Bill Text: GA HB557 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Monroe County; board of commissioners of roads and revenues; reconstitute

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-05-11 - Effective Date [HB557 Detail]

Download: Georgia-2011-HB557-Introduced.html

---

11 LC 28 5600/AP

House Bill 557 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE)

By: Representatives Holmes of the 125th and Dickey of the 136th

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT

To amend an Act to create a board of commissioners of roads and revenues for the county of Monroe, approved August 19, 1907 (Ga. L. 1907, p. 318), as amended, so as to reconstitute such board; to provide for its composition, manner of election, and filling of vacancies; to provide for its officers and powers and duties; to provide for its personnel and compensation; to provide for disbursements, audits, and certain operations; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

An Act to create a board of commissioners of roads and revenues for the county of Monroe, approved August 19, 1907 (Ga. L. 1907, p. 318), as amended, is amended by revising Sections 1 through 9 as follows:

"SECTION 1.
Creation; composition; districts.

(a) There is created the Board of Commissioners of Monroe County which shall conduct and administer the county affairs of Monroe County. The board shall be composed of five members. For the purpose of electing members of the board, Monroe County shall be divided into four commissioner districts which shall be and correspond to those four numbered districts described in and attached to and made a part of this Act and further identified as Plan Name: monroecc6 Plan Type: Local User: Blake Administrator: Monroe.

(b) When used in such attachment, the terms 'Tract' and 'BG' (Block Group) shall mean and describe the same geographical boundaries as provided in the report of the Bureau of Census for the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia. The separate numeric designations in a Tract description which are underneath a 'BG' heading shall mean and describe individual Blocks within a Block Group as provided in the report of the Bureau of the Census for the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia. Any part of Monroe County which is not included in any such district described in that attachment shall be included within that district contiguous to such part which contains the least population according to the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia. Any part of Monroe County which is described in that attachment as being in a particular district shall nevertheless not be included within such district if such part is not contiguous to such district. Such noncontiguous part shall instead be included within that district contiguous to such part which contains the least population according to the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia. Except as otherwise provided in the description of any commissioner district, whenever the description of such district refers to a named city, it shall mean the geographical boundaries of that city as shown on the census map for the United States decennial census of 2000 for the State of Georgia.

(c) Reserved.

(d) Commissioner Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4 as they exist on December 31, 2002, shall continue to be designated as Commissioner Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, but as newly described under this Act, and on and after January 1, 2003, such members of the board serving on such date shall be deemed to be serving from and representing their respective districts as newly described under this section.

(e)(1) The member elected from the county at large shall serve as chairperson of the board of commissioners.

(2) There shall be a vice chairperson of the board of commissioners who shall serve in the absence of the chairperson. The position of vice chairperson shall be rotated in numerical order among the membership of the board elected from districts. The member who is vice chairperson shall hold such position contemporaneously with his or her term of office. At the expiration of a term, the vice chairperson position shall rotate numerically to the next district. For the term of office beginning January 1, 1989, the vice chairperson shall be the member from Commissioner District 2.

(f)(l) If a member elected from a district moves such member's residence from the district or if the member at large moves such member's residence from Monroe County, the member's position on the board of commissioners shall automatically become vacant.

(2) Any vacancies occurring on the board shall be filled as provided in this Act and by other applicable laws, provided that any person seeking to fill a vacancy shall meet the residency requirements and other qualifications for membership."

SECTION 2.
Powers and duties.

That said commissioners shall have and are hereby invested with exclusive jurisdiction and control over the following matters, to wit: in directing, caring, and controlling for all the property of the county according to law; in fixing and levying taxes according to law; in establishing, altering, and abolishing public roads, bridges and ferries, and private ways according to law; in establishing, abolishing, or changing election precincts and militia districts according to law; in supervising the tax collector's and receiver's books, and allowing the insolvent lists of said county; in providing for the collection and enforcement of the road law and the collection of road tax; in settling all claims or accounts of officers having the care, management, keeping, collecting, or disbursement of money belonging to the county or appropriated for its use or benefit and bringing them to settlement, and requiring such reports from them as may be necessary to a full and complete understanding of the financial conditions of the county; controlling, caring for, and managing the convicts of said county according to law, and creating rules and regulations for the support and care of the poor of the county, and the promotion and preserving of the health of the public; of electing and appointing all minor officials of the county whose election or appointment is not otherwise provided by law, such as superintendent of roads and bridges of the county; overseers and guards of the convicts and chain gang; janitor of the courthouse, county physician and health officers, and other guards as needed and authorized by law; in the regulation of peddlers' licenses and general exercising and all other powers and duties not herein specified, and formerly vested by law in the ordinary when sitting for county purposes, and to have and exercise such other powers as are granted by law, or are essential to a complete and proper administration of all county property and county finances. Said commissioners shall have entire control and management of the convicts of said county sentenced to work on the public works and roads of said county, and shall so employ them according to law, so long as said county shall have and maintain a county chain gang.

SECTION 3.
Judicial powers.

Reserved.

SECTION 4.
Presiding officer; election and duties of clerk.

(a) The chairperson shall preside over meetings of the board and shall be authorized to vote in all matters, but the chairperson shall have no power by virtue of such office other than as a presiding officer.

(b) The commissioners shall, at the first meeting in January of each year, elect a clerk to be known as the clerk of the county commissioners, but the clerk shall not be a member of the board of commissioners. The clerk must have a practical knowledge of bookkeeping, and it shall be his or her duty to keep a full and accurate record of all the proceedings of the board. The clerk shall keep a complete and accurate record of all the business of the county as contracted by the board. It shall be his or her duty to make as many statements as the board may require, showing the financial condition of the county, and perform such other duties of a clerical nature as may be required of him or her by the board. The clerk shall regularly attend all meetings of the board and keep the books of same stored in a fireproof vault and subject to the inspection of the public at any time. The board of commissioners shall provide the clerk with such blank books as may be necessary to keep said records in the order herein prescribed. The clerk shall receive for his or her compensation some reasonable sum to be fixed by the board of commissioners at the time of electing the clerk, which sum shall not be changed during the year for which the same is fixed and which shall be payable out of the county treasury on warrant of the commissioners. The clerk shall be subject to removal at any time at the instance of the board.

SECTION 5.
Road superintendent.

That said commissioners shall in each year, at their first meeting, elect a road superintendent, who shall have some practical knowledge of road building and road repairing, and such other hands and equipment as may be provided by said board for the building and repairing of roads, who shall devote all of his or her time to the faithful and efficient discharge of his or her duties as herein stated, and as may be further required of him or her by said board of commissioners. The road superintendent shall not be a member of said board of commissioners, and shall be subject to removal at any time by said board. Said road superintendent shall receive a salary to be fixed by said board of commissioners at the time of electing said superintendent, and which shall not be changed during the year for which the same is fixed, which shall be paid on warrant of said commissioners, out of the county funds.

SECTION 6.
Disbursements; oaths; bond; removal; compensation.

All claims of any character whatever for money made on or against said county, shall be presented to said board and audited by them at their regular meetings, when the same shall be approved or disapproved by a majority of said board. All demands so approved by said board shall be paid only by warrants drawn by said commissioners on the county treasurer, and signed by a majority of the same or signed by two commissioners and countersigned by the clerk of said board, when it shall become payable by the county treasurer. This provision does not apply to the scrip of jurors and county officers issued under order of the courts, nor to the fees of the coroner's jury. All moneys received by said commissioners from any source whatever, and for which they are required to issue receipts, shall be delivered by them into the hands of the county treasurer, and only disbursed as above provided. That, before any of said commissioners shall assume the duties of this office, they shall take and subscribe the following oath: 'I, _______________, duly elected commissioner for Monroe County, do solemnly swear that I will discharge the duties of said office to the best of my ability; so help me God;' which shall be administered by the probate judge of said county and filed in his or her office and recorded on his or her minutes. Said commissioners shall be subject to removal by the judge of the superior court of said county for malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, as well as for incompetence or neglect of duty. All proceedings instituted for the purpose of removal shall be signed by not less than 25 freeholders of said county, and the same filed and personally served, if possible, 15 days before the time of hearing, which shall be evidenced by rule nisi duly granted by the court. Said petition shall fully and distinctly set forth the grounds upon which said removal is asked, showing wherein the conduct of said commissioner is in violation of this Act. Either side shall have the right of appeal from the decision of the court to the Supreme Court under the same rules and regulations governing the grant or refusal of injunctions. In the event that any commissioner should be ordered removed by the court, his or her office shall become at once vacant unless an appeal is filed, and his or her successor shall be appointed by said judge of the superior court, who shall hold until the next meeting of the grand jury of said county, at which time they shall appoint said successor until the first regular election, at which time said vacancy shall be regularly filled for the full time. If any such election should occur within 30 days from the date of said judgment declaring said vacancy, then the same shall be only supplied by the election of a successor for the full term. The chairperson of the board of commissioners shall be compensated in the amount established by the State of Georgia to be paid from the funds of Monroe County. The other members of the board of commissioners shall be compensated in the amount established by the State of Georgia to be paid from the funds of Monroe County.

SECTION 7.
Quarterly financial statement.

Reserved.

SECTION 7A.
Annual audit.

That there shall be, up to and through December 31st each year, from and after the passage of this Act, a complete annual audit of the books and records of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, by a duly certified public accountant so qualified as such by and under the law as set out in Code Section 43-3-1 of the O.C.G.A.; that the said audit shall be completed and filed in a timely manner.

SECTION 7B.
Restrictions on transfer of ownership/operation
of landfill, acceptance of waste generated out of county.

(a) Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the governing authority of Monroe County shall not transfer ownership or operation of the Strickland Loop Landfill to any private party unless such action is ratified by a majority of the electors of Monroe County voting on the question.

(b) Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the governing authority of Monroe County shall not authorize the acceptance of any waste generated out of the county to be deposited into the Strickland Loop Landfill unless such action is ratified by a majority of the electors of Monroe County voting on the question.

SECTION 8.

Reserved.

SECTION 9.
Local custodian and local registrar authorized to retain all
fees authorized by Code Sections 31-10-8 and 31-10-27 of the O.C.G.A..

Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the local custodian and local registrar of Monroe County, as such terms are defined in Code Section 31-10-1 of the O.C.G.A shall be authorized to retain all fees authorized by Code Sections 31-10-8 and 31-10-27 of the O.C.G.A."

SECTION 2.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.