Oklahoma § 82-1102 - Creation of authority - Joint authorities - Status Dissolution - Limitation on obligations

§ 82-1102. Creation of authority - Joint authorities - Status Dissolution - Limitation on obligations

(a) There is hereby established in each incorporated city and

town and in each county of the state a public body corporate and

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 82. Waters and Water Rights

politic which shall be an agency of the State of Oklahoma and shall

be known as the "port authority" of the city or town or of the

county. Port authorities created in this act may be combined to

form joint port authorities by cooperative agreement executed by the

governing bodies of any city or county or cities or counties. Such

joint authorities formed by such cooperative agreement shall have

all the powers and jurisdiction enumerated in this act. The

authority shall not transact any business or exercise its powers

hereunder until or unless the governing body of the city or town by

appropriate ordinance, or the county by appropriate resolution,

declares that there is need for an authority to function in the

city, town, or county. No member of said authority shall serve as

such who owns land, other than a residence, or represents in a

fiduciary capacity or as agent any person who owns land located in

an area within five (5) miles of lands surveyed or examined for port

locations. Any member of said authority who has any interest which

will conflict with the interests of the authority shall be subject

to removal. Any member of the authority owning lands or having

lands under his control as agent or in a fiduciary capacity in an

area surveyed or examined for port location shall be deemed to have

a conflict of interest and subjected to removal, except this

limitation or membership and conflict of interest shall not apply

where the site of a port has been presently engineered and

designated by a port authority already organized under this act. A

port authority created hereunder shall be a body corporate and

politic which may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, and shall

have the powers and jurisdiction enumerated in Sections 1 to 14,

inclusive, of this act. The exercise by such port authority of the

powers conferred upon it shall be deemed to be essential

governmental functions of the State of Oklahoma, but no port

authority shall be immune from liability by reason thereof.

(b) Any municipal corporation or county creating or

participating in the creation of a port authority in accordance with

this act may expend funds not otherwise appropriated to defray the

expense of surveys and examinations incidental to the purposes of

the port authority so created and may appropriate to the authority

any available funds not otherwise appropriated for expenditure by

the authority for any purpose authorized by this act.

(c) Subject to making due provisions for payment and performance

of its obligations, a port authority may be dissolved by the

subdivision or subdivisions creating it, and in such event the

properties of the port authority shall be transferred to the

subdivision creating it, or, if created by more than one

subdivision, to the subdivisions creating it in such manner as may

be agreed upon between such subdivisions. Obligations of the

authority shall not be obligations of the State of Oklahoma, nor of

any city, town, or county which creates said authority, unless said

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 82. Waters and Water Rights

obligations are specifically accepted by a majority vote of the ad

valorem taxpaying registered voters of such city, town, or county

voting on the issue. Notice of such election shall be published at

least once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general

circulation in the county, the first publication thereof to be at

least ten (10) days prior to said election. The notice of said

election shall set forth clearly and concisely the issue on which

the vote is being taken.

Added by Laws 1959, p. 391, § 2, emerg. eff. July 15, 1959. Amended

by Laws 1963, c. 305, § 2.