Section 11.02. APPOINTMENT AND TERMS. The commission shall consist of five (5) persons, registered voters of Hutchinson, or who is an owner of a business whose principal place of business is within the City of Hutchinson which is a rate-payer of the Utilities Commission who shall be appointed by the council. Of the five members, only one member may be a non-resident business owner. In addition, one of the members may be a member of the city council appointed annually by the mayor with the consent of the City council, at the first meeting of the city council in January of each year. After initial appointments for such terms as are set by the council, a member shall be appointed every year for a term of 5 years, to fill the place of the member whose term has expired, except for any city council member appointed to serve on the Utilities Commission, and in such case, that person shall serve a one year term subject to reappointment. The commissioners in office at the time of adoption of this Charter shall continue to serve the term to which they were previously appointed. Commissioners shall qualify for their office by taking and subscribing to the oath of office required of members of the council and filing the same with city administrator. They shall hold office until their successors are appointed and qualified and vacancies in office for any cause shall be filled for the balance of the term in which the vacancy occurs in the same manner as the original appointment is made. No member shall serve more than two consecutive five-year terms, exclusive of the fulfillment of an unexpired term, but shall be again eligible for such service following a break in service of not less than one year. The members of the commission, excluding the city council member, may receive compensation for their services as determined by the council.
(Ord. 20-820, passed 2-9-2021)
Section 11.03. ORGANIZATION. The commission shall provide for its own organization and rules of procedure and annually shall elect a president and vice-president from among its members who shall perform the usual duties of those positions, under the direction of the commission. It shall also appoint a secretary who may or may not be a member of the commission. All monies received for gas and electric services rendered shall be deposited in a separate municipal Electric Plant Fund and Natural Gas Division Fund. The commission shall keep record of the monies (above mentioned) and pay them out only upon verified orders and upon warrants signed by two members of the commission.
Section 11.04. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. The commission shall have full, absolute and exclusive control of power over the City Electric Plant, the City Electric Plant distribution system, the City Gas Plant and the City Gas distribution system. The commission shall buy all materials, supplies and fuel in accordance with the Charter provisions for purchases and contracts. It may enter into contracts subject to the same limitations imposed on the city council, and may sue and be sued in its own name. It shall regulate the distribution, use and sale of electricity and gas within and without the City limits, collect for services, and shall fix the rates for all such sales and services for public and private use, subject to right of the council to veto any proposed charge and rate by a four-fifths (4/5) vote. Such veto power shall be exercised, if at all, within 30 days after the council has received notice of any proposed change in charge and rate. The commission shall have power and authority to extend, add to, change or modify the electric system and the gas system, and to do any and all things it may deem necessary and proper for operation except as by this chapter otherwise restricted or qualified. The cost of extended service or installation thereof shall in no case create any general obligation upon the City. It shall employ such competent help as may be necessary to properly operate the plant, and pay these employees such compensation as the commission deems proper. The commission shall not have power to sell, lease, rent or in any way dispose of or encumber or permit the electric plant or the gas system to come under the control of any person or corporation whatever. The commission may pledge the net earnings of the electric plant and/or gas plant and system, after providing for the payment of all operating and maintenance charges and setting aside annually an amount sufficient to meet the interest and principal required of any previously created obligations of the plant, to secure payment of any previously created obligations of the plant, to secure payment of any equipment purchased for said plants and systems.
Section 11.05. TRANSFER OF FUNDS. On or before September 1 of each year, the commission and the city council shall exchange information regarding the financial resources and financial needs of both the commission and the City, and shall reach agreement on the amount of surplus utility funds, if any, which are reasonably available for transfer to the general fund of the City during the next calendar year. Surplus utility funds reasonably available shall be transferred to the City general fund.
It shall be mandatory upon the commission to transfer funds from earnings to the City to meet all interest and support principal required on obligations of the City incurred by the City in the construction of the gas and electric plants and systems. Such funds shall not be considered surplus funds. Funds so turned over to the City by the commission shall, during such time as the bonded indebtedness remains currently unpaid in connection with construction of the gas and electric plants and systems, be used solely for the purpose of retiring such currently unpaid indebtedness.
Section 11.06. BY-LAWS AND REGULATIONS. The commission may make and enforce such reasonable by-laws and regulations as may be necessary to carry into effect the objectives and purposes of this chapter. All such by-laws and regulations are to be entered in a book kept for that purpose by the secretary and signed by the president and secretary.
Section 11.07. REPORTS. The commission shall keep a record of all of its financial operations and shall furnish monthly to the city council summarized statements showing receipts, disbursements, and liabilities for such period of time. The commission shall publish a summarized audited annual statement in the official City newspaper. Such statement shall be prepared by a certified public accountant.
Section 11.08. REMOVAL OF COMMISSIONERS. If a commissioner is guilty of malfeasance or misfeasance in office, has become incapacitated to hold office, or ceases to maintain the qualifications necessary for appointment to the commission and such fact is brought to the City Council by council investigation or a petition of ten (10) or more voters of the City of Hutchinson, the commissioner may be removed from office by a four-fifths (4/5) majority vote of the council. Upon the filing of any such fact, together with a copy of such charges, such commissioner shall be notified of the time and place where the council will meet to consider such charges. Notice shall be given at least ten days before the meeting, at which time such commissioner shall have the right to be present and produce testimony and evidence. No member of the commission shall continue in office after the loss of any qualification required for appointment to that position.
(Ord. 20-820, passed 2-9-2021)
Section 11.09. SALE OF PUBLIC UTILITY. The public utility owned by the City shall not be sold or otherwise disposed of by the City unless the full terms of the proposition of sale or other disposition are embodied in an ordinance approved by the city council and by a majority of the voters voting thereon at a general or special municipal election. Approval by the voters as described herein shall not apply to the sale or other disposition of component parts of the public utility which are no longer needed for public utility purposes.