Many county seats in the United States feature a historic courthouse, such as Renville County, Minnesota

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States. In the Canadian province of New Brunswick, the term shire town is used.

Function[link]

United States counties, as in England and Canada, function as administrative subdivisions of a state and have no sovereign jurisdiction of their own, although some have authority to enact and enforce municipal ordinances. Counties administer state or provincial law at the local level as part of the decentralization of state/provincial authority. In many U.S. states, state government is further decentralized by dividing counties into civil townships, to provide local government services to residents of the county who do not live in incorporated cities or towns.

A county seat is usually, but not always, an incorporated municipality. The exceptions include, but are not limited to, the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia and Howard County, Maryland. (Ellicott City, the county seat of Howard County, is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed by Towson, the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland.) The county courthouse and county administration are usually located in the county seat, but some functions may also be conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large.

U.S. counties with more than one county seat[link]

Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of the county. An example is Harrison County, Mississippi, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats. The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) for the towns involved.^[1]

There are 34 counties with multiple county seats (no more than two each) in 9 states:

Other variations[link]

Connecticut (since 1960) and Rhode Island have no county level of government and thus no county seats; in those states, counties exist today as little more than lines drawn on a map. They serve a judicial function in Rhode Island.

In Vermont, the county seats are called shire towns. County government consists only of a Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court), both located in the respective shire town. Bennington County has two shire towns (Manchester for the North Shire, Bennington for the South Shire), but both the Court and the Sheriff are in Bennington.

In Massachusetts, most government functions which would otherwise be performed by county governments in other states are performed by town governments (there are no unincorporated areas in the state, that is, all land area in the state is within a town). As such, Massachusetts has dissolved many of its county governments, and the state government now operates the registries of deeds and sheriff's offices in those former counties.

In Virginia, a county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County and is completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county.

Two counties in South Dakota (Shannon and Todd) have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County, respectively.^[3]

Lists of U.S. county seats by state[link]

The state with the greatest number of counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the least number of counties is Delaware, with 3.

See also[link]

United States portal

• Administrative center
• County town, administrative centres in Ireland and the UK
• Chef-lieu, administrative centres in Algeria, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, and Tunisia

References[link]

External links[link]

• National Association of Counties

Tyrone Thompson

Personal information
Full name	Tyrone I'Yungo Thompson
Date of birth	(1982-05-08) 8 May 1982 (age 30)
Place of birth	Sheffield, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Midfielder, Striker
Club information
Current club	Lincoln City
Number	34
Youth career
	Sheffield United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2000–2003	Sheffield United	1	(0)
2002	→ Lincoln City (loan)	1	(0)
2003	→ Doncaster Rovers (loan)	1	(0)
2003–2004	Huddersfield Town	2	(0)
2004–2005	Scarborough	43	(2)
2005–2007	Halifax Town	79	(1)
2007–2008	Crawley Town	44	(4)
2008–2010	Torquay United	47	(1)
2010–2011	Mansfield Town	18	(1)
2011	Grimsby Town	3	(1)
2011	FC Halifax Town	3	(0)
2011-	Lincoln City	19	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:26, 15 May 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Tyrone I'Yungo Thompson^[1] (born 8 May 1982) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Lincoln City.

He has previously played for Sheffield United, Lincoln City, Doncaster Rovers, Huddersfield Town, Scarborough, Halifax Town, Crawley Town, Torquay United, Mansfield Town, Grimsby Town and F.C. Halifax Town.

Career[link]

Sheffield United[link]

Thompson attended King Edward VII School in Sheffield and joined Sheffield United's Centre of Excellence at the age of nine.^[2][3] He progressed to being a trainee with United and turned professional in July 2000. He made his first team debut on 22 August 2000 as United beat Lincoln City 6–1 in a first round first leg League Cup tie,^[4] Thompson replacing David Kelly as a 73rd minute substitute. He started the second leg, a 1–0 away defeat for United.^[5]

Unable to establish himself in the first team, Thompson joined Lincoln City on loan in October 2002,^[6] making his debut in a 4–3 Football League Trophy win at home to York City on 22 October.^[7] He played two further games for Lincoln, a draw at home to Bury in the league and a defeat at home to Shrewsbury Town in the Football League Trophy,^[8][9] before returning to Sheffield United in November 2002. He played in the FA Cup fourth round, as United won 4–3 at home to Ipswich Town with a last minute winner from Paul Peschisolido,^[10] but this would be his final appearance for Sheffield United. In March 2003 he joined Doncaster Rovers on loan until the end of the season,^[11] but played just once in the Conference National for them, in a 1–1 draw at home to Morecambe.^[12] He was released by Sheffield United in May 2003.^[13]

Huddersfield Town[link]

He moved to Huddersfield Town in July 2003,^[14] but made only two first team appearances, starting the 2–2 draw at home to Cambridge United on the opening day of the season and coming on as a second-half substitute for Andy Holdsworth in the 3–0 win at home to Northampton Town on 13 September.^[15][16]

Scarborough[link]

A move to Scarborough followed in June 2004,^[17] where he was an ever-present the following season.

Halifax Town[link]

He rejected a new contract with Scarborough in June 2005,^[18] joining Halifax Town on a monthly contract in August 2005.^[19] In October 2005 he signed a contract until the end of that season and was called up to the England semi-professional squad.^[20][21] He signed a further contract extension to the end of the following season in February 2006.^[22] In November 2006 he accused Northwich Victoria captain Stuart Elliott of racial abuse and an official complaint was lodged with the Football Association.^[23][24] Elliott was later cleared.^[25] Thompson was a first team regular but, despite the offer of new contract at Halifax, he failed to make contact with the West Yorkshire club and became a free agent at the end of the 2006–07 season.^[26]

Crawley Town[link]

It was later reported that he was a possible target for Halifax's Conference rivals York City,^[27] but joined Crawley Town on 27 June 2007.^[28] He was appointed as Crawley's captain, but was linked with a move to Forest Green Rovers in January 2008, with Crawley turning down a £15,000 bid.^[29]

Torquay United[link]

Thompson signed for Torquay United on a two-year contract on 20 May 2008,^[30] despite having agreed a new contract with Crawley.^[31] His Torquay debut came on the opening day of the season, a 1–1 draw at home to Histon,^[32] and he quickly became a regular in Paul Buckle's side. His first Torquay goal came on 20 September as Torquay won 2–0 at home to Eastbourne Borough.^[33]

Mansfield Town[link]

He was released by Torquay on 15 May 2010 along with six other players.^[34]

On 21 July 2010, Thompson signed with Conference National side Mansfield Town F.C..^[35] He was released on 12 May 2011.

Grimsby Town[link]

On 18 August 2011 he joined Grimsby Town on non-contract basis.^[36] Following 3 games and 1 goal for The Mariners he was released from his short term deal on 30 August 2011 with Grimsby stating that he had only been cover for the injured Anthony Church.^[37]

FC Halifax Town[link]

On 21 October 2011 he joined FC Halifax Town,^[38] the phoenix club of his former club Halifax Town, however during his month at the club he failed to impress and was released by manager Neil Aspin

Lincoln City[link]

On 18 November Thompson rejoined Lincoln City unit 8 January 2012. In January a further deal was agreed until the end of the season.^[39]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tyrone Thompson career stats at Soccerbase