2023 Indiana Code › Title 8. Utilities and Transportation › Article 1. Utilities Generally › Chapter 11.1. Department of Public Utilities of Consolidated City › 8-1-11.1-1. Creation; Board of Trustees; Directors; Membership; Appointment; Qualifications; Tenure; Proceedings

Sec. 1. (a) In addition to the other executive departments of a consolidated city, there is hereby created in any such city a department of public utilities, which shall have as its head and be under the general supervision and control of a board of seven (7) members, to be known as the "Board of Directors for Utilities," to be appointed annually by the board provided for and designated as the "Board of Trustees for Utilities" under this chapter.
(b) Said board of trustees for utilities shall consist of five (5) members.
(c) All such trustees and all successors of the trustees shall hold over after the expiration of their terms until their respective successors have been duly appointed and have qualified.
(d) At the expiration of the respective terms of each of the members of the board of trustees, the said board of trustees shall nominate the successors of those members to membership on such board, each of which nominees shall be appointed by the mayor of the consolidated city within ten (10) days after receiving such nominations, and such succeeding members shall serve for a term of four (4) years. In the event any person who has been appointed at any time as a member of such board of trustees shall fail to qualify within ten (10) days after the mailing to that person of notice of the person's appointment; or if any member after qualifying shall die, resign, vacate such office by becoming a nonresident of such city, or be removed as provided in this section, new members of such board of trustees shall be chosen to fill such vacancy in the same manner as is provided for the member as to whom such vacancy occurs, and the member so chosen shall serve for the remainder of the term for which the member whose place is so filled was appointed.
(e) No person shall be appointed as trustee who is less than thirty-five (35) years of age, and who has not been a resident of such city for at least five (5) years immediately preceding the person's appointment. If any such trustee shall cease to be a legal resident of said city the trustee's membership on said board shall terminate and become vacant.
(f) Each member of such board of trustees for utilities, before entering upon the member's duties, shall take and subscribe an oath of office in the usual form, to be indorsed upon the certificate of the member's appointment, which shall be promptly filed with the clerk of the city-county council.
(g) A majority of all the members of said board of trustees for utilities shall be necessary to constitute a quorum.
(h) Said board of trustees shall elect one (1) member thereof as president, one (1) as vice-president, and one (1) as secretary, who shall serve from the date of their election until one (1) year from the first day of January next following their election and until their successors are elected and have qualified.
(i) Said board of trustees shall keep a record of its proceedings. The expense of the meetings and proceedings of said board and of keeping a record of the meetings and proceedings, and the salary of the members of the board of trustees, shall be paid upon a written request of the presiding officer and secretary of the board of trustees by the board of directors for utilities out of the funds belonging to said utility district. Each member of said board of trustees for utilities shall receive as compensation for the member's services as such a salary in the sum of fifty dollars ($50) per year.
(j) The board of trustees for utilities shall meet annually on the first Monday of December of each year, at the principal office of said department of public utilities, for the purpose of transacting any business pertaining to its duties, and for the purposes of electing officers of such board of trustees and of selecting and appointing members of the board of directors for utilities, who shall serve for one (1) year from the first day of January following and until their successors are appointed and qualified.
(k) All persons so selected and appointed as such directors and all the successors of the directors appointed at any time shall be chosen by a majority vote of all the members of said board of trustees. Said board of trustees shall have power to remove summarily and at any time any director and in such event, or if a vacancy occurs in said board of directors from any cause, said board of trustees shall appoint a successor in like manner who shall serve for the balance of the term for which the member whose place is so filled was appointed.
(l) No person shall be appointed a member of said board of directors for utilities unless the person is a bona fide resident of said city and has been such for five (5) years immediately preceding such appointment, and is at least thirty-five (35) years of age. If any such director shall cease to be a legal resident of said city during the term for which the director was appointed, the director's membership on such board shall terminate and become vacant.
(m) Each member of said board of directors for utilities before entering upon the member's duties shall take and subscribe an oath, to be indorsed upon the certificate of the member's appointment, which shall be promptly filed with the clerk of the city-county council.
(n) Each of said members of said board of directors, before entering upon the member's duties, shall execute a bond payable to the state of Indiana, with surety to be approved by the mayor of said city, in the penal sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000), conditioned upon the faithful performance of the duties of the member's office and the accounting for all moneys and property that may come into the member's hands or under the member's control. The cost of all such bonds shall be paid by the department of public utilities of said city.
(o) Any trustee may be removed from office for neglect of duty, incompetency, disability to perform the member's duties, or other good cause, by an order and judgment of the circuit or superior court of the county in which such city is located, in the following manner, to wit: An original complaint may be filed by either the mayor, or by a majority of the city-county council against any such trustee setting forth the charges preferred, and the cause shall be placed on the advanced calendar and be tried as other civil causes are tried, by the court, without the intervention of a jury. If such charges be sustained, the court shall declare such office vacant. The judgment of said court shall be final and no appeal shall lie therefrom by any party.
(p) Said board of trustees shall have power to adopt rules, regulations and by-laws for its own governance, and may meet regularly or specially as often as necessary to transact any business or duties imposed upon it under this chapter or any other statute.
(q) In the event such city shall acquire in any manner provided under this chapter more than one (1) such public utility and the property of the acquired utilities, said board of trustees may add to such board of directors from time to time one (1) or more additional members, increasing such board to not exceed a total of eleven (11) members; which members shall be appointed and shall serve under all the provisions of this chapter governing the appointment, terms and duties of such board of directors for utilities.
[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citation: 19-3-24-1.]
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.11, SEC.43. Amended by P.L.136-2018, SEC.61.