(a)The Authority is hereby created for the following purposes and is granted the following authority: to purchase, own, operate, or provide for the operation of land transportation facilities; and to contract for transit services; to conduct studies; and to contract with other governmental agencies, private companies, and individuals.
(b)The Authority shall be a body politic and corporate with the powers incident to a municipal corporation under the laws of the State of Vermont consistent with the purposes of the Authority and shall further have the purposes and powers set forth herein.
(c)The Authority is granted the authority to exercise all powers necessary, appurtenant, convenient, or incidental to the carrying out of the aforesaid purposes, including the following rights and powers
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(a) The Authority is hereby created for the following purposes and is granted the following authority: to purchase, own, operate, or provide for the operation of land transportation facilities; and to contract for transit services; to conduct studies; and to contract with other governmental agencies, private companies, and individuals.
(b) The Authority shall be a body politic and corporate with the powers incident to a municipal corporation under the laws of the State of Vermont consistent with the purposes of the Authority and shall further have the purposes and powers set forth herein.
(c) The Authority is granted the authority to exercise all powers necessary, appurtenant, convenient, or incidental to the carrying out of the aforesaid purposes, including the following rights and powers:
(1) To sue and be sued.
(2) To adopt, use, and alter at will a corporate seal.
(3) To acquire, purchase, hold, lease as a lessee, and use any franchise or property—whether real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible—or any interest therein, necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of the Authority, and to sell, lease as lessor, transfer, or dispose of any property or interest therein acquired by it.
(4) To fix, alter, charge, and establish rates, fares, and other charges for the services and facilities within its area of operation, which rates, fees, and charges shall be equitable and just.
(5) To acquire and operate, or provide for the operation of local transportation systems, public or private, within its area of operation.
(6) To make contracts of every name and nature and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient for the carrying on of its business.
(7) To enter into management contracts with any person for the management of a public transportation system controlled by the Authority for such period of time and under such compensation and other terms and conditions as shall be deemed advisable by the Authority.
(8) To accept gifts or grants or loans of money or other property and to enter into contracts, leases, or other transactions with any federal agency, the State, any agency of the State, or with any other public body of the State, including municipalities, school districts, and other authorities.
(9) To borrow money and issue evidence of indebtedness as provided by 24 V.S.A. chapter 53. For the purpose of that chapter, the grand list of the Authority shall be deemed to be the total of the grand lists of member municipalities, and the debt limit of the Authority shall not be diminished by any obligation incurred by a member municipality alone. Obligations incurred under such chapter shall be the joint and several obligations of the Authority and of each member municipality but shall not affect any limitation on indebtedness of a member municipality. The cost of debt service shall be included in the annual budget of the Authority as provided in section 7 of this chapter and shall be allocated among the member municipalities as set forth in section 7. Where voter approval is required pursuant to 24 V.S.A. chapter 53, the Board of Commissioners shall determine the number and location of polling places, and when a majority of all the voters present and voting on the question from all of the member municipalities at such meeting vote to authorize the issuance of bonds, the Board of Commissioners shall be authorized to issue the bonds as provided in chapter 53. The counting of ballots shall be conducted by the Board of Commissioners together with the town or city clerk from each member municipality or his or her designee.
(10) To develop transportation plans and to coordinate its planning and programs with those of appropriate municipal, county, and State agencies and other political subdivisions of the State.
(11) Within Chittenden County and its member municipalities, to acquire by the exercise of the power of eminent domain any real property that it may have found necessary for its purposes, in the manner provided for the condemnation of land or rights therein as set forth in 19 V.S.A. §§ 501-514, and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.
(12) To adopt necessary rules consistent with the provisions hereof.
(13) To do all acts and things necessary or convenient for the conduct of its business and the general welfare of the Authority in order to carry out the powers granted to it by this chapter or any other law. (Added 1973, No. 122, § 4, eff. Feb. 2, 1973; amended 2003, No. 56, § 48, eff. June 4, 2003; amended 2009, No. 71 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. July 1, 2011; 2015, No. 23, § 128.)