Senate Bill No. 489
(By Senators Unger and Snyder)
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[Introduced February 10, 1999;
referred to the Committee on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to authorize a roundhouse authority in Berkeley County;
creating public corporation; acquisition of property;
membership and management; general powers; promulgation of
rules to regulate traffic and penalties; right of eminent
domain; tax exemptions; indebtedness; disposition of
surplus; contributions; participation; and dissolution of
authority.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
BERKELEY COUNTY ROUNDHOUSE AUTHORITY.
§1. Regional roundhouse authority authorized.
The county commission of Berkeley County or the Berkeley
County commission and any one or more municipalities located
within Berkeley County are hereby authorized to create and
establish one or more authorities for the purpose of acquiring,
establishing, constructing, equipping, improving, financing, maintaining and operating the historic Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad roundhouse property located in the city of Martinsburg,
for various uses:
Provided, That no such municipality or county
shall participate in such authority unless and until the
governing body or county commission so provides.
§2. Authority to be public corporations.
Each authority when created and established, and the members
thereof, shall constitute a public corporation and as such, shall
have perpetual succession, may contract and be contracted with,
sue and be sued, and have and use a common seal.
§3. Authority empowered and authorized to acquire, operate,
etc., roundhouse property.
Each authority is hereby empowered and authorized to
acquire, establish, construct, equip, improve, finance, maintain
and operate for purposes they consider appropriate, the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad roundhouse located in the city of Martinsburg
and appurtenant facilities so located to best serve the region in
which the said property is located.
§4. Management of authority vested in members; appointment and
terms of members; vote of members, valuation of property contributed to an authority.
The management and control of the authority, its property,
operations, business and affairs shall be lodged in a board of
not less than five nor more than twenty-one individuals who shall
be known as members of the authority and who shall be appointed
for terms of three years each by the municipalities and the
county commission contributing moneys or property to the
authority. However, the first board shall be comprised of two
members appointed by each participating municipality and five
members appointed by the county commission and any member shall
serve a term of one year, beginning as of the date the authority
is created.
The county commission shall appoint not more than fifteen
members to the authority and participating municipalities
collectively, shall appoint not more than six members. All
members shall serve at the will and pleasure of the appointing
body.
§5. Substitution of members.
If any member of an authority die, or resign, or be removed or for any other reason cease to be a member of the authority,
the municipality or the county commission which the member
represented shall appoint another individual to fill the
unexpired portion of the term of the member.
§6. Qualification of members.
All members of the board of each authority shall be
residents of the municipality or county which said members
represent.
§7. Compensation of members.
No member of the board of an authority shall receive any
compensation, whether in form of salary, per diem allowance or
otherwise, for or in connection with his or her services as a
member. Each member shall, however, be entitled to reimbursement
by the authority for all reasonable and necessary expenses
actually incurred with the performance of his or her duties as a
member.
§8. Powers of authority generally.
Each authority is hereby given plenary power and authority
as follows:
(1) To make and adopt all necessary bylaws and rules for its
organization and operations not inconsistent with law;
(2) To elect its own officers, to appoint committees and to
employ and fix the compensation for personnel necessary for its
operation;
(3) To enter into contracts with any person, including both
public and private corporations, or governmental department or
agency, and generally to do any and all things necessary or
convenient for the purpose of acquiring, establishing,
constructing, equipping, improving, financing, maintaining and
operating the roundhouse property and appurtenant facilities to
best serve the region in which it is located;
(4) To delegate any authority given to it by law to any of
its officers, committees, agents or employees;
(5) To apply for, receive and use grants-in-aid, donations
and contributions from any source or sources, including, but not
limited to, the federal government and any department or agency
thereof, and this state subject to any constitutional and
statutory limitations with respect thereto, and to accept and use
bequests, devises, gifts and donations from any person;
(6) To acquire lands and hold title thereto in its own name;
(7) To purchase, own, hold, sell and dispose of personal
property and to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any real property which it may own;
(8) To borrow money and execute and deliver negotiable
notes, mortgage bonds, other bonds, debentures and other
evidences of indebtedness therefor, and give security therefor as
shall be requisite, including giving a mortgage or deed of trust
on its properties and facilities or assigning or pledging the
gross or net revenues therefrom;
(9) To raise funds by the issuance and sale of revenue bonds
in the manner provided by the applicable provisions of article
sixteen of this chapter, it being hereby expressly provided that
for the purpose of the issuance and sale of revenue bonds, each
authority is a "governing body" as that term is used in said
article only;
(10) To establish, charge and collect reasonable fees and
charges for services or for the use of any part of its property
or facilities, or for both services and use;
(11) To expend its funds in the execution for the powers and
authority herein given;
(12) To apply for, receive and use loans, grants, donations,
technical assistance and contributions and from any regional or
area commissions that may be established; and
(13) To prescribe by bylaw the manner of financial
participation by members.
§9. Rules and regulations to control vehicular and pedestrian
traffic; violation of rule and regulations a misdemeanor; penalty.
The county commission is hereby empowered and authorized,
upon request of the authority, to adopt and promulgate rules and
regulations to: (1) Control the movement and disposition of
vehicular and pedestrian traffic within the property; (2)
regulate and control vehicular parking within the property by the
installation of parking meters or by other methods; and (3)
impose reasonable charges for the use of the parking space so
metered or otherwise allocated, so as to provide maximum
opportunity for the public use thereof.
Violation of any rule and regulation shall constitute a
misdemeanor and the offender, upon conviction in the manner
provided by law, may be fined not less than two dollars nor more
than ten dollars for each violation. Magistrates shall have
concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts and with
statutory courts of record having criminal jurisdiction for the
trial of offenses under this section.
§10. Indebtedness of authority.
Each authority may incur any proper indebtedness and issue
any obligations and give any security therefor which it may
consider necessary and advisable in connection with carrying out
its purposes and hereinbefore mentioned.
No indebtedness or obligation incurred by an authority shall
give any right against any member of the governing body of any of
the municipalities, or the county commission or any member of the
board of the authority. No indebtedness of any nature of an
authority shall constitute an indebtedness of any municipality or
county or the governing body of any municipality or the county
commission or be a charge against any property of any
municipality or county. The rights of creditors of an authority
shall be solely against the authority as a corporate body and
shall be satisfied only out of property held by it in its
corporate capacity.
§11. Agreements in connection with obtaining funds.
Each authority may, in connection with obtaining moneys or
property for its purposes, enter into any agreement with any
person, including the federal government, or any department,
agency or subdivision thereof, containing such provisions, covenants, terms and conditions as the authority may consider
advisable.
§12. Authority to have right of eminent domain.
Whenever it shall be considered necessary by an authority,
in connection with the exercise of its powers herein conferred,
to take or acquire any lands, structures or buildings or other
rights, either in fee or as easements, for the purposes herein
set forth, the authority may purchase the same directly or
through its agents from the owner or owners thereof, or failing
to agree with the owner or owners thereof, the authority may
exercise the power of eminent domain in the manner provided for
condemnation proceedings in chapter fifty-four of this code, and
such purposes are hereby declared to be public uses for which
private property may be taken or damaged:
Provided, That under
no circumstances shall an authority have the right of immediate
entry.
§13. Property, bonds and obligations of authorities exempt from
taxation.
Each authority shall be exempt from the payment of any taxes
or fees to the state or any subdivisions thereof or any
municipalities or to any officer or employee of the state or of any subdivision thereof or of any municipality.
The property of each authority shall be exempt from all
municipal and county taxes. Bonds, notes, debentures and other
evidences of indebtedness of the authority are declared to be
issued for a public purpose and to be public instrumentalities,
and, together with interest thereon, shall be exempt from
taxation.
§14. Authority may lease facilities.
Each authority may lease all or part of the property and all
or any part of the appurtenances and facilities therewith to any
available lessee, subject to all constitutional and statutory
limitations with respect thereto, at such rental and upon such
terms and conditions as the authority shall consider proper.
§15. Disposition of surplus of authority.
If any authority should realize a surplus, whether from
operating the property or leasing it for operation, over and
above the amount required for the equipping, improvement
maintenance and operation of the property and for meeting all
required payments on its obligations, it shall set aside such
reserve for future equipping, improvements, maintenance,
operations and contingencies as it shall consider proper and shall then apply the residue of the surplus, if any, to the
payment of any recognized and established obligations not then
due, and after all such recognized and established obligations
have been paid off and discharged in full, the authority shall,
at the end of each fiscal year, set aside the reserve for future
equipping improvements, maintenance, operations and
contingencies, as aforesaid, and then pay the residue of such
surplus, if any, to the municipalities and the county in direct
proportion to their contribution for moneys and property.
§16. Contributions to authority; funds and accounts of
authorities.
Contributions of moneys may be made to authorities from time
to time by the participating municipalities and the county and
persons that shall desire to do so. All such moneys and all
other moneys received by an authority shall be deposited in a
banking institution or banking institutions as the authority may
direct and shall be withdrawn therefrom in a manner as the
authority may direct. Each authority shall keep strict account
of all of its receipts and expenditures and shall each quarter
make a quarterly report thereon to the municipalities and the
county which have made contributions of moneys or property, and the report shall contain an itemized account of its receipts and
disbursements for the preceding fiscal year, and publish the same
as a Class II-O legal advertisement in compliance with the
provision of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and
the publication area for the publication shall be the
municipalities and the county, as provided in section one of this
article. The books, records and accounts of each authority shall
be subject to audit and examination by the office of the state
tax commissioner and by any other proper public official or body
in the manner provided by law.
The county commission of Berkeley County is hereby
authorized to convey to the authority any and all real and
personal property to which it holds title and which property will
enhance the authority's ability to own, manage and operate the
aforesaid B&O Railroad roundhouse property.
§17. Participation.
The municipalities and the county or any one or more of them
participating therein, jointly or severally, are hereby empowered
and authorized to appoint members of the authorities and to
contribute to the cost of acquiring, establishing, constructing,
equipping, improving, maintaining and operating the property and appurtenant facilities.
Any of the municipalities or the county as provided in
section one of this article is hereby empowered and authorized to
convey or transfer to the authorities property of any kind
heretofore acquired by the municipalities or the county.
§18. Dissolution of authority; disposition of assets after
payment of debts.
In the event full and adequate provision is made for the
payment of all of the debts of an authority, the participating
municipalities or the county or any combination thereof which
have contributed at least sixty percent of the total value of all
moneys and property (the value of which property is determined as
specified in section four of this article) contributed to the
authority by the participating municipalities and the county may
by resolution provide for the dissolution for the authority and
for: (1) The conveyance of the real and tangible personal
property contributed to it to those participating municipalities
and the county which contributed the same; (2) equitable
distribution among the contributing municipalities and the county
of any real and tangible personal property purchased or condemned
by the authority or of the proceeds of sale thereof, or the fair value thereof; and (3) the equitable distribution of all moneys
on hand to the participating municipalities and the county in
direct proportion to the contribution of moneys by them.
§19. Employees to be covered by workers' compensation.
All eligible employees of any authority shall be considered
to be within the workers' compensation statute of this state and
premiums on their compensation shall be paid by the authority as
required by law.
§20. Liberal construction of article.
The purposes of this article are to provide for the
acquisition, establishment, construction, equipping,
improvements, financing, maintenance and operation of the
property in a prudent and economical manner, and this article
shall be liberally construed as giving to any authority created
and established hereunder full and complete power reasonably
required to give effect to the purposes hereof. The provisions
of this article are in addition to and not in derogation of any
power granted to or vested in municipalities and county
commissions under any constitutional, statutory or charter
provisions which may now or hereafter be in effect.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the creation
of the Berkeley County Roundhouse Authority.
This local bill is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.