§ 8-1-11.1-1 — Creation; board of trustees; directors; membership; appointment; qualifications; tenure; proceedings

Indiana § 8-1-11.1-1

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Art. 1: UTILITIES GENERALLY
• Ch. 11.1: Department of Public Utilities of Consolidated City

Text

(a) In addition to the other executive
departments of a consolidated city, there is hereby created in any such
city a department of public utilities, which shall have as its head and be
under the general supervision and control of a board of seven (7)
members, to be known as the "Board of Directors for Utilities," to be
appointed annually by the board provided for and designated as the
"Board of Trustees for Utilities" under this chapter.
(b) Said board of trustees for utilities shall consist of five (5)
members.
(c) All such trustees and all successors of the trustees shall hold
over after the expiration of their terms until their respective successors
have been duly appointed and have qualified.
(d) At the expiration of the respective terms of each of the members
of the board of trustees, the said board of trustees shall nominate the
successors of those members to membership on such board, each of
which nominees shall be appointed by the mayor of the consolidated
city within ten (10) days after receiving such nominations, and such
succeeding members shall serve for a term of four (4) years. In the
event any person who has been appointed at any time as a member of
such board of trustees shall fail to qualify within ten (10) days after the
mailing to that person of notice of the person's appointment; or if any
member after qualifying shall die, resign, vacate such office by
becoming a nonresident of such city, or be removed as provided in this
section, new members of such board of trustees shall be chosen to fill
such vacancy in the same manner as is provided for the member as to
whom such vacancy occurs, and the member so chosen shall serve for
the remainder of the term for which the member whose place is so
filled was appointed.
(e) No person shall be appointed as trustee who is less than
thirty-five (35) years of age, and who has not been a resident of such
city for at least five (5) years immediately preceding the person's
appointment. If any such trustee shall cease to be a legal resident of
said city the trustee's membership on said board shall terminate and
become vacant.
(f) Each member of such board of trustees for utilities, before
entering upon the member's duties, shall take and subscribe an oath of
office in the usual form, to be indorsed upon the certificate of the
member's appointment, which shall be promptly filed with the clerk of
the city-county council.
(g) A majority of all the members of said board of trustees for
utilities shall be necessary to constitute a quorum.
(h) Said board of trustees shall elect one (1) member thereof as
president, one (1) as vice-president, and one (1) as secretary, who shall
serve from the date of their election until one (1) year from the first day
of January next following their election and until their successors are
elected and have qualified.
(i) Said board of trustees shall keep a record of its proceedings. The
expense of the meetings and proceedings of said board and of keeping
a record of the meetings and proceedings, and the salary of the
members of the board of trustees, shall be paid upon a written request
of the presiding officer and secretary of the board of trustees by the
board of directors for utilities out of the funds belonging to said utility
district. Each member of said board of trustees for utilities shall receive
as compensation for the member's services as such a salary in the sum
of fifty dollars ($50) per year.
(j) The board of trustees for utilities shall meet annually on the first
Monday of December of each year, at the principal office of said
department of public utilities, for the purpose of transacting any
business pertaining to its duties, and for the purposes of electing
officers of such board of trustees and of selecting and appointing
members of the board of directors for utilities, who shall serve for one
(1) year from the first day of January following and until their
successors are appointed and qualified.
(k) All persons so selected and appointed as such directors and all
the successors of the directors appointed at any time shall be chosen by
a majority vote of all the members of said board of trustees. Said board
of trustees shall have power to remove summarily and at any time any
director and in such event, or if a vacancy occurs in said board of
directors from any cause, said board of trustees shall appoint a
successor in like manner who shall serve for the balance of the term for
which the member whose place is so filled was appointed.
(l) No person shall be appointed a member of said board of directors
for utilities unless the person is a bona fide resident of said city and has
been such for five (5) years immediately preceding such appointment,
and is at least thirty-five (35) years of age. If any such director shall
cease to be a legal resident of said city during the term for which the
director was appointed, the director's membership on such board shall
terminate and become vacant.
(m) Each member of said board of directors for utilities before
entering upon the member's duties shall take and subscribe an oath, to
be indorsed upon the certificate of the member's appointment, which
shall be promptly filed with the clerk of the city-county council.
(n) Each of said members of said board of directors, before entering
upon the member's duties, shall execute a bond payable to the state of
Indiana, with surety to be approved by the mayor of said city, in the
penal sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000), conditioned upon the
faithful performance of the duties of the member's office and the
accounting for all moneys and property that may come into the
member's hands or under the member's control. The cost of all such
bonds shall be paid by the department of public utilities of said city.
(o) Any trustee may be removed from office for neglect of duty,
incompetency, disability to perform the member's duties, or other good
cause, by an order and judgment of the circuit or superior court of the
county in which such city is located, in the following manner, to wit:
An original complaint may be filed by either the mayor, or by a
majority of the city-county council against any such trustee setting forth
the charges preferred, and the cause shall be placed on the advanced
calendar and be tried as other civil causes are tried, by the court,
without the intervention of a jury. If such charges be sustained, the
court shall declare such office vacant. The judgment of said court shall
be final and no appeal shall lie therefrom by any party.
(p) Said board of trustees shall have power to adopt rules,
regulations and by-laws for its own governance, and may meet
regularly or specially as often as necessary to transact any business or
duties imposed upon it under this chapter or any other statute.
(q) In the event such city shall acquire in any manner provided
under this chapter more than one (1) such public utility and the
property of the acquired utilities, said board of trustees may add to such
board of directors from time to time one (1) or more additional
members, increasing such board to not exceed a total of eleven (11)
members; which members shall be appointed and shall serve under all
the provisions of this chapter governing the appointment, terms and
duties of such board of directors for utilities.
[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citation:
19-3-24-1.]
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.11, SEC.43. Amended by
P.L.136-2018, SEC.61.