NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1971 SESSION

CHAPTER 335
HOUSE BILL 741

AN ACT TO ENABLE THE COUNTY OF RUTHERFORD TO ESTABLISH AN AIRPORT AUTHORITY FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF AIRPORT FACILITIES IN THE COUNTY.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1.  There is hereby created the Rutherford Airport Authority (for brevity hereinafter referred to as the Airport Authority), which shall be a body corporate and politic having the powers and jurisdiction hereinafter enumerated and such other and additional powers as shall be conferred upon it by future acts of the General Assembly.
Sec. 2.  The Airport Authority shall consist of five (5) members who shall be appointed to staggered terms of four (4) years by the Rutherford County Board of Commissioners.  All of the members shall be residents of the County.  The terms of the initial five (5) members of the Airport Authority shall be as follows:  two (2) members to be appointed to a term of four (4) years; three (3) members appointed for a term of two (2) years. Thereafter, all terms shall be for four (4) years.  Each of the members and their successors so appointed shall take and subscribe before the Clerk of the Superior Court of Rutherford County, an oath of office and file same with the Rutherford County Board of Commissioners.  Upon the occurrence of any vacancy on said Airport Authority, said vacancy shall be filled within sixty (60) days after notice thereof at a regular meeting of the Board of County Commissioners.
Sec. 3.  The members shall, for the purpose of doing business, constitute a board of directors, which may adopt suitable by-laws for its management.  The members of the board of directors shall receive no compensation per diem or otherwise, but shall be allowed and paid their actual traveling expenses incurred in transacting the business and at the instance of the Airport Authority.
Sec. 4.  The Airport Authority shall constitute a body, both corporate and politic, and shall have the following powers and authority:
(1)	To purchase, acquire, establish, construct, own, control, lease, equip, improve, maintain, operate and regulate airports or landing fields for the use of airplanes and other aircraft within the limits of the County and for any of such purposes, to purchase, improve, own, hold, lease and/or operate real or personal property.
(2)	To borrow money and to issue bonds and to secure the same by mortgages, with the consent of the Rutherford Board of County Commissioners upon any property held or to be held by it.
(3)	To sue or be sued in the name of said Airport Authority, to acquire by purchase and to hold lands for the purpose of constructing, maintaining or operating any airport within the limits of said County, and to make such contracts and to hold such personal property as may be necessary for the exercise of the powers of the Airport Authority. The Airport Authority may acquire by purchase, or otherwise, any existing lease, leasehold right or other interest in any existing airport located in the County.
(4)	To charge and collect reasonable and adequate fees and rents for the use of the airport property or for services rendered in the operation thereof.
(5)	To make all reasonable rules and regulations as it deems necessary for the proper maintenance and operation of the airport and provide penalties for the violation of such rules and regulations; provided, said rules and regulations and schedules of fees be not in conflict with the laws of the State of North Carolina, and the rules and regulations of the Civil Aeronautics Administration of the Federal Government.
(6)	To issue revenue bonds or other securities and obligations for the purpose of providing funds for the construction, maintenance, purchase, improvement and operation of the airports, landing fields or other facilities. The bonds, if and when so issued, shall be denominated "Rutherford Airport Authority Bonds", shall be issued in such form and denomination and shall mature at such time or times, not exceeding fifty (50) years after their date, and shall bear such rate of interest, payable annually or semi-annually, as the Airport Authority may determine. The bonds shall be signed by the chairman of the Airport Authority and the corporate seal affixed or impressed upon each bond, and attested by the secretary of the board. The coupons to be attached to said bonds shall bear the facsimile signature of the chairman of the Airport Authority. Such bonds, notes or securities issued for the purpose, or purposes above set out, may be issued and sold with the approval of the County Commissioners, but the sale shall be made under the supervision, and with the approval of the Local Government Commission.
Bonds and notes issued under this act shall be exempt from all State, Federal, County or Municipal taxes or assessments, direct or indirect, general or special, and the interest paid on such bonds or notes shall not be subject to taxation as income. The bonds, notes or other securities shall not be obligations of the County of Rutherford, but the Airport Authority is authorized and empowered to pledge the revenues, rents, income and tolls arising out of the use of any airport property or any specific part of said airport property until such time as the sums borrowed therefor are fully amortized and repaid. The bonds or other securities which the Airport Airport may incur shall be issued and incurred upon such other terms, covenants and conditions as the Airport Authority may deem proper.
(7)	To sell, or otherwise dispose of, any property, real or personal, belonging to the Airport Authority, but no sale of real property shall be made without the approval of the Board of County Commissioners.
(8)	To purchase such insurance as the Airport Authority shall deem necessary.
(9)	To invest or reinvest, subject to the approval of the Local Government Commission, any of its funds in either bonds, notes or certificates of indebtedness of the United States of America, or in bonds or notes of any agency or instrumentality of the United States of America, the payment of principal and interest of which is guaranteed by the United States of America, or in bonds or notes of the State of North Carolina, or in bonds of any county, city or town of North Carolina, which have been approved by the Local Government Commission.
(10)	To purchase any of its outstanding bonds or notes.
(11)	To operate, own, lease, control, regulate or grant to others the right to operate on any airport premises, restaurants, agricultural fair, motion picture shows, and other amusements.
(12)	To lease for a term not to exceed twenty-five (25) years, and for purposes not inconsistent with the grants and agreements under which the airport is held, real or personal property under the supervision of or administered by the Airport Authority.
(13)	To contract with persons, firms or corporations for terms not to exceed twenty-five (25) years, for the operation of airline-scheduled passenger and freight flights, non-scheduled flights, and any other airplane activities not inconsistent with said grant agreements under which the airport property is held, and to charge and collect reasonable and adequate fees, charges and rents for the use of such property or for services rendered in the operation thereof.
(14)	To erect and construct buildings, hangars, shops and other improvements and facilities, not inconsistent with or in violation of the agreements applicable to and the grants under which the real property of the airport is held; to lease the same for a term or terms not to exceed twenty-five (25) years; to borrow money for use in making or paying for such improvements and facilities, secured by and on the credit only of the lease agreements in respect thereto, to pledge and assign such leases and lease agreements as security for loans herein authorized.
Sec. 5.  The Airport Authority is hereby authorized and empowered to acquire from the County, by agreement therewith, and such County is hereby authorized and empowered to grant and convey, either by gift or for such consideration as it may deem wise, any real or personal property which it now owns or may hereafter acquire, including non-tax monies, and which may be necessary for the construction, operation and maintenance of any airport located in the County.
Sec. 6.  Any lands acquired, owned, controlled or occupied by said Airport Authority shall, and are hereby declared to be acquired, owned, controlled and occupied for a public purpose.
Sec. 7.  Private property needed by said Airport Authority for any airport, landing field as facilities of same may be acquired by gift or devise, or may be acquired by private purchase or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 40 of the General Statutes of North Carolina, as amended.
Sec. 8.  The Airport Authority shall make an annual report to the County Commissioners, setting forth in detail the operations and transactions conducted by it pursuant to this act.  The Airport Authority shall be regarded as the corporate instrumentality and agent for the County for the purpose of developing airport facilities in the County, but it shall have no power to pledge the credit of the County, or any subdivision thereof, or to impose any obligation upon the County or any subdivision thereof, except and when such power is expressly granted by statute or the consent of the County.
Sec. 9.  All rights and powers given to the counties or municipalities by the statutes of North Carolina, which may now be in effect or be enacted in the future relating to the development, regulation and control of municipal airports and the regulations of aircraft, are hereby vested in said Airport Authority, and the County may delegate its powers under the acts to the Airport Authority and the Airport Authority shall have concurrent rights with the County to control, regulate and provide for the development of aviation in the County of Rutherford.
Sec. 10.  The Airport Authority is hereby authorized to employ such agents, engineers and attorneys and other persons whose services may be deemed by the Airport Authority to be necessary or useful in carrying out the provisions of this act.  Members of the Airport Authority shall not be personally liable, in any manner, for their acts as members of the Airport Authority, except for misfeasance or malfeasance.
Sec. 11.  The governing body of the County is hereby authorized to appropriate and use from the net proceeds derived from the operation by the County, of any public utility, or from funds derived from any source other than ad valorem taxes, sums sufficient to carry out the provisions of this act as to the establishing and maintenance of any airport in such proportion and upon such basis as may be determined by the County.
Sec. 12.  Said Airport Authority shall have the right and is empowered to expend such funds as are appropriated from time to time by the County for joint airport purposes and is empowered to enter into contracts and pledge the credit of the Airport Authority to the extent of the monies appropriated by the governmental unit for airport purposes.
Sec. 13.  The board of directors shall have authority to deal with the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States Government and any other representative of the United States Government relative to the grading, constructing, equipping, improving, maintaining and operating of airports and landing fields established or acquired under the authority of this act.  A majority of the board of directors shall control its decisions. Each member of the board of directors, including the chairman, shall have one vote.  At the first meeting of the board of directors and annually thereafter, it shall elect from among its members a chairman and a secretary and a treasurer.  The board of directors shall meet at such places and time as the chairman shall designate.
Sec. 14.  The powers granted to the Airport Authority, including the specific powers contained in Section 9 hereof, shall not be effective until such time as the members of the Airport Authority have been appointed by the County Commissioners and nothing contained herein shall require the County Commissioners to make initial appointments to said Airport Authority, it being the specific intent of this legislation to enable but not require the formation of the Rutherford Airport Authority.
Sec. 15.  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this act, the Board of County Commissioners is hereby expressly authorized to appropriate to the Airport Authority the funds derived from the one hundred fifty thousand dollar ($150,000) Airport Bond issue, and the fund derived from the annual two cents tax on the one hundred dollar valuation of property heretofore approved by the voters of the county for airport purposes.
Sec. 16.  If any part or parts of this act shall be held to be unconstitutional, such unconstitutionality shall not affect the validity of the remaining parts of this act, and all laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
Sec. 17.  This act shall be effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 6th day of May, 1971.