By: Madla S.B. No. 1093
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 amending Chapter 616, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular
1-2 Session, 1991, by increasing the number of counties to which it
1-3 applies and making provisions for a county utility board to operate
1-4 and manage certain utilities.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. That Section 1 of Chapter 616, Acts of the 72nd
1-7 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991 (Article 717v, Vernon's Civil
1-8 Statutes), is amended to read:
1-9 "Section 1: This Act applies only to a county <with> which,
1-10 at the time of initial action under this Act, has a population of
1-11 <1,500> 10,000 or less, according to the most recent federal
1-12 census."
1-13 SECTION 2. That Chapter 616, Acts of the 72nd Legislature,
1-14 Regular Session, 1991 (Article 717v, Vernon's Civil Statutes), is
1-15 amended by adding a new Section as follows:
1-16 "Section 2a: (a) In lieu of the commissioners' court being
1-17 directly responsible for the entire operation and management of the
1-18 county's wastewater collection and treatment system, water supply
1-19 and distribution system, or the solid waste collection and
1-20 disposition system, any one or combination thereof, the
1-21 commissioners' court, by an order adopted at a regular meeting of
1-22 such court, may adopt the provisions of this section and make this
1-23 section applicable to the county and thereby establish a "_____
2-1 County Utility System Board" as a body politic and corporate.
2-2 (b) The Board shall thereafter have the responsibility of
2-3 the day to day operation and management of such utility system or
2-4 systems which are placed under its control by the order making this
2-5 section applicable to the county which are owned or in the process
2-6 of being acquired by the county, subject to the provisions of this
2-7 section.
2-8 (c) The Board shall be composed of five directors. One
2-9 director shall be an ex-officio member of the Commissioner's Court
2-10 appointed by the court each year on the first meeting of the fiscal
2-11 year of the county and shall serve for a period of one year. Four
2-12 directors shall be designated as position 1, 2, 3, and 4, and shall
2-13 be elected by qualified voters in the county and shall serve for
2-14 two year terms beginning on October 1st immediately following the
2-15 election. Elections will be held each September on the second
2-16 Saturday in odd numbered years for Positions 1 and 3 and on the
2-17 second Saturday in even numbered years for Positions 2 and 4 on.
2-18 Candidates for directors shall be qualified voters of the county.
2-19 The election shall be administered by the County Election
2-20 Administrator, or by the County Clerk if the county does not have a
2-21 County Election Administrator. The election shall be governed by
2-22 the Texas Election Code.
2-23 (d) The Commissioner's Court shall appoint members to the
2-24 board to serve until an election is held for the positions as
2-25 specified in article 2(c).
3-1 (e) The directors shall organize by the selection, for one
3-2 year terms, of a president, a vice-president, a secretary and a
3-3 treasurer, provided that the secretary and the treasurer may be
3-4 combined. The person serving as secretary, treasurer and/or
3-5 secretary/treasurer need not be a member of the board of directors.
3-6 The president shall (i) preside at all of the meetings of the
3-7 board, and (ii) shall be its chief executive officer and budget
3-8 officer. The vice president shall assume the duties of the
3-9 president when the president is incapacitated or absent from
3-10 meetings. The secretary (or secretary/treasurer) shall keep the
3-11 records and the minutes of the meetings of the Board. The
3-12 treasurer (or secretary/treasurer) shall be responsible for the
3-13 deposit of all revenues of the system or systems operated and
3-14 managed by the Board (for which provision is made by paragraph (h)
3-15 of this section), in a separate account or accounts with the county
3-16 depository, provided that any funds set aside for the payment or
3-17 security of obligations issued on behalf of the Board may be
3-18 deposited with the paying agent for which provision is made in the
3-19 order authorizing the issuance of such obligations. The board
3-20 shall require the execution of a bond in an amount equal to the
3-21 estimated amount to be in the hands, at any one time, of the person
3-22 holding the office of treasurer (or secretary/treasurer). The
3-23 premium of such bond shall be paid by the Board.
3-24 (f) The budget officer, with the assistance of the business
3-25 manager, shall prepare a tentative budget (showing the anticipated
4-1 revenues by sources and the expenses of the utility system and the
4-2 Board) for the ensuing fiscal year of the county and submit it to
4-3 the Board no later than June 1. The board shall schedule a public
4-4 hearing to consider the budget no later than July 1. The secretary
4-5 shall post notice of the hearing not later than ten (10) days prior
4-6 to the hearing. Said notice shall include the date, time, and
4-7 place of the hearing. The final budget shall be adopted by the
4-8 board no later than July 15 and submitted to the commissioner's
4-9 court for consideration by the commissioners' court as a part of
4-10 the county budget. If no county budget has been adopted, the
4-11 budget for the utility system or systems shall be the same as for
4-12 the preceding fiscal year, except the budget will be increased
4-13 proportionally if the prior budget was not for a complete fiscal
4-14 year. It shall be the affirmative duty of the board and the
4-15 commissioners' court to include in the budget an amount which is
4-16 sufficient to provide for the payment and security of any
4-17 outstanding obligations approved by the attorney general to the
4-18 extent such obligations are payable from the revenues of the
4-19 utility system or systems.
4-20 In the by-laws the Board shall provide procedures for the
4-21 disbursement of funds it has deposited in the separate accounts
4-22 with the county depository only after the board has determined the
4-23 funds for payment were properly budgeted, except such approval of
4-24 the board shall not be required for the transfer of funds to a
4-25 paying agent for the payment and security of outstanding
5-1 obligations approved as to legality by the attorney general. All
5-2 checks issued by the Board shall be signed by at least two persons,
5-3 one of whom must be an officer of the Board.
5-4 (g) During the period between the enactment of this
5-5 legislation and the next fiscal year, the board shall operate with
5-6 the budget approved by Commissioners' Court for the current fiscal
5-7 year.
5-8 (h) The board shall have the power to establish rates and
5-9 charges for services, fees for connections and reconnections,
5-10 security deposits, and other charges required for efficient
5-11 operation of the utility system or systems for which it has day to
5-12 day responsibility for management and operation.
5-13 (i) The Board shall have no power:
5-14 (1) to incur or issue any obligation payable, in whole
5-15 or in part, from ad valorem taxes; or
5-16 (2) to exercise the power of eminent domain. Such
5-17 power shall be vested solely in the county.
5-18 (j) The Board may provide for extensions and improvements to
5-19 the system or systems, but may not provide for the extension of
5-20 service to any area within the boundaries or extra-territorial
5-21 jurisdiction of an incorporated city, town, village or conservation
5-22 and reclamation district established under Article 16, Section 59
5-23 of the Constitution of Texas, without the consent of the governing
5-24 body of the city whose territory is involved.
5-25 (k) With the approval of the commissioners' court, the Board
6-1 may purchase an existing privately owned wastewater collection and
6-2 treatment system or water supply and distribution system, either or
6-3 both, which supplies retail utility service to inhabitants of the
6-4 county. With the consent of the directors of a conservation and
6-5 reclamation district, the commissioners' court may assume the
6-6 outstanding obligations of a conservation and reclamation district
6-7 established within the county under the provisions of Article 16,
6-8 Section 59 of the Constitution of Texas, and provide for the
6-9 abolition of such district, but the area of the former district
6-10 shall remain secondarily liable for the payment of any taxes
6-11 pledged to the payment of outstanding indebtedness of the former
6-12 district until such indebtedness has been paid off, provision has
6-13 been made for the payment of such obligations, or they have been
6-14 refunded by the county. Such taxes, if any shall be required,
6-15 shall be levied against the area of the former district by the
6-16 commissioners' court as the successor to the district.
6-17 (l) The Board may adopt by-laws, not inconsistent with the
6-18 provisions of this act to regulate its affairs and establish the
6-19 area within the county where it shall have the responsibility of
6-20 providing utility service, but in no event shall the service area
6-21 of the Board include any territory, which on the effective date of
6-22 this act, is served by another under a certificate of public
6-23 convenience and necessity during the time such certificate is
6-24 effective. The by-laws may provide for a seal for the Board.
6-25 (m) The Board shall be subject to the open meetings act, the
7-1 open records act, the County Purchasing Act, and the Public Funds
7-2 Investment Act of 1987, as amended (Article 842a-2, Vernon's Texas
7-3 Civil Statutes).
7-4 The Board is a "governmental unit" as such term is defined in
7-5 the Texas Tort Claims Act and all of its activities are in the
7-6 performance of an essential governmental function.
7-7 (n) The county, by the adoption of an order at a regular
7-8 meeting of the commissioner's court, may authorize the issuance of
7-9 obligations (payable in whole or in part from ad valorem taxes) on
7-10 behalf of the Board for the purpose of acquiring, improving,
7-11 repairing, or extending the county's wastewater collection,
7-12 treatment system, water supply and distribution system, or the
7-13 solid waste collection and disposition, either or any combination
7-14 of the three, but if the obligations are payable from ad valorem
7-15 taxes and revenues, the board must also approve the issuance of the
7-16 obligations. If obligations are to be issued for one or more of
7-17 such purposes and are to be payable solely from the gross revenues
7-18 of the system or systems, the board, by resolution, may authorize
7-19 their issuance. Nothing herein shall prohibit an appropriation by
7-20 the county of any available funds for assistance in the maintenance
7-21 or operation of the system or systems, but no agreement or pledge
7-22 to do so beyond the then current fiscal year shall be effective
7-23 unless there is compliance with the provisions of Article 11,
7-24 Section 7 of the Constitution. The provisions of Chapter 271 of
7-25 the Local Government Code, the Bond Procedures Act (Article 717k-6,
8-1 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); Chapter 784, Acts of the 61st
8-2 Legislature, Regular Session, 1969, as amended (Article 717,k-3,
8-3 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); Chapter 503, Acts of the 54th
8-4 Legislature, Regular Session, 1955, as amended (Article 717k,
8-5 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); Chapter 656, Acts of the 68th
8-6 Legislature, Regular Session, 1983 (Article 717q, Vernon's Texas
8-7 Civil Statutes), Chapter 3, Acts of the 61st Legislature, Regular
8-8 Session, 1969, as amended (Article 717k-2, Vernon's Texas Civil
8-9 Statutes), and Section 2 to 9 of this Act shall apply to and govern
8-10 the county and the Board when operating under this Section except
8-11 that the maximum maturity of any obligation issued under this
8-12 Section shall be 40 years.
8-13 (o) Each member of the Board shall be entitled to
8-14 reimbursement of actual expenses incurred in the conduct of the
8-15 business of the Board and a fee for each meeting attended as
8-16 established by the Commissioners' Court.
8-17 SECTION 3. All actions heretofore taken by or on behalf of
8-18 the commissioners court of a county in the acceptance of grants for
8-19 the construction of a water supply and distribution system or a
8-20 wastewater collection and treatment system, either or both, or the
8-21 acceptance of a conveyance of such a system or systems, and in each
8-22 situation, all actions taken by or on behalf of the county since
8-23 the acquisition of such a system or system (including the operation
8-24 thereof) are hereby ratified, confirmed, and validated. This
8-25 section does not validate any action which is the subject of
9-1 litigation upon the effective date of this act.
9-2 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
9-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
9-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
9-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
9-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
9-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
9-8 passage, and it is so enacted.