Charter Ordinance No. 2015-2 - Code of the City of St. Francis, Kansas (UNOFFICIAL DRAFT)

Charter Ordinance No. 2015-2

A CHARTER ORDINANCE OF CITY OF ST. FRANCIS, KANSAS EXEMPTING SUCH CITY FROM THE PROVISIONS OF K.S.A. 12-1758, K.S.A. 12-1760 AND K.S.A. 12-1767 RELATING TO PUBLIC BUILDING COMMISSIONS AND THE ISSUANCE OF REVENUE BONDS THEREBY; AND PROVIDING SUBSTITUTE AND ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS RELATING THERETO, INCLUDING A PROVISION THAT AUTHORIZES A CITY OF ST. FRANCIS, KANSAS PUBLIC BUILDING COMMISSION TO ISSUE REVENUE BONDS TO FINANCE SWIMMING POOL IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE CITY.

WHEREAS, Article 12, Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of Kansas (“Act”) provides that cities may exercise certain home rule powers, including passing charter ordinances which exempt such cities from the acts of the Kansas Legislature; and

WHEREAS, the City of St. Francis, Kansas (“City”) is a city, as defined in the Act, duly created and organized, under the laws of the State of Kansas; and

WHEREAS, K.S.A. 12-1758, K.S.A. 12-1760 and K.S.A. 12-1767 are a part of an enactment of the Kansas Legislature (K.S.A. 12-1757 et seq.) relating to public building commissions and the issuance thereby of revenue bonds, which enactment is applicable to the City, but is not uniformly applicable to all cities within the State of Kansas; and

WHEREAS, the governing body of the City desires, by charter ordinance, to exempt the City from the provisions of K.S.A. 12-1758, K.S.A. 12-1760 and K.S.A. 12-1767, and to provide substitute and additional provisions therefor in order to provide (a) additional and alternative methods for financing certain public buildings in the City and (b) an exemption from a protest period relating to the authorization of certain revenue bonds; and

WHEREAS, the governing body of the City desires to submit this Charter Ordinance to the City electors at a March 8, 2016 special election to be held in the City.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ST. FRANCIS, KANSAS AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. Exemption-K.S.A. 12-1758. The City, by the power vested in it by the Act, hereby elects to exempt itself from and make inapplicable to it, the provisions of K.S.A. 12-1758 and does hereby provide the following substitute and additional provisions in place thereof:

(a) The City, by appropriate ordinance, may create a public building commission for the purposes of acquiring a site or sites for and constructing, reconstructing, equipping and furnishing, or purchasing or otherwise acquiring, a building or buildings or other facilities of a revenue producing character. Such building or buildings or facilities shall be maintained and operated for (i) a county courthouse, (ii) housing and accommodation of county offices or other county business, including, without limitation, law enforcement and detention facilities, (iii) housing and accommodation of City offices or other city business,(iv) community or recreational purposes of the City or a county, including swimming pool purposes, (v) educational, recreational or administrative purposes for school districts, (vi) housing, accommodations and parking facilities for offices of state and federal agencies or (vii) such other purposes as are commonly carried on in connection with such City, county, school district, state or federal facilities.

(b) A public building commission created by the City may acquire fee simple title or a leasehold interest in land and facilities adjacent to or near any educational institution under the supervision and/or control of the state board of regents or may acquire by lease, land and facilities constituting a part of the campus of any such institution. Any public building commission may construct, reconstruct, equip and furnish such facilities on such land and lease such land and facilities to the official governing body of such institution. Any such lease entered into shall pledge the net revenue from such land and facilities to payment of bonds issued to pay costs of such facilities.

Section 2. Exemption-K.S.A. 12-1760. The City, by the power vested in it by the Act, hereby elects to exempt itself from and make inapplicable to it the provisions of K.S.A. 12-1760 and does hereby provide substitute and additional provisions in place thereof as follows:

A public building commission authorized under this Charter Ordinance and K.S.A. 12-1757 et seq. shall have the power to do all things necessary or incidental to the purpose of constructing or acquiring or enlarging, furnishing and operating and maintaining buildings or facilities to be made available for use by governmental agencies and non-profit corporations, including hospital districts and other healthcare entities organized under the laws of this state.

Section 3. Exemption-K.S.A. 12-1767. The City, by the power vested in it by the Act, hereby elects to exempt itself from and make inapplicable to it the provisions of K.S.A. 12-1767 and does hereby provide substitute and additional provisions in place thereof as follows:

(a) Any revenue bonds proposed to be issued by a public building commission created by the City shall be issued as provided in K.S.A. 10-1201 et seq. and amendments thereto, except to the extent that such statutes are in conflict with this Charter Ordinance or K.S.A. 12-1757 et seq., or both. Before any revenue bonds are authorized or issued under the provisions of this Charter Ordinance and K.S.A. 12-1757 et seq., the public building commission shall adopt a resolution specifying the amount of such bonds and the purpose of the issuance thereof.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) of this section, such resolution shall be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in the official City newspaper or in a newspaper having general circulation in a county, if the lease is with a county, school district or other political subdivision. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) of this section, the resolution shall provide that if within 30 days after the last date of publication of the resolution a petition in opposition to the resolution, signed by not less than 5% of the electors of the City, or by not less than 5% of the electors of the county, school district or other political subdivision, if the lease is with such other entity, is filed with the county election officer, the Governing Body shall submit the question to the voters at an election called for that purpose or at the next general election.

(c) If a public building commission created by the City adopts a resolution that authorizes the issuance of revenue bonds by January 1, 2017, to finance a swimming pool project and improvements, to be used by the City, such resolution shall not be subject to the requirements of subsection (b) of this section.

(d) No construction contract shall be let or approved by a public building commission created by the City until after the expiration of the protest period provided under this section, except with respect to the swimming pool project described in subsection (c) of this section, as to which a construction contract may be let or approved after adoption of a resolution authorizing bonds for such project.

Section 4. Severability. If any provision or section of this Charter Ordinance is deemed or ruled unconstitutional or otherwise illegal or invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such illegality or invalidity shall not affect any other provision of this Charter Ordinance. In such instance, this Charter Ordinance shall be construed and enforced as if such illegal or invalid provision had not been contained herein.

Section 5. Calling of Election. It is hereby authorized, ordered and directed pursuant to the Act that a special question election shall be and is hereby called to be held in the City on March 8, 2016, at which time there shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the City the following proposition:

Shall Charter Ordinance No. 2015-2 of the City of St. Francis, Kansas, entitled:

take effect?

Section 6. Conduct of Election. The election shall be conducted in the same manner as elections for County officers by the officers handling such elections and the vote at said election shall be by ballot, and the proposition stated above shall be printed on the ballot, together with voting instructions as provided by law.

Section 7. Publication. The City Clerk is directed to cause this Charter Ordinance to be published once a week for three consecutive weeks in the official City newspaper.

Section 8. Notice of Election. The County Clerk is requested to give notice of the special question election as provided by law by publishing a Notice of Special Question Election in substantially the form attached hereto as Exhibit A once each week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the City, with the first publication to be not less than twenty-one (21) days prior to the date of the special question election, and the last publication being not more than forty-five (45) days prior to the date of the special question election.

(12-14-2015)