Arkansas Code of 1987 (2023) › Title 14 - LOCAL GOVERNMENT (§§ 14-1-101 — 14-387-706) › Subtitle 11 - ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS, FACILITIES, AND AUTHORITIES (§§ 14-184-101 — 14-188-122) › Chapter 186 - HARBORS AND PORT FACILITIES GENERALLY (§§ 14-186-101 — 14-186-417) › Subchapter 2 - MUNICIPAL PORT AUTHORITIES (§§ 14-186-201 — 14-186-215) › Section 14-186-207 - Powers generally

In order to enable any city or incorporated town to carry out the purposes of this subchapter, a municipal port authority shall:
(1)
Have the powers of a body corporate, including the power to sue and be sued, to make contracts, and to adopt and use a common seal;
(2)
Be authorized and empowered to rent, improve, develop, operate, maintain, lease, buy, own, acquire, mortgage, otherwise encumber, sell, and dispose of, and otherwise deal with such real, personal, or mixed property as the authority may deem proper, necessary, or desirable to carry out the purposes and provisions of this subchapter, all or any of them.
(3)
Be authorized and empowered to acquire, construct, maintain, equip, and operate any wharves, docks, piers, quays, elevators, compresses, refrigeration storage plants, warehouses, and other structures and any and all facilities needed for the convenient use of them in aid of commerce, whether by roadway, highway, water, air, or other, and industrial and commercial operations involving water, waterways, rail, highways, roadways, pipelines, air, or other transportation sources, including, without limitation, the dredging of approaches, the construction of utilities, belt line roads and highways and bridges and causeways, and other improvements and facilities necessary or useful, and shipyards, shipping facilities, terminal railroad and transportation facilities useful and convenient;
(4)
Appoint, employ, and dismiss at pleasure such employees as may be selected by the authority board, and to fix and pay their compensation;
(5)
Establish an office for the transaction of its business at such place as, in the opinion of the authority, shall be advisable or necessary in carrying out the purposes of this subchapter and the ordinances of any city or town in connection with it;
(6)
Be authorized and empowered to create and operate such agencies and departments as the board may deem necessary or useful for the furtherance of any of the purposes of this subchapter;
(7)
Be authorized and empowered to pay all necessary costs and expenses involved in and incident to the formation and organization of the authority, and incident to the administration and operation of it, and to pay all other costs and expenses reasonably necessary or expedient in carrying out and accomplishing the purposes of this subchapter;
(8)
Be authorized and empowered to act as agent for the federal government, the State of Arkansas, or any agency, department, corporation, or instrumentality of either of them in any matter coming within the purposes or powers of the authority;
(9)
Have the power to adopt, alter, or repeal its own bylaws, rules, and regulations consistent with this subchapter governing the manner in which its business may be transacted and in which the power granted to it may be enjoyed, and may provide for the appointment of such committees, and the function of them, as the authority may deem necessary or expedient in facilitation of its business;
(10)
Be authorized and empowered to sell, lease, or contract concerning any of its docks, wharves, piers, quays, elevators, compresses, refrigeration storage plants, warehouses, industrial or commercial plants and facilities, and other improvements and facilities of whatever nature and to permit the use of any of these facilities by any person engaging in any industrial or commercial activity.
(11)
Be authorized and empowered to acquire, construct, equip, and operate any and all facilities in or about the ports, harbors, river-rail terminals, barge terminals, and parks for the purpose of securing and developing industrial and commercial operations;
(12)
Be authorized and empowered to do any and all other acts and things authorized in this subchapter or required to be done, whether or not included in the general powers mentioned in this section; and
(13)
Be authorized and empowered to do any and all things necessary to accomplish the purposes of this subchapter.
Acts 1947, No. 167, § 3; 1983, No. 622, § 2; A.S.A. 1947, § 19-2722.