(A) Purposes. The city’s Development Authority, hereinafter referred to as the “Authority”, is created to promote, develop and advance the business prosperity and economic welfare of the city, for its citizens and its industrial complex; to encourage and assist through loans, investments or other business transactions in the locating of new business and industry within the city, and to rehabilitate and assist existing businesses and industries therein; to stimulate and promote the expansion of all kinds of business and industrial activity, which will tend to advance business and industrial development and maintain the economic stability of the city; provide maximum opportunities for employment, encourage thrift, and improve the standard of living of the citizens of the city; to cooperate and act in conjunction with other federal, state or local organizations in the promotion and advancement of industrial, commercial, agricultural and recreational developments within the city and the county; and to furnish money and credit, land and industrial sites, technical assistance and such other aid as may be deemed requisite to approved and deserving applicants for the promotion, development and conduct of all kinds of business activity within the city.
(B) Board management and control; appointment and terms of members; vacancies; removal of members. The management and control of the city’s Development Authority, its property, operations, business and affairs shall be lodged in a Board of not fewer than 12, nor more than 21, persons, who shall be appointed by the Council and be known as members of the Authority. One member of the Authority shall also be a member of Council. One member of the Authority shall be the City Manager. Other members shall be appointed by the Council and shall include representatives of business, industry and labor. The members of the Authority first appointed shall serve respectively for terms of one year, two years and three years, divided equally, or as nearly equal as possible, among these terms. Thereafter, members shall be appointed for terms of three years each. A member may be reappointed for such additional term or terms as the Council may deem proper. If a member resigns, is removed or for any other reason his or her membership terminates during his or her term of office, a successor shall be appointed by the Council to fill out the remainder of his or her term. Members in office at the expiration of their respective terms shall continue to serve until their successors have been appointed and have qualified. The Council may at any time remove a member of the Authority by an order duly entered of record or by other appropriate action and may appoint a successor member for any member so removed.
(C) Qualifications of Board members.
(1) In addition to the appointing agencies hereinbefore named at division (B) above, such other persons, firms, unincorporated associations and corporations, who reside, maintain offices or have economic interests, as the case may be, in the municipality, are eligible to participate in and request the governing body to appoint members to the Development Authority.
(2) Any person employed by, owning an interest in, or otherwise associated with a public utility company, as defined in W.Va. Code § 24-1-2, or bank, as defined in W.Va. Code § 31A-1-2, may serve as a Board member and shall not be disqualified from serving as a Board member because of conflict of interest, as defined in W.Va. Code § 61-10-15, and shall not be subject to prosecution under the provisions of said section when the violation is created solely as a result of his or her relationship with the bank or public utility. This member must recuse himself or herself from Board participation regarding the conflicting issue as provided for in division (D) below.
(D) Compensation; expenses; conflict of interest.
(1) No member of the city’s Development Authority shall receive any compensation, whether in formal salary, per diem allowance or otherwise, in connection with his or her services as such member. Each member shall, however, be entitled to reimbursement by the city’s Development Authority for any necessary expenditures in connection with the performance of his or her general duties as such member.
(2) Each member present, during any meeting of the Authority when any question is put, shall vote, unless he or she is immediately and particularly interested therein. Before such a question is put, any member having direct personal or pecuniary interest therein shall announce this fact and request to be excused from voting. The presiding officer of the meeting or a majority of the members present may then excuse the member from voting upon the question. The disqualifying interest must be such as affects the member directly, and not as one of a class.
(3) Whenever a person associated with a public utility or bank as set out in division (C) above has a conflict of interest between the Board and that public utility or bank, then he or she must recuse himself or herself from any vote, discussion or other activity associated with the board or its members that creates the conflict of interest.
(E) Authority to be a public corporation. The city’s Development Authority and the members thereof shall constitute and be a public corporation under the name of the city’s Development Authority with its offices at the municipal building, and as such, shall have perpetual succession, may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, and have and use a common seal.
(F) Powers generally. The city’s Development Authority is hereby given power and authority as follows:
(1) To make and adopt all necessary bylaws and rules for its organization and operations not inconsistent with laws;
(2) To elect its own officers, to appoint committees and to employ and fix compensation for personnel necessary for its operation;
(3) To enter into contracts with any person, agency, governmental department, firm or corporation, including both public and private corporations, and generally to do any and all things necessary or convenient for the purpose of promoting, developing and advancing the business prosperity and economic welfare of the county in which it is intended to operate, its citizens and industrial complex, including, without limiting any of the foregoing, the construction of any building or structure for lease to the federal government or any of its agencies or departments, and in connection therewith to prepare and submit bids and negotiate with the federal government or such agencies or departments in accordance with plans and specifications and in the manner and on the terms and conditions and subject to any requirements, regulations, rules and laws of the United States of America for the construction of said buildings or structures and the leasing thereof to the federal government or such agencies or departments;
(4) To amend or supplement any contracts or leases or to enter into new, additional or further contracts or leases upon such terms and conditions, for such consideration and for such term of duration, with or without option of renewal, as may be agreed upon by the authority and such person, agency, governmental department, firm or corporation;
(5) Unless otherwise provided for in, and subject to the provisions of, such contracts, or leases, to operate, repair, manage and maintain such buildings and structures and provide adequate insurance of all types and in connection with the primary use thereof and incidental thereto to provide such services, such as barber shops, newsstands, drugstores and restaurants, and to effectuate such incidental purposes, grant leases, permits, concessions or other authorizations to any person or persons, upon such terms and conditions, for such consideration and for such term of duration as may be agreed upon by the authority and such person, agency, governmental department, firm or corporation;
(6) To delegate any authority given to it by law to any of its officers, committees, agents or employees;
(7) To apply for, receive and use grants-in-aid, donations and contributions from any source or sources and to accept and use bequests, devises, gifts and donations from any person, firm or corporation;
(8) To acquire real property by gift, purchase or construction, or in any other lawful manner, and hold title thereto in its own name and to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of all or part of such real property which it may own, either by contract or at public auction, upon the approval by the Board of Directors of the Development Authority;
(9) To purchase or otherwise acquire, own, hold, sell, lease and dispose of all or part of any personal property which it may own, either by contract or at public auction;
(10) Pursuant to a determination by the Board that there exists a continuing need for programs to alleviate and prevent unemployment within the county in which the Authority is intended to operate or aid in the rehabilitation of areas in said county which are underdeveloped, decaying or otherwise economically depressed and that moneys or funds of the Authority are necessary therefor, to borrow money and execute and deliver the Authority’s negotiable notes, mortgage bonds, other bonds, debentures and other evidences of indebtedness therefor, on such terms as the Authority shall determine and give such security therefor as shall be requisite, including giving a mortgage or deed of trust on its real or personal property and facilities in connection with the issuance of mortgage bonds;
(11) To raise funds by the issuance and sale of revenue bonds in the manner provided by the applicable provisions of W.Va. Art. 8-16, it being hereby expressly provided that a Development Authority created under this section is a “governing body” within the definition of that term as used in said W.Va. Code Art. 8-16; and
(12) To expend its funds in the execution of the powers and authority herein given, which expenditures, by the means authorized herein, are hereby determined and declared as a matter of legislative finding to be for a public purpose and use, in the public interest and for the general welfare of the people of the state, to alleviate and prevent economic deterioration and to relieve the existing critical condition of unemployment existing within the state.
(G) Incurring indebtedness; rights of creditors. The city’s Development Authority may incur any proper indebtedness and issue any obligations and give any security therefor, which it may deem necessary or advisable in connection with carrying out its purposes, as hereinbefore mentioned. No statutory limitation with respect to the nature, or amount, interest rate or duration of indebtedness, which may be incurred by municipalities or other public bodies, shall apply to indebtedness of the Authority. No indebtedness of any nature of the Authority shall constitute an indebtedness of the city or a charge against any property of said city. The rights of creditors of the 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.
(H) Agreements in connection with obtaining funds; joint development entities.
(1) The city’s Development Authority may, in connection with obtaining funds for its purposes, enter into any agreement with any person, firm or corporation, including the federal government, or any agency or subdivision thereof, containing such provisions, covenants, terms and conditions as the Authority may deem advisable.
(2) The city’s Development Authority may jointly, with two or more county governing bodies, municipal governing bodies, municipal development authorities or county development authorities, form and hold partnership, ownership or membership interests in a partnership, corporation or limited liability company, the sole purpose of which is to develop and own one or more joint economic development projects.
(I) Property, bonds and obligations of authority exempt from taxation. The city’s Development Authority shall be exempt from the payment of any taxes or fees to the state, or any subdivision thereof, or to any officer or employee of the state, or other subdivision thereof. The property of the Authority shall be exempt from all local and municipal taxes. Bonds, notes, debentures and other evidence of indebtedness of the Authority are declared to be issued for a public purpose and to be public instrumentalities and shall be exempt from taxes.
(J) Contributions; funds and accounts; reports; audit and examination of books, records and accounts. Contributions may be made to the city’s Development Authority from time to time by the County Commission or any municipal corporation therein, and by any persons, firms or corporations, which shall desire so to do. All such funds and all other funds received by the Authority shall be deposited in such bank or banks as the Authority may direct and shall be withdrawn therefrom in such manner as the Authority may direct. The Authority shall keep strict account of all its receipts and expenditures and shall make a quarterly report to the city, containing an itemized statement of its receipts and disbursements during the preceding quarter. Within 60 days after the end of each fiscal year, the Authority shall make an annual report, containing an itemized statement of its receipts and disbursements for the preceding year, and such annual report shall be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of W.Va. Code Art. 59-3, and the publication area for such publication shall be the county. The books, records and accounts of the Authority shall be subject to audit and examination by the office of the state’s Tax Commissioner and by any other proper public official or body in the manner provided by law.
(K) Sale or lease of property; reversion of assets upon dissolution. In the event the Board of the city’s Development Authority shall so determine, the Authority may lease or sell all of its property and equipment, either by contract or at public auction, on such terms and conditions as the Authority may fix and determine. Upon the dissolution of the Authority, all of its assets and property shall revert to and become the property of the city.
(L) Employees to be covered by worker’s compensation. All employees of the Authority eligible thereto are deemed to be within the Worker’s Compensation Act of the state, being W.Va. Code Ch. 23, and premiums on their compensations shall be paid by the Authority as required by law.
(M) Liberal construction of this section. It is the purpose of this section to provide for promotion, development and advancement of the business prosperity and economic welfare of the city, its citizens and its industrial complex, and this subchapter shall be liberally construed as giving to the Authority full and complete power reasonably required to give effect to the purposes hereof.
(N) Appropriation of adequate funding for advertising. The Council of the city may appropriate and expend an amount in an amount set by Council from time to time per capita per annum for advertising the municipality and for the promotion of city events.
(Ord. passed 8-10-2009; Ord. passed 12-14-2015; Ord. passed 12-28-2015)
Statutory reference:
Municipal development authorities, see W.Va. Code §§ 7-12-1 et seq.