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This entry was published on 2014-09-22
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SECTION 1174-F
Powers of the authority
Public Authorities (PBA) CHAPTER 43-A, ARTICLE 5, TITLE 7-A
§ 1174-f. Powers of the authority. Except as otherwise limited by this
title, the authority shall have the power to:

1. sue and be sued;

2. have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;

3. borrow money and issue negotiable or non-negotiable notes, bonds,
or other obligations and to provide for the rights of the holders
thereof;

4. enter into contracts and execute all instruments necessary or
convenient or desirable for the purposes of the authority to carry out
any powers expressly given it in this title;

5. acquire, by purchase, gift, grant, transfer, contract or lease or
by condemnation pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law, lease as
lessee, hold and use and to sell, lease as lessor, transfer or otherwise
dispose of, any real or personal property or any interest therein,
within or without the district, as the authority may deem necessary,
convenient or desirable to carry out the purpose of this title;
provided, however, that the authority may not condemn real property of a
municipality without the consent of the governing body of such
municipality;

6. purchase, in the name of the authority, any water supply system,
including plants, works, instrumentalities or parts thereof and
appurtenances thereto, lands, easements, rights in land and water
rights, rights-of-way, contract rights, franchises, permits, approaches,
connections, dams, wells, pumps, reservoirs, water mains and pipe lines,
pumping stations, treatment facilities, meters, equipment and inventory,
or any other property incidental to and included in such system or part
thereof, and any improvements, extensions and betterments, situated
wholly within the district, provided, however, that the authority shall
have the power to purchase any source of supply, or water supply system
or any part thereof situated wholly or partly without the territorial
limits of the district, provided same shall be necessary in order to
supply water within the district; and in connection with the purchase of
such properties the authority may assume any obligations of the owner of
such properties and, to the extent required by the terms of any
indentures or other instruments under which such obligations were
issued, the authority may assume and agree to perform covenants and
observe the restrictions contained in such instruments; and furthermore
the owner of any properties, which the authority is authorized to
acquire, is hereby authorized to sell or otherwise transfer the same to
the authority, whereupon the authority shall become charged with the
performance of all public duties with respect to such properties with
which such owner was charged and such owner shall become discharged from
the performance thereof, as a means of so acquiring for such purpose,
the authority may purchase all of the stock of any existing privately
owned water corporation or company and in the case of a sale or other
transfer of properties of a public utility corporation pursuant to this
provision, upon the purchase of the stock of such corporation or company
it shall be lawful to dissolve such corporation within a reasonable
time;

7. construct, improve or rehabilitate water supply facilities required
for the maintenance, development or expansion of water supply sources;

8. operate and manage and to contract for the operation and management
of facilities of the authority;

9. enter into contracts, and carry out the terms thereof, for the
wholesale provision of water produced by supply facilities constructed
and operated by the authority, to municipalities and private water
companies and to carry out the terms thereof, for the transmission of
water from new or existing supply facilities;

10. apply to the appropriate agencies and officials of the federal,
state and local governments for such licenses, permits or approvals of
its plans or projects as it may deem necessary or advisable, and upon
such terms and conditions as it may deem appropriate, to accept, in its
discretion, such licenses, permits or approvals as may be tendered to it
by such agencies and officials;

11. take all necessary and reasonable actions within the district to
conserve, preserve and protect the water supply to the district,
including the making of plans and studies, the adoption of watershed
rules and regulations, the enforcing of compliance with all current and
future rules and regulations of the state sanitary code with regard to
water supply and usage, the requiring of cross-connection controls, the
providing of educational material and programs to the public, and the
cooperating with water suppliers outside the district to conserve,
preserve and protect the entire water reserve as it is affected within
and outside the authority's supply area;

12. retain or employ counsel, auditors, engineers and private
consultants on a contract basis or otherwise for rendering professional
or technical services and advice;

13. make plans and studies necessary, convenient or desirable for the
effectuation of the purposes and powers of the authority and to prepare
recommendations in regard thereto;

14. prepare a water supply emergency plan which shall include, but not
be limited to, the following:

(a) establishment of criteria and procedures to determine critical
water levels or safe yield of system;

(b) identification of existing and future sources of water under
normal conditions and emergency conditions;

(c) system capacity and ability to meet peak demand and fire flows
concurrently;

(d) storage capacities;

(e) current condition of present interconnections and identification
of additional interconnections to meet a water supply emergency;

(f) specific action plan to be followed during a water supply
emergency including a phased implementation of the plan;

(g) general water conservation programs and water use reduction
strategies for water supply users;

(h) prioritization of water users;

(i) identification and availability of emergency equipment needed
during a water supply emergency; and

(j) public notification program coordinated with the phased
implementation schedule; such plan shall not be adopted until a public
hearing on such plan shall have been held, upon not less than fourteen
days' notice thereof to each customer, either by mail or by publication
once in a newspaper having general circulation within the district;
every five years, such plan shall be reviewed and revised if necessary
after a public hearing, with notice to each customer as aforesaid;

15. enter upon such lands, waters, or premises as in the judgment of
the authority shall be necessary for the purpose of making surveys,
soundings, borings and examinations to accomplish any purpose authorized
by this title, the authority being liable only for actual damage done;

16. apply for and to accept any gifts or grants or loans of funds or
property or financial or other aid in any form from the federal
government or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or from the state
or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or from any other source, for
any or all of the purposes specified in this title, and to comply,
subject to the provisions of this title, with the terms and conditions
thereof;

17. obtain, store, treat, distribute, supply and sell water for
domestic, commercial and public purposes at retail to individual
consumers within the district;

18. purchase water from any municipal corporation, town water
district, person, association or corporation;

19. produce, develop, distribute and sell water or water services
within or without the territorial limits of the district; provided,
however, that water may be sold at retail to individual consumers only
within the district and further provided that in exercising the powers
granted by this title, the authority shall not sell water in any area
which is served by a water system owned or operated by a municipality or
special improvement district unless the governing body of such
municipality or district shall adopt a resolution requesting the
authority to sell water in such served areas;

20. make bylaws for the management and regulation of its affairs and
rules and regulations for the conservation, preservation and protection
of the authority's water supply and, subject to agreements with
bondholders, rules for the sale of water and the collection of rents and
charges therefor. A copy of such rules, regulations and bylaws and any
rules and regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision eleven of this
section, and all amendments thereto, duly certified by the secretary of
the authority shall be filed in the office of the municipalities within
the district and thereafter published once in a newspaper having general
circulation within the district. Violation of such rules and regulations
shall be punishable by fine, not exceeding fifty dollars, or by
imprisonment for not longer than thirty days, or both;

21. fix rates and collect charges for the use of the facilities of, or
services rendered by, or any commodities furnished by the authority such
as to provide revenues sufficient at all times to pay, as the same shall
become due, the principal and interest on the bonds, or other
obligations of the authority together with the maintenance of proper
reserves therefor, in addition to paying as the same shall become due,
the expense of operating and maintaining the properties of the authority
together with proper maintenance reserves, capital reserves, repair
reserves, tax stabilization reserves and other contingency reserves, and
all other obligations and indebtedness of the authority; however, no
such rates or charges shall be changed until a public hearing on such
changes shall have been held upon not less than fourteen days' notice
thereof to each customer, either by mail or by publication once in a
newspaper having general circulation within the district;

22. enter into cooperative agreements with other authorities,
municipalities, counties, cities, towns, villages, water districts,
utility companies, individuals, firms or corporations, within or without
the territorial limits of the district for the interconnection of
facilities, the exchange or interchange of services and commodities, the
conservation, preservation and protection of the authority's water
reserve as it is affected within and outside the authority's supply
area, and, within the territorial limits of the district, to enter into
a contract for the construction, operation and maintenance of a water
supply and distribution system by the authority for any municipality
having power to construct and develop a water supply and distribution
system, upon such terms and conditions as shall be determined to be
reasonable including, but not limited to the reimbursement of all costs
of such construction, or for any other lawful purposes necessary or
desirable to effect the purposes of this title;

23. provide for the discontinuance or disconnection of the supply of
water for nonpayment of fees, rates, rents or other charges therefor
imposed by the authority, provided such discontinuance or disconnection
of any supply of water shall not be carried out except in the manner and
upon the notice as is required of a waterworks corporation pursuant to
subdivisions three-a, three-b and three-c of section eighty-nine-b and
section one hundred sixteen of the public service law;

24. contract for, provide and maintain such insurance as it deems
necessary or reasonable to:

(a) secure and protect its real and personal property from fire, theft
or other calamity or loss;

(b) secure and protect it against liability imposed by law for damages
or injuries to persons or property;

(c) secure and protect it against any liability which may be imposed
pursuant to section eighteen of the public officers law; and

(d) secure and protect it against any other liability, casualty or
loss as it deems necessary or reasonable; and

25. do all things necessary, convenient or desirable to carry out its
purposes and for the exercise of the powers granted in this title.