is born.

2.      The Grand Jury in either county involved in the dispute may present that the boundary line needs to be marked.

3.      The Clerk of Superior Court of the initiating county certifies presentment to Governor.

4.      The Governor appoints a surveyor, who does not reside in either county, by Executive Order.

5.      The Secretary of State is charged with establishing the surveyor’s fee, which may be accomplished by appointing a committee of three surveyors to assist with determining appropriate compensation.  The functions of this committee are only advisory (OCGA, 36-3-36).

6.      The Secretary of State sets surveyor's fee (36-3-26).

7.      The Secretary of State notifies the governing authorities of the counties of the established fee, as well as their statutory responsibility to share in the expense equally (OCGA, 36-3-27).

8.      At least ten days prior to executing the survey, the surveyor notifies the counties (by mail or in person) of the time and place he intends to commence his work (OCGA, 36-3-21).

  

At this point the process branches into possible directions: 

 

      (a) The surveyor proceeds to survey, mark-out and define the boundary line pursuant to OCGA 36-3-22; or

 

      (b) As adopted in the 2002 General Assembly (House Bill 1548) in OCGA 36-3-21.1, “at any time after presentment to the Governor and prior to a final determination by the Secretary of State under Code Section 36-3-­24” the governing authorities of the counties involved may, after reaching a mutual agreement as demonstrated in concurrent unanimous resolutions, determine the placement of the county line (Subsection 1(a)).

 

A.  Under scenario (a) above, the procedure is as follows:

 

1.      The Surveyor marks out and defines the line.

2.      Surveyor submits a copy of the resulting plat of survey to the Secretary of State and “at the same time” to “the judges of the probate courts or chairmen of the boards of county commissioners” (OCGA, 36-3-22).

3.      The Survey with plat is placed on file in Secretary of State’s office for 30 days, within which time the authorities of either county may file a “protest or exceptions”, if dissatisfied (OCGA, 36-3-23).

 

Again process branches into two directions:

 

      (i) If no objection is filed within 30 days:

 

4.      The survey, i.e., the new county line, becomes “final and conclusive” (OCGA, 36-3-25);

5.      The survey and plat are placed on permanent file in SOS’s office (OCGA, 36-3-25);

6.      The surveyor is paid by all the counties affected by the survey, who share expenses equally;

 

(The sequence of the last two items is not conclusively stated in the Code).

 

      (ii) If a protest or exceptions are filed within 30 days:

 

1.      The Secretary of State gives, through the mail, ten days notice to the county governing authorities, when hearing at her office of “the protest or exceptions” will take place (OCGA, 36-3-24);

2.      The Secretary of State determines “from the law and evidence the true boundary line in dispute...” (OCGA, 36-3-24);

3.      The survey and plat are placed on permanent file in Secretary of State’s office (OCGA, 36-3-25),

4.      The surveyor is paid by all the counties affected by the survey, who share expenses equally (OCGA, 36-3-26).

 

(The sequence of the last two items is not conclusively stated in the Code)

 

B. In case of a mutual agreement as suggested in item (b) above, procedures of the 2002 law (HB 1548) are followed:

 

The process outlined in the previous scenario (i.e. surveyor actually “marking out a line” for presentation to the Secretary of State) can be interrupted at any time by the emergence of a mutual agreement between the counties, before the SOS’s

final determination is handed down (OCGA, 36-3-24).  The ensuing series of actions are as follows:

 

  1. Each governing authority of the affected counties has to pass a “concurrent unanimous resolution” on this matter.
  2. An “agreed upon plat, description, or other means of definitely ascertaining the boundary line” must be produced.
  3. The resolutions, accompanied by “any means of definitely ascertaining the boundary line”, and a letter from the governing authority of each county stating their intent to notify the appropriate agencies and to mark the boundary change on maps provided by the United States Bureau of the Census are filed with Secretary of State and the Department of Community Affairs.
  4. Surveyor is compensated for services to date or adequate arrangements must have been made to assure his/her compensation.
  5. The Secretary of State is notified of payment or planned payment to surveyor.
  6. The Secretary of State examines documents submitted.

 

C. Determining the appropriate line

 

                  (i) If SOS finds agreement (and related documents) “proper to terminate the boundary dispute” (Section 1(b)(4)), then

  1. The Secretary of State notifies the Department of Community Affairs of her intention to rule accordingly;
  2. The Secretary of State “enters a written determination that the disputed boundary line has been determined by agreement as authorized by this Code section”. 
  3. All related documents are placed on permanent file in Secretary of State’s office.

 

                  (ii) If SOS is not satisfied with submitted documents, then

 

  1. Return to Step 20.