§ 157-33. Notice, hearing and creation of authority for a county.
§ 157‑33. Notice,hearing and creation of authority for a county.
Any 25 residents of a county may file a petition with the clerk of theboard of county commissioners setting forth that there is a need for anauthority to function in the county. Upon the filing of such a petition suchclerk shall give notice of the time, place and purposes of a public hearing atwhich the board of county commissioners will determine the need for anauthority in the county. Such notice shall be given at the county's expense bypublishing a notice, at least 10 days preceding the day on which the hearing isto be held, in a newspaper having a general circulation in the county or, ifthere be no such newspaper, by posting such a notice in at least three publicplaces within the county, at least 10 days preceding the day on which thehearing is to be held.
Upon the date fixed for said hearing to be held upon notice as providedherein, an opportunity to be heard shall be granted to all residents andtaxpayers of the county and to all other interested persons. After such ahearing, the board of county commissioners shall determine (i) whetherinsanitary or unsafe inhabited dwelling accommodations exist in the countyand/or (ii) whether there is a lack of safe or sanitary dwelling accommodationsin the county available for all the inhabitants thereof. In determining whetherdwelling accommodations are unsafe or insanitary, the board of countycommissioners shall take into consideration the following: the physicalcondition and age of the buildings; the degree of overcrowding; the percentageof the land coverage; the light and air available to the inhabitants of suchdwelling accommodations; the size and arrangement of the rooms; the sanitaryfacilities; and the extent to which conditions exist in such buildings whichendanger life or property by fire or other causes.
If it shall determine that either or both of the above enumeratedconditions exist, the board of county commissioners shall adopt a resolution sofinding (which need not go into any detail other than the mere finding) andshall thereupon either (i) determine that the board of county commissionersshall itself constitute and act ex officio as an authority or (ii) appoint, ashereinafter provided, not less than five nor more than nine commissioners toact as an authority. Said authority shall be a public body and a bodycorporate and politic upon the completion of the taking of the followingproceedings:
The commissioners shall present to the Secretary of State anapplication signed by them, which shall set forth (without any detail otherthan the mere recital)
(1) That a notice has been given and public hearing has beenheld as aforesaid, that the board of county commissioners made the aforesaiddetermination after such hearing and appointed them as commissioners;
(2) The name, and official residence of each of thecommissioners, together with a certified copy of the appointment evidencingtheir right to office, the date and place of induction into and taking oath ofoffice, and that they desire the housing authority to become a public body anda body corporate and politic under this Article;
(3) The term of office of each of the commissioners, exceptwhere the authority consists of the board of county commissioners ex officio;
(4) The name which is proposed for the corporation; and
(5) The location of the principal office of the proposedcorporation.
Theapplication shall be subscribed and sworn to by each of said commissionersbefore an officer authorized by the laws of the State to take and certifyoaths, who shall certify upon the application that he personally knows thecommissioners and knows them to be the officers as asserted in the application,and that each subscribed and swore thereto in the officer's presence. The Secretaryof State shall examine the application and if he finds that the name proposedfor the corporation is not identical with that of a person or of any othercorporation of this State or so nearly similar as to lead to confusion anduncertainty he shall receive and file it and shall record it in an appropriatebook of record in his office.
When the application has been made, filed and recorded, as hereinprovided, the authority shall constitute a public body and a body corporate andpolitic under the name proposed in the application; the Secretary of Stateshall make and issue to the said commissioners, a certificate of incorporationpursuant to this Article, under the seal of the State, and shall record thesame with the application.
If the board of county commissioners, after a hearing as aforesaid,shall determine that neither of the above enumerated conditions exist, it shalladopt a resolution denying the petition. After three months shall have expiredfrom the date of the denial of any such petitions, subsequent petitions may befiled as aforesaid and new hearings and determinations made thereon.
In any suit, action or proceeding involving the validity or enforcementof, or relating to any contract of the authority, the authority shall beconclusively deemed to have been established in accordance with the provisionsof this Article upon proof of the issuance of the aforesaid certificate by theSecretary of State. A copy of such certificate, duly certified by the Secretaryof State, shall be admissible in evidence in any such suit, action orproceeding, and shall be conclusive proof of the filing and contents thereof. (1941, c. 78, s. 4; 1943, c. 636, s. 7; 1969, c. 785,s. 1; 1981, c. 21, s. 1.)