(A) Establishment of Department. Pursuant to I.C. 36-7-12-4, the County Department of Economic Development is hereby established for the purpose of economic development or pollution control facilities and shall be controlled by the County Economic Development Commission.
(B) Appointment of members. The members of the County Economic Development Commission shall be appointed by the County Executives. One of the members shall be selected by the County Executives, one member shall be nominated by the county fiscal body, and one shall be nominated by the most populous municipality of the county.
(C) Term of appointment. The County Economic Development Commissioners shall take office upon their appointment, and their terms run from February 1 after their original appointment for a period of:
(1) Three years, if selected by the County Executive;
(2) Two years, if nominated by the county fiscal body; and
(3) One year, if nominated by the most populous municipality.
(D) Procedure for selections and nominations for memberships of economic development commissions; expiration of terms.
(1) After the adoption of an ordinance establishing a Department of Economic Development, the clerk of the fiscal body establishing the Department shall promptly notify the executives and fiscal bodies required to make selections and nominations by this section. The officers required to make selections and nominations shall do so within 15 days after receiving that notice. Each selectee and nominee shall be appointed by the appropriate executive officer ten days after he or she receives the nomination.
(2) (a) At the expiration for the respective terms of each of the original Economic Development Commissioners, their respective successors shall be selected and nominated, before the expiration of the term, in the same manner as the original Commissioner, and each succeeding Commissioner shall serve for a term of four years.
(b) A Commissioner shall hold over after the expiration of his or her term until his or her successor is appointed and has qualified. (See I.C. 36-7-12-9, as added by Acts 1981, Pub. Law No. 309, § 31.)
(E) Appointment without nomination; vacancies.
(1) If a fiscal body fails to make a nomination within the time specified by division (I) below (I.C. 36-7-12-9), the executive may select and appoint a person without a nomination.
(2) If a person appointed as an Economic Development Commissioner fails to take the oath of office required by division (F) below (I.C. 36-7-12-11), within ten days after the notice of his or her appointment is mailed to him or her, or if any Commissioner, after qualifying, dies, resigns, vacates his or her office, or is removed from office, a new Commissioner shall be appointed to fill the vacancy in the same manner as the Commissioner in respect to whom the vacancy occurs was appointed. A Commissioner appointed under this division (E) shall serve for the remainder of the vacated term. (See I.C. 36-7-12-10, as added by Acts 1981, Pub. Law No. 309, § 31.)
(F) Oath of office. Before beginning his or her duties, each Economic Development Commissioner shall take and subscribe an oath of office in the usual form to be indorsed upon the certificate of his or her appointment. The certificate shall be promptly filed with the Clerk of the fiscal body that established this Department.
(I.C. 36-7-12-11)
(G) Designation of initial and annual meetings; election of President, Vice-President, and Secretary; terms of officers.
(1) An Economic Development Commission shall meet within 30 days after its original appointment, at a time and place designated by the executive of the unit, for the purpose of organization, and shall meet to reorganize in February of each succeeding year.
(2) At the meeting required by division (G)(1) above, an Economic Development Commission shall elect one of its members as President, one Vice-President, and one as Secretary. Each officer shall serve from the date of his or her election until January 31 after his or her election, and until his or her successor is elected and qualified. (See I.C. 36-7-12-12, as added by Acts 1981, Pub. Law No. 309, § 31.)
(H) Adoption of by-laws, rules, and regulations; regular or special meetings; quorum; approval of actions; public records.
(1) An Economic Development Commission may adopt the by-laws, rules, and regulations that it considers necessary. Regular or special meetings shall be held four at times and upon notice fixed by the Commission, either by resolution or in accordance with the by-laws, rules, and regulations adopted.
(2) A majority of the members of an Economic Development Commission constitutes a quorum.
(3) Actions of an Economic Development Commission must be approved by a majority of the members of the Commission.
(4) The records of an Economic Development Commission are public records. (See I.C. 36-7-12-13, as added by Acts 1981, Pub. Law No. 309, § 31; Acts 1981, Pub. Law No. 310, §72.)
(I) Removal of Commissioner; judicial review; appeal.
(1) (a) An economic development Commissioner may be removed from office for neglect of duty, incompetency, inability to perform his or her duties, or any other good cause, by the executive or fiscal body that selected or nominated him or her.
(b) The Commissioner removed may obtain judicial review of the removal by filing a complaint in a Circuit or Superior Court in the county, and the burden of proof is upon the executive or fiscal body that removed the Commissioner.
(2) (a) The cause shall be placed on the advanced calendar and be tried as other civil causes are tried by the court, without a jury.
(b) The court’s judgment may be appealed in the same manner as any civil action. (See I.C. 36-7-12-14, as added by Acts 1981, Pub. Law No. 309 § 31.)
(J) Salary for Economic Development Commissioner prohibited; certain expenses allowed. An Economic Development Commissioner is not entitled to any salary, but is entitled to:
(1) Reimbursement for expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of his or her duties; and
(2) A per diem allowance for each day he or she attends a Commission meeting, if that allowance:
(a) Does not exceed the per diem allowance for members of the general assembly; and
(b) Is authorized by the fiscal body that established the Commission. (See I.C. 36-7-12-15, as added by Acts 1981, Pub. Law No. 309, § 31.)
(K) Conflict of interest; disclosure; right to acquire property by gift or condemnation.
(1) An Economic Development Commissioner shall disclose any pecuniary interest in any employment, financing agreement, or other contract made under this chapter before any action by the Commission on it, and shall not vote on any such matter.
(2) Notwithstanding any other law, a member of the fiscal body of a unit may have a pecuniary interest in any employment, financing agreement, or other contract made under this section if he or she discloses his or her pecuniary interest before any action by the fiscal body on it and does not vote on any such matter.
(3) If any property in which an Economic Development Commissioner or member of a fiscal body of a unit has a pecuniary interest is property required for the purposes of this chapter, that property may be acquired, but only by gift or condemnation. (See I.C. 36-7-12-16, as added by Acts 1981, Pub. Law No. 309, § 31.)
(Council Ord. 08-10-02-11, passed 8-10-2002)