Delaware General Assembly

CHAPTER 116

FORMERLY

SENATE BILL NO. 92

AS AMENDED BY HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 2 AND

SENATE AMENDMENT NO. 1

WHEREAS, the City of New Castle, as an incorporated municipality, seeks authority to manage and operate systems for the furnishing of steam, manufactured gas, natural gas, heat, power, and wired and wireless telecommunications or other communication services within the City of New Castle's corporate limits;

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE (Two-thirds of all members elected to each House thereof concurring therein):

(a) A Municipal Services Commission for the City of New Castle is hereby created, the business and affairs of which shall be managed by or under the direction of a Board composed of three Commissioners who shall be residents of and qualified voters of the City of New Castle and who shall have resided in said City for at least three years prior to their appointment.

(b) The Commissioners shall serve until their successors shall have been appointed and qualified. One of said Commissioners shall be appointed by the Mayor of the City, one by the Council of the City, and one by the Trustees of the New Castle Common of said City. In the month of March in each year a successor to the Commissioner whose term expires on April 1 in that year shall be appointed for the term of three years by the power who appointed the member whose term is to expire.

(c) Any vacancy during a term shall be filled for the remainder of the term by appointment of the power who made the original appointment. In exercising the above appointing power, the Mayor shall not appoint himself, the Council shall not appoint one of its own members, and the Trustees of the Common shall not appoint one of its own members.

(d) Definitions. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this Chapter, shall have meanings ascribed to them in this section:

(vi) 'Telecommunications' shall include, but is not limited to, internal communications;

(a) The Board, in April of each year, shall elect one of their number as President, and shall appoint a Secretary and a Treasurer, neither of whom need be a Commissioner.

(b) The Treasurer of the Commission shall hold the funds of the Commission in one or more separate accounts at such banks and trust companies and upon such terms and conditions as the Board may by resolution from time to time prescribe, and shall pay the same out on orders signed by the President and Secretary. The Treasurer shall give such additional bond as the Board may require.

(c) No Commissioner shall hold any office of profit under the Commission, except as otherwise provided in Section 11, or contract with it for work or supplies.

Section 3. Commission Authority; Water, Light and Additional Systems; Board Authority

(a) The Commission shall have control of the water and electric light supply in the City of New Castle, and the management and operation of the City water system and the City light system shall be entirely under its control, direction and supervision.

with any person, firm, association, corporation, or entity, one or more Additional Systems within the corporate limits of the City of New Castle.

(c) For the purposes set forth in Section 3(a) and Section 3(b) of this Chapter, the Commission shall have the power to enter into contracts on behalf of the City and in the name of the Municipal Corporation. The Commission shall have charge of the collection of and shall receive revenue due for water and light and any other Additional System managed and operated by it, and shall fix the rates for water and light and for goods and/or

services furnished by any such Additional System from time to time.

(d) The Board shall appoint a superintendent and regulate his duties, and shall provide for such other employees as may from time to time be necessary, and shall fix the salary or pay of all employees.

(e) The Board shall provide for all supplies and work that may from time to time be necessary, and in general shall have full charge of the maintenance and operation of the City water and light system and the Additional System managed and operated by it.

(f) The Commission shall have the power to borrow temporarily from time to time on the faith and credit of the City in order to provide for the expenses of maintenance, replacement and operation of the water and light system, as well as any Additional System that the Commission, in its discretion, chooses to manage and operate; but the Commission shall have no power to enlarge or extend the water and light system, plant, mains, lines, or apparatus, or Additional System, except out of surplus earnings, without the authority and approval of the Council of the City first had and obtained.

Section 4. Board Meetings; Promulgation of Rules and Regulations; Collection of Sums Due

(a) The Board shall meet at least once every month, and shall have power to make all needful rules and regulations for their meetings and for the regulation of the employees.

(b) The Board shall have the power to make rules regulating the use and supply of water and light by and to consumers, and the goods and/or services furnished by any Additional System(s).

(c) The Board shall establish regulations for the payment of bills for water and light, and any Additional System(s), and may cause suit to be brought in the name of the Municipal Corporation for all bills overdue. All sums due for water shall be a lien upon the property to which such water was furnished in the same ways as the taxes due the City of New Castle.

(d) The Board shall arrange for the prompt collection of all sums due for water and light, and for services and/or goods furnished by any Additional System(s), and shall have power to make rules for cutting off the service when bills are overdue.

Section 5. Quarterly Statement; Annual Statement and Report

(a) The Commission shall furnish to the Mayor, the Council of the City and the Trustees of the Common, quarterly, a full statement of their receipts and expenses.

(b) The Commission, in July of each year, shall publish an annual statement and report for the benefit of the Citizens of the City of New Castle.

(a) 'The Board shall appoint a superintendent. The superintendent shall perform such services and duties upon such terms and conditions as the Board shall deem appropriate.

(a) In lieu of water and light rental for the water and light supply to the City itself, the Council of the City shall turn over from time to time to the credit of the Commission such sums as may be necessary to meet any deficiency for current bills of the Commission. In July of each year, or oftener in their discretion if the revenue warrants, the Commission shall turn over to the Council of the City such sum in their hands as may not be required

to provide for current expenses and operation, which sums shall be used by the Council of the City for the payment

of interest on the water and light bonds and for a sinking fund for the payment of said bonds.

(b) The Council of the City and the Commission may, by mutual agreement if deemed desirable, arrange that the City shall pay a fixed rental to the Commission for the water and light supplied to the City in lieu of the above payments to meet a deficiency.

(c) The Commission shall aim, in the operation of the water and light systems and in fixing the rates

therefor, to produce revenue at least sufficient, when supplemented by fair allowances by the City for the water and light furnished for public purposes, to pay the operating expenses of the system and the interest on the water and light bonds as well as provide for ordinary maintenance.

(a) The Commission is intended to be merely a separate agency of the City for the operation of the water and light systems and Additional Systems, and all contracts and bills shall be in the name of and on behalf of the Municipal Corporation, through the agency of the Commission.

(a) The Council of the City shall have the power to remove any Commissioner upon proper cause shown, but such removal shall be only after charges made and hearing thereon and by vote of two-thirds of all the members of the Council of the City.

(a) The Commission shall have full control and direction of all money borrowed by the City, by bond issue or otherwise, for the improvement or alteration of the City's water and light systems.

(b) All money borrowed by the City, by bond issue or otherwise, for the alteration or improvement of the City's water and light systems, shall be held by the City Treasurer subject to the direction of the Board.

(a) The Commission annually, when making its estimates and budget and fixing the rates for water and electric current, shall fix such rates for water and electric current as will produce an annual sum of at least Three Thousand Dollars to provide a sinking fund for the payment of all the water and light bonds of the City when the same shall become due, such fund so raised to be turned over to the Treasurer of the City and held as a sinking fund for the payment of said bonds and used for no other purpose, and such sum shall be annually raised until adequate provision has been made for the payment of all of the water and light bonds at maturity.

(b) The President of the Commission shall receive an annual salary of Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00) and each other Commissioner, shall receive an annual salary of Two Thousand Four Hundred Dollars ($2,400.00) for their services, payable monthly out of the funds of the Commission, and in addition to their necessary expenses in the performance of their duties.

(a) Anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding, the Commission is hereby authorized, from time to time and in the Commissioners' sole discretion, to make payments out of surplus earnings to the Mayor and Council of New Castle."