North Dakota § 23-11-11 - Powers of authority

§ 23-11-11. Powers of authority

An authority has the following powers and duties: 1. To exercise public and essential governmental functions. 2. To sue and be sued. 3. To have perpetual succession. 4. To make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of the authority. 5. To make, amend, and repeal such bylaws, rules, and regulations, not inconsistent with this chapter, as are necessary to carry into effect the powers and purposes of the authority. 6. To prepare, carry out, acquire, lease, and operate housing projects within its area of operation. 7. To provide for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, alteration, or repair of any housing project, or any part of a housing project, within the authority's area of operation. 8. To arrange or contract for the furnishing by any person or any public or private agency of services, privileges, works, or facilities for, or in connection with, a housing project or the occupants of a housing project. 9. To include, in any contract let in connection with a project, stipulations requiring that the contractor and any subcontractor comply with requirements as to minimum wages and maximum hours of labor and any conditions that the federal government may have attached to the financial aid for the project. 10. To lease or rent any dwellings, houses, accommodations, lands, buildings, structures, or facilities embraced in any housing project and, subject to the limitations contained in this chapter, to establish and revise the rents or charges in the housing project. 11. To own, hold, and improve property. 12. To purchase, lease, obtain options upon, or acquire, by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise, any property or any interest in property. 13. Subject to chapter 32-15, to acquire real property by the exercise of the power of eminent domain. 14. To sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, pledge, or dispose of any property, or any interest in property. 15. To insure, or provide for the insurance of, any property, or any operation of the authority, against any risks or hazards. 16. To procure insurance or guaranties from the federal government of the payment of any debts, or parts of debts, secured by mortgages on any property included in any of the authority's housing projects, whether the debts were incurred by the authority or not. 17. To invest any funds held by the authority in reserves or sinking funds, or any funds not required for immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which savings banks may legally invest funds subject to a savings bank's control. 18. To purchase its bonds at a price not more than the principal amount of the bonds and accrued interest, a bond so purchased is canceled. 19. To investigate, in the authority's area of operation, living, dwelling, and housing conditions and the means and methods of improving the same. 20. To determine, within the authority's area of operation, where slum areas exist or where there is a shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of low or moderate income. 21. To make studies and recommendations relating to the problem of clearing, replanning, and reconstructing the slum areas within the authority's area of operation and the problem of providing dwelling accommodations for the persons of low or moderate income, and to cooperate with the city, county, or state, or any political subdivision in any action taken in connection with these problems. 22. To engage in research, studies, and experimentation on the subject of housing within the authority's area of operation. 23. To conduct examinations and investigations and to hear testimony and take proof under oath at public or private hearings on any matter material for the authority's information. 24. To administer oaths, issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses or the production of books and papers, and to issue commissions for the examinations of witnesses who are outside of the state or unable to attend before the authority or who are excused from attendance. 25. To make available to appropriate agencies, including those charged with the duty of abating or requiring the correction of nuisances or like conditions, or of demolishing unsafe or unsanitary structures within the authority's area of operation, the authority's findings and recommendations with regard to any building or property where conditions exist which are dangerous to the public health, morals, safety, or welfare. 26. To issue bonds from time to time for any of its corporate purposes. 27. To issue refunding bonds for the purpose of paying or retiring bonds previously issued by the authority. 28. To borrow money or accept grants or other financial assistance from the federal government for, or in aid of, any housing project within the authority's area of operation. 29. To take over or lease or manage any housing project or undertaking constructed or owned by the federal government. 30. To comply with conditions and to enter into mortgages, trust indentures, leases, or agreements as may be necessary, convenient, or desirable to carry out this section. 31. To do any and all things necessary or desirable to secure the financial aid or cooperation of the federal government in the undertaking, construction, maintenance, or operation of any housing project. 32. To exercise all or any part or combination of powers granted. 33. To exercise within the authority's area of operation the authority granted to the industrial commission under section 54-17-07.6. 34. To exercise the power to provide operation and maintenance expenses under subdivision a of subsection 23 of section 23-11-24. 35. To exercise the power to pledge the general obligation of the city or county for which the housing authority is created in accordance with subsection 23 of section 23-11-24. 36. To develop a plan identifying the public purposes of the authority's ownership, conditions that would make the authority's ownership no longer necessary for accomplishing those public purposes, and a plan to divest the authority's ownership interest as soon as economically prudent once those conditions occur and to effectuate the plan. 37. To exercise other powers and duties as may be necessary to carry out the purposes and provisions of this chapter. An authority, in exercising the powers specified in subsections 23, 24, and 25, may act through one or more of the commissioners or through other persons designated by the authority. Provisions of law with respect to the acquisition, operation, or disposition of property by other public bodies are not applicable to an authority unless there is specific provision to that effect by the legislative assembly. The construction of a housing project is a public improvement for which an authority is subject to the requirements of chapter 48-01.2.