(A) There is a City Development Commission, which Commission shall be the City Department of Economic Development.
(B) This Commission shall have five members, all to be appointed in the manner provided division (C) below.
(C) The members of the City Development Commission shall be appointed by the Mayor in the following manner: three of the members to be so appointed shall be selected by the Mayor; one member shall be nominated by the County Council; and one member shall be nominated by the City Common Council. The City Clerk-Treasurer shall promptly notify each body required to make a nomination or selection at least 30 days prior to the expiration of the current term of a particular member of the Commission. The body or person required to make a nomination or selection shall do so within 15 days after receiving the notice. Each of the nominees and selectees shall then be appointed by the Mayor within ten days after receiving the nomination or selection. Each member shall serve for a term of four years. In the event that the County Council or the City Common Council shall fail to make a nomination within the time specified herein, the Mayor may select and appoint a person without a nomination. In the event any person appointed as a Commissioner shall fail to qualify within ten days after the mailing to him or her of the notice of his or her appointment, or if any commissioner, after qualifying, shall die, resign, vacate the office or be removed, a new Commissioner shall be selected or nominated and appointed to fill the vacancy in the same manner as the Commissioner in respect to which the vacancy occurs, and the commissioner so appointed shall serve for the remainder of the vacated term. Commissioners shall hold over after the expiration of their terms until the respective successors have been duly appointed and have qualified. The Commissioners shall receive no salaries but shall be entitled to reimbursement for any expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties.
(D) No person shall be appointed as a Commissioner who is not either a resident of the city, employed in the city, or owner of a business in the city. If any Commissioner shall cease to qualify in one of the above categories, his or her appointment on the Board shall thereby terminate and his or her office shall become vacant.
(1) Each Commissioner, before entering upon his or her duties, shall take and subscribe an oath of office in the usual form, to be endorsed upon the certificate of his or her appointment, which shall be promptly filed with the Clerk-Treasurer.
(2) The Commission originally appointed shall meet within 30 days after his or her appointment at a time and place designated by the Mayor for the purpose of organization, and shall meet to reorganize in February of each succeeding year.
(3) The Commission shall elect one of its members as President, one as Vice-President, and one as Secretary, each of which shall serve from the day of his or her election until January 31 next following his or her election, and until his or her successor is elected and qualified.
(E) The Commission shall adopt any by-laws, rules and regulations as it may deem necessary for the proper conduct of its proceedings. Regular or special meetings shall be held at times as the Commission may determine and upon notice as it may fix, and a majority of the Commission shall constitute a quorum, and concurrence of a majority shall be necessary to authorize any action.
(F) Any Commissioner may be removed from office for neglect of duty, incompetency, disability to perform his or her duties or any other good cause by the officer or board which nominated him or her. A Commissioner so removed may obtain judicial review of the removal by filing a complaint in the County Circuit Court, but the burden of proof shall be upon the officer or board which removed the Commissioner. The cause shall be placed on the advanced calendar and be tried as other civil cases are tried by the court without the intervention of a jury. An appeal from the judgment may be taken as in civil actions.
(G) No Commissioner shall have any pecuniary interest in any contract, employment, leases, purchase or sale made under the provisions of this act, and any transaction made in which any Commissioner has a pecuniary interest shall be void ab initio; provided, however, that any property required for the purposes of this act in which a Commissioner has a pecuniary interest may be acquired, but only by gift or condemnation.
(H) The City Development Commission is hereby granted all the powers and duties set out in I.C. 18-6-4.5 and acts amendatory thereto.
(`81 Code, § 17-2) (Ord. 423, passed 9-11-1967; Am. Ord. 478, passed 4-21-1975)