As Amended
SEC. 49-17-311. Powers and duties of authority.
The authority shall have all the rights and powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of sections 49-17-301 through 49-17-353, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the right and power:
(a) To sue and be sued in its own name;
(b) To adopt an official seal and alter the same at pleasure;
(c) To maintain an office or offices at such place or places within any county of the management area as it may determine;
(d) To plan, develop, acquire, construct, reconstruct, operate, own, manage, lease (as lessor or lessee), dispose of, participate in, maintain, repair, extend or improve one or more collection facilities or treatment facilities, whether or not such facilities are or are to be owned by the authority;
(e) To acquire, own, hold, use, lease (as lessor or lessee), sell or otherwise dispose of, mortgage, pledge or grant a security interest in any real or personal property, contract commodity or service or interest therein;
(f) To make and enforce, and from time to time amend and repeal, bylaws and rules and regulations for the management of its business and affairs and for the use, maintenance and operation of any of its collection facilities or treatment facilities and any other of its properties, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, rules and regulations requiring the pretreatment of industrial wastes and requiring industrial users to pay the construction costs of facilities that are allocable to the treatment of industrial wastes to the extent attributable to any federal government share of such costs;
(g) To fix, charge, collect, maintain and revise rates, fees and other charges, including connection charges, for any services rendered by it to any person;
(h) To apply and contract for and to accept any grants or gifts or loans or appropriations of funds or property or financial or other aid in any form from the United States or any instrumentality thereof, or from the state or any instrumentality thereof, or from any source, public or private and to comply with and make agreements with respect to, the terms and conditions thereof, subject to any agreements with bondholders;
(i) To borrow money and to issue bonds for any of its purposes, to provide for and secure the payment thereof, and to provide for the rights of the holders thereof;
(j) To invest any moneys of the authority, including proceeds from the sale of any bonds, notwithstanding any law to the contrary, but subject to any agreements with bondholders, on such terms and in such manner as the authority deems proper;
(k) To procure insurance against any loss in connection with its property, other assets and business in such amounts and from such insurers as it may deem necessary or desirable;
(l) To employ architects, engineers, attorneys, financial advisors and such other consultants as it deems proper and to fix and pay their compensation, and to appoint and retain such officers, agents and employees as it deems proper and to fix and pay their compensation;
(i) The employment of all professionals for project services shall be in strict accordance with current guidelines of the appropriate federal, state and local regulatory agencies and advertising for the procurement of such services in a local newspaper shall be mandatory. Preference may be given to the employment of regionally qualified professionals.
(ii) The management contractor employed by the authority shall not be eligible to compete for design, surveys, geotechnical, and/or construction inspection services of any facilities to be developed by the authority. The management contractor is to establish development criteria, priorities and administer quality control practices to insure compliance with the provisions of sections 49-17-301 through 49-17-353;
(m) To assume or continue any contractual or other business relationships entered into by the commission created pursuant to chapter 437, Laws of 1979;
(n) To enter on any lands, waters or premises for the purpose of making surveys, borings, soundings and examinations for the purposes of the authority;
(o) To do and perform any acts and things authorized by sections 49-17-301 through 49-17-353 under, through or by means of its officers, agents and employees, or by contracts with any person; and
(p) To enter into any and all contracts, execute any and all instruments, and do and perform any and all acts or things necessary, convenient or desirable for the purposes of the authority, or to carry out any power expressly granted in sections 49-17-301 through 49-17-353, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, contracts with public agencies (and such public agencies are hereby also empowered to enter into such contracts with the authority) which may include provisions for exclusive dealing, fee payment requirements, territorial division, and other conduct or arrangements which may have an anticompetitive effect.
(q) To be exempted from the Mississippi Agency Review Law of 1978, as amended.
(r) To exercise the power of eminent domain for the particular purpose of the acquisition of property designated by plan to sufficiently accommodate the location of treatment plants or facilities, trunk lines and such requirements related directly thereto pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 27, Title 11, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SOURCES: Laws, 1980, ch. 521, Sec. 6; 1982, ch. 378, Sec. 3, eff from and after passage (approved March 22, 1982).