Inspired by another thread: what exactly is a county seat?

[woodpusher]

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=10690.0

The obvious answer is at http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/CountySeats.aspx but it's not clear that's correct. 

I used to live in Jefferson Parish, LA - certain East Bank business had to be conducted at the parish offices in Jefferson - you couldn't go to Gretna even if it was easier to get the ferry. 

Also it appears Ascension Parish is in a similar situation with Donaldsonville (West Bank) and Gonzales (East Bank).

I haven't been back since before Katrina but I see a lot of Plaquemines business is conducted at Belle Chasse rather than Pointe a la Hache. 

Virginia has a number of oddball cases too...Augusta County has Verona for county business....maybe it uses Staunton's courthouses though.  So far as I can figure Henrico hasn't used Richmond's courthouses in years....county seat should be Henrico. 

[hotdogPi]

Parishes may be slightly different. I'm not sure.

[oscar]

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=10690.0

The obvious answer is at http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/CountySeats.aspx but it's not clear that's correct. 

[snip]

Virginia has a number of oddball cases too...Augusta County has Verona for county business....maybe it uses Staunton's courthouses though.  So far as I can figure Henrico hasn't used Richmond's courthouses in years....county seat should be Henrico.

The NACO site seems to be using postal addresses for its county seat names.  For example, Fairfax County and Fairfax City are for now separate jurisdictions (latter is an independent city, though there's some talk about folding it into the county).  Fairfax County's central government offices are located in the Fair Oaks part of the county (postally Fairfax), outside and west of the Fairfax City limits.  I suspect something like that applies to Henrico County, and James City County (county seat is postally Williamsburg, but that city is independent of the county).

The one instance I know of where the county seat is officially in another county (equivalent) is Lake and Peninsula Borough in Alaska, whose county seat is King Salmon in adjacent Bristol Bay Borough (whose own county seat is Naknek).  There are no road connections between any Lake and Peninsula communities, and the air connections all go through King Salmon, making that the logical central location for the Lake and Peninsula borough government. 

[NE2]

Usually: the incorporated place in which county offices are located. If there is no such place, or it's a huge city-county (e.g. Virginia Beach), things get squirrely.

[Brandon]

Usually: the incorporated place in which county offices are located. If there is no such place, or it's a huge city-county (e.g. Virginia Beach), things get squirrely.

Sometimes the place is unincorporated.  Eagle River, Michigan, county seat for Keweenaw County is a prime example.

[Road Hog]

A number of counties have two official county seats. This seems most common in the South.

[hbelkins]

To my knowledge, only one Kentucky county has no incorporated cities, that being McCreary County.

Kentucky counties officially have only one county seat, but some larger counties have satellite offices spread throughout the county. Pike is a prime example.

And it surprises a lot of people to learn that Covington and Newport are not county seats. They are located in Kenton and Campbell counties respectively and the county seats are Independence and Alexandria.

[NE2]

Sometimes the place is unincorporated.  Eagle River, Michigan, county seat for Keweenaw County is a prime example.

Yes, which can be squirrely if that unincorporated place has no defined boundaries and the county offices are somewhere out of the obvious center.

Or in New England. Which is the county seat, the large incorporated town of the smaller unincorporated village within the town?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haverhill,_New_Hampshire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Haverhill,_New_Hampshire

[Road Hog]

Dalhart, Texas straddles Dallam and Hartley Counties (hence its name), but is the county seat only of Dallam County. The Hartley County seat is in Channing, about 30 miles south.

[SteveG1988]

in new jersey the county seat is the location of the county government, the board of chosen freeholders, normally it is a large or central town. my county seat is Mount Holly, but it used to be Burlington (same name as the county) but was moved to be more central in in pre revolutionary war colony era

[roadman65]

In New Jersey, Ocean County uses Toms River as its seat and that for years was an unincorporated section of Dover Township.  Now Dover Township is renamed to Toms River Township, so really you cannot say the name Toms River is unincorporated any longer, but in essence still is.

[Alps]

In New Jersey, Ocean County uses Toms River as its seat and that for years was an unincorporated section of Dover Township.  Now Dover Township is renamed to Toms River Township, so really you cannot say the name Toms River is unincorporated any longer, but in essence still is.

There is no such thing as "unincorporated" in New Jersey.

[NE2]

There is no such thing as "unincorporated" in New Jersey.

Buttzville is unincorporated.

And a bunch more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Unincorporated_communities_in_New_Jersey
There's no land that is not part of an incorporated place, but some places that overlap these are unincorporated. Most obviously, any city neighborhood is unincorporated. But there are unincorporated rural communities too.

[Alps]

There is no such thing as "unincorporated" in New Jersey.

Buttzville is unincorporated.

And a bunch more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Unincorporated_communities_in_New_Jersey
There's no land that is not part of an incorporated place, but some places that overlap these are unincorporated. Most obviously, any city neighborhood is unincorporated. But there are unincorporated rural communities too.

There are place names. There are localities that have not specifically incorporated as separate places. But they are not unincorporated. Unincorporated has no definition in this state.

[NE2]

There are place names. There are localities that have not specifically incorporated as separate places. But they are not unincorporated. Unincorporated has no definition in this state.

Unincorporated = not incorporated. Buttzville has not incorporated, and is a defined place. Therefore it is an unincorporated place.

Examples of this use:
http://www.state.nj.us/dca/news/news/2013/approved/20131122.html

"This project is an excellent infusion of quality affordable housing in Lyons, a wealthy unincorporated suburb in Bernards Township,"  said HMFA Executive Director Anthony L. Marchetta.

http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/lgbr/munpdf/buenavista.pdf

The Township of Buena Vista is located approximately 28 miles west of Atlantic City. Routes 40 and 54 intersect the community, providing high-speed access to the township. This rural township of 42 square miles contains numerous unincorporated communities and considerable vacant land.

http://www.state.nj.us/bpu/pdf/boardmin/9-18-13%20MINUTES.pdf

Paul Goldman Associates, in Fords, NJ which is an unincorporated community within Woodbridge also submitted a Clean Energy Program commercial and industrial (C&I) application that was approved in August for a rebate amount over $500,000.

[Alps]

There are place names. There are localities that have not specifically incorporated as separate places. But they are not unincorporated. Unincorporated has no definition in this state.

Unincorporated = not incorporated. Buttzville has not incorporated, and is a defined place. Therefore it is an unincorporated place.

Examples of this use:
http://www.state.nj.us/dca/news/news/2013/approved/20131122.html

"This project is an excellent infusion of quality affordable housing in Lyons, a wealthy unincorporated suburb in Bernards Township,"  said HMFA Executive Director Anthony L. Marchetta.

http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/lgbr/munpdf/buenavista.pdf

The Township of Buena Vista is located approximately 28 miles west of Atlantic City. Routes 40 and 54 intersect the community, providing high-speed access to the township. This rural township of 42 square miles contains numerous unincorporated communities and considerable vacant land.

http://www.state.nj.us/bpu/pdf/boardmin/9-18-13%20MINUTES.pdf

Paul Goldman Associates, in Fords, NJ which is an unincorporated community within Woodbridge also submitted a Clean Energy Program commercial and industrial (C&I) application that was approved in August for a rebate amount over $500,000.

Based on the above, it appears that while a township is a form of incorporation, it does not incorporate the localities within. I think semantics are getting in the way at this point. It does solidify my concept of what a township is.

[roadman65]

Clark and Winfield are two townships that do not have communities within them.  Therefore it has nothing to do with size as Winfield is smaller than many boroughs.  Clark is small too, but still average in size of most NJ municipalities.

[mgk920]

Usually: the incorporated place in which county offices are located. If there is no such place, or it's a huge city-county (e.g. Virginia Beach), things get squirrely.

Sometimes the place is unincorporated.  Eagle River, Michigan, county seat for Keweenaw County is a prime example.

In Wisconsin, two counties have no incorporated cities or villages (Florence and Menominee), their seats are unincorporated Florence and Keshena, respectively.  IMHO, both places have all of the statutory attributes needed to incorporate as villages, but they have never taken the steps to do so.

There is, in my mind, a special situation in Burnett County, WI regarding its county seat, as in their recent past their county buildings were moved from incorporated Siren to a nearby unincorporated township location.

Mike

[SD Mapman]

Usually: the incorporated place in which county offices are located. If there is no such place, or it's a huge city-county (e.g. Virginia Beach), things get squirrely.

Sometimes the place is unincorporated.  Eagle River, Michigan, county seat for Keweenaw County is a prime example.

An even better example are the tiny uninc county seats in the Dakotas. Gann Valley is only 14 people.

[bandit957]

And it surprises a lot of people to learn that Covington and Newport are not county seats.

Actually they are. There was a court ruling in 2010 that established this, based on an earlier law.

[empirestate]

Well, NACO's definition is basically correct. Where it gets complicated is when you differences between de facto and de jure county seats, and the jure isn't always consistent or clear.

Nassau County, NY has a great example of this: its seat is nominally at Mineola, which was an unincorporated settlement at the time it was selected by voters as the county seat. It subsequently incorporated as a village, but the boundaries did not include the county courthouse or offices. Later, the adjacent village of Garden City was incorporated and its boundaries did include the county buildings (a street within Garden City is even called County Seat Drive)–but of course, Garden City was never named the county seat in any official way (to my knowledge). Making things more complicated still, the post office drew its own boundaries around Mineola that do include the county offices, and of course most people are far more familiar with postal boundaries than with political ones.

So, since the state of NY doesn't define county seats (again, to my knowledge), that leaves it to the counties to do so, and it seems Mineola is the only seat to have been officially designated by the county: the de jure county seat. But the actual offices are located in Garden City, a distinct and discrete political entity, so that's the de facto seat.

[jeffandnicole]

New Jersey has A LOT of "unincorporated towns", but they are simply sections within the townships/boroughs/cities in which they reside.  The township I grew up in has 4 sections to it: All 4 had their own fire station; 2 of the 4 had their own post office.  To make it more confusing, 1 of those 4 post offices also served a section of the township next door that had the same name, but in a different township (bonus points if you can figure out the town I'm talking about/times up it's Sewell).  Even though some of the fire stations have merged, the smaller towns within the township still retain much of their own identity.

Some other places though, the identity has been lost thru time.  Jefferson is a part of Harrison Township, South Jersey, that only had a few houses and a business.  It even had it's own NJDOT sign off of State Route 45.  But good luck trying to find it anymore. 

And while on the topic of Harrison Township, most people in Harrison Township don't even call it that - nearly the entire township goes by the name Mullica Hill, including the police station & post office, both of which serves the entire township.

There are similiar examples all over the state of smaller towns within the townships they reside in. Most of them have a volunteer fire company, post office, or something that gave them an identity.  But while they may not have their own form of government, they are indeed part of an incorporated area of the state.

[hbelkins]

And it surprises a lot of people to learn that Covington and Newport are not county seats.

Actually they are. There was a court ruling in 2010 that established this, based on an earlier law.

Got a cite for this? They may have auxiliary courthouses (like Belfry and Phelps in Pike County) but they are not listed as the official county seats. Burlington and Alexandria are.

[bandit957]

Got a cite for this? They may have auxiliary courthouses (like Belfry and Phelps in Pike County) but they are not listed as the official county seats.

An article about the 2010 court ruling:

http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20101124/NEWS010704/11250342

I've lived in Campbell County for 41 years, and one of the first things I learned growing up was that the county has 2 county seats.

[cpzilliacus]

Virginia has a number of oddball cases too...Augusta County has Verona for county business....maybe it uses Staunton's courthouses though.  So far as I can figure Henrico hasn't used Richmond's courthouses in years....county seat should be Henrico.

Virginia has county seats that are outside of the county, thanks to the Commonwealth's system of independent cities. The county seat is defined not by where the Board of Supervisors meets, but by where the county courthouse is located.

Two examples are Fairfax County (courthouse in the City of Fairfax) and Prince William County (courthouse in the City of Manassas). Note that some judicial functions are shared between the county and the city, such as Commonwealth's Attorney, Sheriff's Office and the "county" jail.

May also hold true for Frederick County (Va.) and the City of Winchester.

Arlington County, Va. has a county seat in Arlington (no municipalities in that small county).

On the other side of the creek, most county seats in Maryland are within incorporated municipalities.  Two exceptions are Howard County (county seat is in unincorporated Ellicott City) and Baltimore County (county seat in unincorporated Towson).  Baltimore City is not part of any county and has its own "county" court and "county" jail (Baltimore City's "county" jail is officially part of the state corrections system and was where many corrupt corrections officers were recently arrested by the FBI and prosecuted for doing "business" (including sex) with members of a prison gang).