(A) Commission created. Pursuant to I.C. 36-7-4-202(a), there is hereby created a municipal Advisory Plan Commission, to be legally known as the “Roachdale Plan Commission”, with all the powers and duties set forth in I.C. 36-7-4 and state law generally for municipal advisory plan commissions. This specifically includes, therefore, the powers and duties set forth in I.C. 36-7-4-401 et seq.
(1) The Commission shall consist of seven members to be appointed pursuant to I.C. 36-7-4-207(b) as follows.
(a) The Town Council shall appoint three members who must be elected or appointed municipal officials or employees in the municipal government.
(b) The President of the Town Council shall appoint four citizen members, no more than two of whom may be affiliated with the same political party. Per I.C. 36-7-4-216, each citizen member shall be appointed because of the member’s knowledge and experience in community affairs, the member’s awareness of the social, economic, agricultural and industrial problems of the area, and the member’s interest in the development and integration of the area. A citizen member may not hold other elective or appointive office in municipal, county or state government, except in the case of an area plan commission membership on the school board, the park board, or the board of directors for public utilities or board of trustees for utilities created under I.C. 8-1-11.1. A citizen member must be a resident of the jurisdictional area of the Commission. Two citizen members shall initially be appointed for a term of three years and two shall initially be appointed for a term of four years.
(c) In addition, there may be additional voting and advisory members of the Commission appointed by other entities, such as the Park Board, as required by law.
(d) These appointments shall be certified as required by I.C. 36-7-4-212.
(e) As a term expires, each new appointment shall be for a four-year term, but a member shall continue in office until her or his successor is duly appointed and qualified.
(f) If an appointment for any new term is not made by the first Monday in January, the incumbent member shall continue to serve for the remaining full term.
(g) If a vacancy occurs on the Commission, the appropriate entity shall appoint a member to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.
(2) The appointing authority may remove a member from the Plan Commission for cause. The appointing authority must mail notice of the removal, along with written reasons for the removal, to the member at his or her residence address. A member who is removed may, within 30 days after receiving notice of the removal, appeal the removal to the Circuit or Superior Court of the county. The court may, pending the outcome of the appeal, order the removal or stay the removal of the member.
(3) The Commission shall be organized and operate as required by I.C. 36-4-7-300 et seq.
(B) Initial Commission duties. As required by I.C. 36-7-4-205 et seq., the Commission shall:
(1) Adopt a comprehensive plan for the town;
(2) Establish and record its jurisdictional boundaries;
(3) Make all required notifications to other entities, such as the County Plan Commission;
(4) Organize and elect officers; and
(5) Take all other actions required by law of a plan commission.
(Prior Code, § 30.05) (Ord. 2-1995, passed 5-10-1995; Ord. 2-1995, passed 1-16-1996; Ord. 5-2015, passed 6-15-2015)