(A) Creation.
(1) There is hereby created and continued in the Town of Beverly Shores a municipal Plan Commission consisting of 7 members. The Town Council shall appoint 3 members in the municipal government and the Town Council President shall appoint 4 citizen members, of whom no more than 2 may be of the same political party. Each member of the Commission shall be a resident of the town.
(2) A member of the Plan Commission may not participate in any matter considered by the Commission in which he or she has a direct or indirect financial interest or where a member may have a family member involved. The Commission shall enter in its record the fact that the member is disqualified and the remaining members shall appoint a replacement qualified under this section to participate as a member of the Commission in the deliberation and vote upon the particular aforementioned matter.
(3) Members of the Commission may be removed from office by the Town Council for cause upon written charges. Vacancies shall be filled by appointment for the unexpired term of the member affected.
(B) Officers.
(1) At the first regular meeting in each year, the Plan Commission shall elect from its members a President and a Vice President.
(a) The President. The Commission President shall call and preside over all meetings whether regular or special.
(b) The Vice President. The Vice President shall have the authority to act as President of the Commission during the absence, disability or resignation of the President until the new President shall be elected. In the case of resignation of the President, the Commission shall hold an election at the next regular meeting.
(c) The Secretary. The Secretary shall record all activities of the Commission. The Secretary shall attest all documents of the Commission. The Secretary may be an employee of the Commission.
(2) The Commission may appoint the Secretary and other employees necessary to the discharge of the duties and responsibilities of the Commission and shall within its budgetary allowances fix the compensation for the employees.
(C) Authorization under state statute. Administrative powers and duties as authorized by I.C. 36-7-4-401 et seq. are as follows:
(1) Exercise general supervision of and make regulations for the administration of the affairs of the Commission;
(2) Prescribe uniform rules pertaining to investigations and hearings;
(3) Supervise fiscal affairs and responsibilities of the Commission;
(4) Prescribe the qualifications of appointment, remove and fix the compensation of the employees of the Commission, compensation to be in conformity to and in compliance with salaries and compensations theretofore fixed by the town; delegate to employees authority to perform ministerial acts in all cases except where action of the Commission is necessary;
(5) Keep an accurate and complete record of all Commission proceedings; record and file all bonds and contracts and assume responsibility for the custody and preservation of all papers and documents of the Commission;
(6) Make recommendations and an annual report to the Town Council concerning the operation of the Commission and the status of planning within its jurisdiction;
(7) Prepare, publish and distribute reports, ordinances and other material relating to the activities authorized under the State Planning Act;
(8) Adopt a seal, if necessary, and certify to all official acts;
(9) Sue and be sued collectively by its legal name, The Town of Beverly Shores Plan Commission, service of process being had on the President of the Commission; no cost shall be taxed against the Commission or any of its members in any action;
(10) Invoke any legal equitable or special remedy for the enforcement of the provisions of the act or ordinance or its action taken thereunder;
(11) Prepare and submit a budget, if necessary, in the same manner as other departments of the town government and shall be limited in all expenditures to the provisions made therefore by the Town Council;
(12) The Plan Commission shall have authority to expend under regular town procedure and provided by law all sums appropriated to it for purposes and activities authorized; and
(13) If deemed advisable, establish an Advisory Committee or Committees.
(D) Advisory powers and duties. So as to assure the promotion of public health, safety, morals, convenience, order or the general welfare and for the sake of efficiency and economy in the process of development the Plan Commission shall prepare a Comprehensive Plan which can contain the items listed below:
(1) Careful and comprehensive surveys and studies of existing conditions and factors of growth of the town and its environs;
(2) Maps, plats, charts and descriptive material presenting basic information, locations, extent and character of any of the following:
(a) History, population and physical site conditions, including soil survey reports as pertains to load bearing values and sanitary absorption characteristics;
(b) Land use including the height, area, bulk, location and use of private and public structures and premises;
(c) Population densities;
(d) Community centers and neighborhood units;
(e) Blight and slum areas;
(f) Streets and highways including bridges, viaducts, subways, parkways, alleys and other public ways and places;
(g) Sewer, sanitation and drainage including handling treatment and disposal of excess storm water, sewage effluent, refuse and other wastes;
(h) Stream pollution;
(i) Public and private utilities including water, light, heat, communications and other services;
(j) Transportation including land, bus, truck, air and water transportation for terminal facilities;
(k) Local mass transit including motor and trolley bus, street, elevated and underground railways and taxi cabs;
(l) Parks and recreation including parks, playgrounds, reservations, forest, wildlife refuges and other public grounds, spaces and facilities of recreational nature;
(m) Public buildings and institutions including governmental administration services, buildings, hospitals, infirmaries, clinics, penal and correctional institutions and other civic and social service buildings;
(n) Education, including location and extent of schools, colleges and universities;
(o) Land utilization including agricultural, forest and other uses;
(p) Conservation of water, soil, agricultural and mineral resources; and
(q) Any other factors which are a part of the physical, economic, social situation within the town.
(3) Reports, maps, charts and recommendations, setting forth plans for the development, redevelopment, improvement extension and revision of the subjects and physical situation of the town, set out in division (D)(2) above so as to substantially accomplish the object of the legislation;
(4) A long range development program of public works projects based on the recommended plans of the Commission for the purposes of eliminating unplanned, unsightly, untimely and extravagant projects and with a view to stabilizing industry and employment and the keeping of the program up-to-date by yearly revision; and
(5) A long range financial program of governmental expenditures in order that the development program may be carried out and the keeping of the program up-to-date for the purpose of assuring efficient and economic use of public funds.
(E) Other powers and duties:
(1) Initiate proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and this chapter; hold hearings as required by law and make recommendations to the Town Council;
(2) Review all proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and this chapter initiated elsewhere and make recommendations to the Town Council as specified in § 155.031;
(4) Formulate recommendations to the Town Council regarding public ways, public places, public structures and public and private utilities;
(5) Formulate policies governing the layout and development of public ways and service to platted and unplatted land; and
(6) After adoption of the Comprehensive Plan and this chapter, the Town Council and the Plan Commission shall be guided by and shall give consideration to the general policy and pattern of development set out in the Comprehensive Plan in the:
(a) Authorization, construction, alteration or abandonment of public ways, alleys, easements, public places, public structures or public utilities; and
(b) Authorization, acceptance or construction of water mains, sewers, connections, facilities or utilities.
(Ord. 208, passed 12-19-1983; Am. Ord. 2014-04, passed - -)