§ 160A-639. General powers of the Authority.
§ 160A‑639. General powers of the Authority.
The general powers of the Authority shall include any or all of thefollowing:
(1) To sue and be sued;
(2) To have a seal;
(3) To make rules and regulations, not inconsistent with thisChapter, for its organization and internal management;
(4) To employ persons deemed necessary to carry out thefunctions and duties assigned to them by the Authority and to fix theircompensation, within the limit of available funds;
(5) With the approval of the unit of local government's chiefadministrative official, to use officers, employees, agents, and facilities ofthe unit of local government for such purposes and upon such terms as may bemutually agreeable;
(6) To retain and employ counsel, auditors, engineers, andprivate consultants on an annual salary, contract basis, or otherwise forrendering professional or technical services and advice;
(7) To acquire, lease as lessee with or without option topurchase, hold, own, and use any franchise, property, real or personal, tangibleor intangible, or any interest therein, and to sell, lease as lessor with orwithout option to purchase, transfer (or dispose thereof) whenever the same isno longer required for purposes of the Authority, or exchange same for otherproperty or rights which are useful for the Authority's purposes, including butnot necessarily limited to parking facilities;
(8) To acquire by gift, purchase, lease as lessee with orwithout option to purchase or otherwise to construct, improve, maintain,repair, operate, or administer any component parts of a public transportationsystem or to contract for the maintenance, operation or administration thereof,or to lease as lessor the same for maintenance, operation, or administration byprivate parties, including, but not necessarily limited to, parking facilities;
(9) To make or enter into contracts, agreements, deeds, leaseswith or without option to purchase, conveyances or other instruments, includingcontracts and agreements with the United States, the State of North Carolina,and units of local government;
(9a) To purchase or finance real or personal property in themanner provided for cities and counties under G.S. 160A‑20;
(10) To surrender to the State of North Carolina any property nolonger required by the Authority;
(11) To develop and make data, plans, information, surveys andstudies of public transportation facilities within the territorial jurisdictionof the Authority and to prepare and make recommendations in regard thereto;
(12) To enter in a reasonable manner lands, waters, or premisesfor the purpose of making surveys, soundings, drillings, and examinationswhereby such entry shall not be deemed a trespass except that the Authorityshall be liable for any actual and consequential damages resulting from suchentries;
(13) To develop and carry out demonstration projects;
(14) To make, enter into, and perform contracts with privateparties, and public transportation companies with respect to the management andoperation of public passenger transportation;
(15) To make, enter into, and perform contracts with any publicutility, railroad or transportation company for the joint use of property orrights, for the establishment of through routes, joint fares, or transfer ofpassengers;
(16) To make, enter into, and perform agreements with governmentalentities for payments to the Authority for the transportation of persons forwhom the governmental entities desire transportation;
(17) With the consent of the unit of local government which wouldotherwise have jurisdiction to exercise the powers enumerated in thissubdivision: to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity; and togrant franchises and enter into franchise agreements, and in all respects toregulate the operation of buses, taxicabs, and other methods of publicpassenger transportation which originate and terminate within the territorialjurisdiction of the Authority as fully as the unit of local government is nowor hereafter empowered to do within the territorial jurisdiction of the unit oflocal government;
(18) To operate public transportation systems and to enter intoand perform contracts to operate public transportation services and facilities,and to own or lease property, facilities and equipment necessary or convenienttherefor, and to rent, lease or otherwise sell the right to do so to anyperson, public or private; further, to obtain grants, loans, and assistancefrom the United States, the State of North Carolina, any public body, or anyprivate source whatsoever, but may not operate or contract for the operation ofpublic transportation systems outside the territorial jurisdiction of theAuthority except as provided by subdivision (20) of this section;
(19) To enter into and perform contracts and agreements with otherpublic transportation authorities, regional public transportation authorities,or units of local government pursuant to the provisions of G.S. 160A‑460through G.S. 160A‑464 (Part 1 of Article 20 of Chapter 160A of theGeneral Statutes); further to enter into contracts and agreements with privatetransportation companies, but this subdivision does not authorize the operationof, or contracting for the operation of, service of a public transportationsystem outside the service area of the Authority;
(20) To operate public transportation systems extending serviceinto any political subdivision of the State of North Carolina unless aparticular unit of local government operating its own public transportationsystem or franchising the operation of a public transportation system bymajority vote of its governing board, shall deny consent, but such service maynot extend more than 10 miles outside of the territorial jurisdiction of theauthority, except that vanpool and carpool service shall not be subject to thatmileage limitation;
(21) Except as restricted by covenants in bonds, notes, orequipment trust certificates, to set in its sole discretion rates, fees, andcharges for use of its public transportation system;
(22) To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out itspurpose and to exercise the powers granted to the Authority;
(23) To facilitate the coordination of transportation plans in theservice area and the activities of the member Metropolitan PlanningOrganizations;
(24) To maintain databases for the projection of future traveldemands in the region;
(25) To provide and operate regional ridesharing and vanpooloperations;
(26) To provide and operate regional transportation services forthe elderly and handicapped;
(27) To provide other transportation related services, includingair quality monitoring and analysis, as determined by the Board of Trustees;
(28) To issue bonds or other obligations of the Authority asprovided by law and apply the proceeds thereof to the financing of any publictransportation system or any part thereof and to refund, whether or not inadvance of maturity or the earliest redemption date, any such bonds or otherobligations; and
(29) To contract for, or to provide and maintain, with respect tothe facilities and property owned, leased with or without option to purchase,operated or under the control of the Authority, and within the territorythereof, a security force to protect persons and property, dispense unlawful ordangerous assemblages and assemblages which obstruct full and free passage,control pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and otherwise preserve and protectthe public peace, health, and safety; for these purposes a member of such forceshall be a peace officer and, as such, shall have authority equivalent to theauthority of a police officer of the city or county in which said member ofsuch force is discharging such duties. (1997‑393, s. 1; 1998‑70, s. 3.)