(A) The city has by ordinance previously acquired the waterworks and water distribution system of K-T Electric and Water Company through the establishment of Irvine Municipal Utilities.
(B) Utilities revenue bonds of the city are to be issued by the city in connection with the acquisition, and it is contemplated that the project of municipal utilities shall in the indeterminate future include the substantial renovation, modification, extension and improvement of the sewer facilities of the city.
(C) The city, pursuant to authority of a holding of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky in the case of Keathley vs. Town of Martin, (1951), 246 SW(2) 152, is empowered and authorized to appoint an independent commission for the operation of the utility to be presently acquired, to the end that the management, control and operation of the waterworks and water distribution system should be vested in an independent city commission free from political influence, so that the system may be operated in a businesslike manner for the sole purpose of serving the public in the most economic manner.
(D) There is hereby created a commission to be styled “The City of Irvine Utility Commission” (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “Commission”), to be composed of three members who, together with their successors, shall be named and appointed by the Mayor, subject to the ratification and approval of the City Council.
(1) The members of the Commission shall be citizens, taxpayers and legal voters of the city, and shall not at the time of their appointment be indebted to the city, either directly or indirectly, nor shall any of them be surety on the official bonds of any officers of the city.
(2) No person shall be eligible for membership on the Commission, and no person shall be appointed a member thereof, who has, within the last two years before his or her appointment, held any city, county, state or federal office, or been a member of any committee of any political party, or who is related within the third degree to the Mayor or any member of the City Council. No officer or employee of the city, whether holding a paid or an unpaid office, shall be eligible to be appointed as a member of the Commission or to be employed by it in any capacity.
(3) If at any time during the term of office of any member of the Commission such member shall become a candidate for, or be elected to, or appointed to any public office, he or she shall automatically vacate his or her membership on the Commission, and the Mayor, subject to the ratification of the City Council, shall forthwith appoint another in his or her place.
(4) The first membership of the Commission shall consist of one person appointed for a term of one year; one person appointed for a term of two years; and one person appointed for a term of three years. The terms of office of the first members of the Utility Commission shall be deemed to commence August 1, 1962, notwithstanding the fact that the city may not, on that date, have obtained formal title to the waterworks and water distribution system initially constituting the municipal utilities.
(5) Upon the expiration of the terms of the first members, successors shall be appointed for terms of three years each. It shall be permissible for any member to be re-appointed upon the expiration of any term, providing that member is then and continues to be qualified for membership according to the provisions of this section.
(6) Each member of the Commission shall furnish bond in the penal sum of $5,000 in good corporate surety to do business in the state, such bond to be conditioned upon the faithful performance of his or her official duties. The bonds and sureties shall be approved by the City Council. The premium of the surety company in each case shall be paid as a part of the cost of operating the municipal utilities and charged to the Operation and Maintenance Fund provided in the ordinance authorizing the issuance of the bonds. The salary or compensation of each member of the Commission is hereby fixed in the sum of $3,600 per annum, the same to be paid in each year in 12 installments monthly at the end of each calendar month out of the above-mentioned Operation and Maintenance Fund; provided, however, that in any month the normal operating and maintenance charges shall first be paid and the compensation of the members of the Commission shall then be paid only if cash funds are available in the Operation and Maintenance Fund. If such funds are not available, the payment of compensation shall be deferred and may be made out of the first available moneys in the Operation and Maintenance Fund after payment in each month of the normal operation and maintenance charges; and provided further that such compensation shall be a charge only against the Operation and Maintenance Fund, and shall not become at any time a direct liability of the city, constituting an obligation against the General Fund of the city.
(E) At the next regular meeting of the City Council following the adoption of this section, the Mayor shall tender to the City Council nominations for the first membership in the Commission, designating those nominated or appointed for each of the one-, two-, and three-year terms. If the nominations or appointments are ratified and approved by the City Council, such appointees shall promptly assume office by taking an oath similar to the oath prescribed by § 228 of the Kentucky Constitution, and by giving bond with good surety as herein required.
(1) From and after the acquisition of the waterworks and water distribution system of the city, the Commission shall have absolute and exclusive control of the operation and fiscal management of the water system, and all other portions of the city’s municipal utilities, as, if and when acquired. Rates and charges for service rendered by the municipal utilities shall be fixed by ordinance of City Council, upon recommendations and studies of the Utility Commission. The provisions, covenants and agreements set forth in city ordinances adopted July 12, 1962, relating to the issuance of “City of Irvine Utilities Revenue Bonds,” and the establishment of the initial rates to be applicable thereto, are hereby recognized to constitute valid and binding contracts of the city with the prospective holders of revenue bonds and the coupons attached thereto. The city’s municipally owned sanitary sewer system may (and shall, if same is, by appropriate proceedings of the city, joined to and consolidated with the municipal utilities) be placed under the control of the Commission.
(2) The Commission shall provide rules, regulations and bylaws for the management of the municipal utilities, and for the conduct of its business therein. It shall have the power and authority to do any and all acts necessary and proper in connection with the management and operation of the system, to purchase or contract to purchase all supplies, and to cause to be performed all work necessary in connection therewith; provided there are proper funds legally usable for that purpose under state statutes relating to municipally owned utilities, and under the ordinance adopted July 12, 1962, in connection with the issuance of the above-mentioned utilities revenue bonds. The Commission shall select such employees as may be necessary for the conduct of this business, subject to the qualifications and inhibitions set forth in division (D) above, and shall fix the compensation to be paid to its employees, having in mind, however, the funds available therefor. Obligations incurred by the Commission shall be obligations against the revenues or prospective revenues of the municipal utilities only, and against only such portions thereof as may be available for the payment of such obligations under the provisions of law and of the above-mentioned ordinances. If any employee shall be entrusted with the handling of money, that employee shall be required by the Commission to give bond with good surety in a penal sum not less than the maximum estimated amount it is anticipated that employee may have in his or her custody at any one time, and the premiums for any corporate surety in connection therewith shall constitute a proper operating cost, and may be paid from funds available for such cost. The Commission may arrange for a blanket bond covering all employees if such procedure appears to be advantageous and more economical. Before the expiration of the bonds of the members of the Commission, or of any employee or employees, the person covered by such bond shall close his or her accounts and make a full accounting to the Commission of all funds he or she has handled.
(F) The Commission shall make or cause to be made and delivered to the City Clerk, as soon as possible after the close of each calendar month, detailed reports showing the collections and expenditures and the amounts apportioned during the preceding month to each fund created by the above-mentioned ordinance authorizing the issuance of utilities revenue bonds. The moneys deposited to each of the funds shall be segregated and secured as provided in the ordinance.
(G) Two members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any regular meeting or at any other meeting of which all members have received proper and adequate notice. In connection with the adoption of any motion, resolution or order, or the approval of any matter under consideration by the Commission, the affirmative approving vote of at least two members shall be required.
(H) The members of the Commission shall be removable from office by a majority vote of the City Council at a regular meeting, but only for misconduct and upon written charges tendered to the member in question at least ten days before such meeting. The member in question shall have the right to appear and be heard in his or her own defense or by legal counsel, and to confront witnesses. After service of written charges, the member may be suspended until his or her case has been decided by the City Council, but that member shall be heard in his or her own defense not later than the second regular meeting after charges, are tendered, or the member shall be deemed exonerated.
(I) Any person, firm or corporation (including the city) injured by any misconduct, mismanagement or misappropriation of funds by the Commission, or by any member or any employee thereof, shall be entitled to maintain an action on the bond of the person or persons responsible for that injury.
(Prior Code, § 31.45) (Ord. passed 7-12-1962; Ord. passed 4-13-1964; Ord. passed 12-11-1967; Ord. 24-04, passed 2-12-2024)