Senate Bill No. 687
(By Senator Unger)
____________
[Introduced February 22, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §16-13A-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to authorizing a county commission
member to act as an ex officio, nonvoting member of its public
service district board.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-13A-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13A. PUBLIC SERVICE DISTRICTS.
§16-13A-3. District to be a public corporation and political
subdivision; powers thereof; public service boards.
From and after the date of the adoption of the order creating
any public service district, it is a public corporation and
political subdivision of the state, but without any power to levy or
collect ad valorem taxes. Each district may acquire, own and hold
property, both real and personal, in its corporate name, and may sue, may be sued, may adopt an official seal and may enter into
contracts necessary or incidental to its purposes, including
contracts with any city, incorporated town or other municipal
corporation located within or without its boundaries for furnishing
wholesale supply of water for the distribution system of the city,
town or other municipal corporation, or for furnishing stormwater
services for the city, town or other municipal corporation, and
contract for the operation, maintenance, servicing, repair and
extension of any properties owned by it or for the operation and
improvement or extension by the district of all or any part of the
existing municipally owned public service properties of any city,
incorporated town or other municipal corporation included within the
district:
Provided, That no contract shall extend beyond a maximum
of forty years, but provisions may be included therein for a renewal
or successive renewals thereof and shall conform to and comply with
the rights of the holders of any outstanding bonds issued by the
municipalities for the public service properties.
The powers of each public service district shall be vested in
and exercised by a public service board consisting of not less than
three members, who shall be persons residing within the district, who
possess certain educational, business or work experience which will
be conducive to operating a public service district:
Provided, That
a member of the county commission may act as an ex-officio, nonvoting
member of the public service district board. Each board member
shall, within six months of taking office, successfully complete the training program to be established and administered by the Public
Service Commission in conjunction with the Division of Environmental
Protection and the Bureau
of for Public Health. Board members
shall
may not be or become pecuniarily interested, directly or indirectly,
in the proceeds of any contract or service, or in furnishing any
supplies or materials to the district nor shall a former board member
be hired by the district in any capacity within a minimum of twelve
months after board member's term has expired or such board member has
resigned from the district board. The members shall be appointed in
the following manner:
Each city, incorporated town or other municipal corporation
having a population of more than three thousand but less than
eighteen thousand is entitled to appoint one member of the board, and
each city, incorporated town or other municipal corporation having
a population in excess of eighteen thousand shall be entitled to
appoint one additional member of the board for each additional
eighteen thousand population. The members of the board representing
such cities, incorporated towns or other municipal corporations shall
be residents thereof and shall be appointed by a resolution of the
governing bodies thereof and upon the filing of a certified copy or
copies of the resolution or resolutions in the office of the clerk
of the county commission which entered the order creating the
district, the persons so appointed become members of the board
without any further act or proceedings. If the number of members of
the board so appointed by the governing bodies of cities, incorporated towns or other municipal corporations included in the
district equals or exceeds three, then no further members shall be
appointed to the board and the members so appointed are the board of
the district except in cases of merger or consolidation where the
number of board members may equal five.
If no city, incorporated town or other municipal corporation
having a population of more than three thousand is included within
the district, then the county commission which entered the order
creating the district shall appoint three members of the board, who
are persons residing within the district and residing within the
State of West Virginia, which three members become members of the
board of the district without any further act or proceedings except
in cases of merger or consolidation where the number of board members
may equal five.
If the number of members of the board appointed by the governing
bodies of cities, incorporated towns or other municipal corporations
included within the district is less than three, then the county
commission which entered the order creating the district shall
appoint such additional member or members of the board, who are
persons residing within the district, as is necessary to make the
number of members of the board equal three except in cases of merger
or consolidation where the number of board members may equal five,
and the member or members appointed by the governing bodies of the
cities, incorporated towns or other municipal corporations included
within the district and the additional member or members appointed by the county commission as aforesaid, are the board of the district.
A person may serve as a member of the board in one or more public
service districts.
The population of any city, incorporated town or other municipal
corporation, for the purpose of determining the number of members of
the board, if any, to be appointed by the governing body or bodies
thereof, is the population stated for such city, incorporated town
or other municipal corporation in the last official federal census.
Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary,
whenever a district is consolidated or merged pursuant to section two
of this article, the terms of office of the existing board members
shall end on the effective date of the merger or consolidation. The
county commission shall appoint a new board according to rules
promulgated by the Public Service Commission. Whenever districts are
consolidated or merged no provision of this code prohibits the
expansion of membership on the new board to five.
The respective terms of office of the members of the first board
shall be fixed by the county commission and shall be as equally
divided as may be, that is approximately one third of the members for
a term of two years, a like number for a term of four years, the term
of the remaining member or members for six years, from the first day
of the month during which the appointments are made. The first
members of the board appointed as aforesaid shall meet at the office
of the clerk of the county commission which entered the order
creating the district as soon as practicable after the appointments and shall qualify by taking an oath of office:
Provided, That any
member or members of the board may be removed from their respective
office as provided in section three-a of this article.
Any vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired term within thirty
days, otherwise successor members of the board shall be appointed for
terms of six years and the terms of office shall continue until
successors have been appointed and qualified. All successor members
shall be appointed in the same manner as the member succeeded was
appointed. The district shall provide to the Public Service
Commission, within thirty days of the appointment, the following
information: The new board member's name, home address, home and
office phone numbers, date of appointment, length of term, who the
new member replaces and if the new appointee has previously served
on the board. The Public Service Commission shall notify each new
board member of the legal obligation to attend training as prescribed
in this section.
The board shall organize within thirty days following the first
appointments and annually thereafter at its first meeting after
January 1 of each year by selecting one of its members to serve as
chair and by appointing a secretary and a treasurer who need not be
members of the board. The secretary shall keep a record of all
proceedings of the board which shall be available for inspection as
other public records. Duplicate records shall be filed with the
county commission and shall include the minutes of all board
meetings. The treasurer is lawful custodian of all funds of the public service district and shall pay same out on orders authorized
or approved by the board. The secretary and treasurer shall perform
other duties appertaining to the affairs of the district and shall
receive salaries as shall be prescribed by the board. The treasurer
shall furnish bond in an amount to be fixed by the board for the use
and benefit of the district.
The members of the board, and the chair, secretary and treasurer
thereof, shall make available to the county commission, at all times,
all of its books and records pertaining to the district's operation,
finances and affairs, for inspection and audit. The board shall meet
at least monthly.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize a county
commission member to act as an ex-officio, nonvoting member of its
public service district board.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.