IDA 4 LIFE

When you start digging around in Danville’s City Code of Ordinances, you can find some interesting things.

This fishing expedition started last Tuesday at the Danville Airport Commission meeting. When talking about board members, Transportation Director Marc Adelman said that Danville city Code specified a maximum of four 3-year or less terms or three 4-year terms. That would mean somebody could serve on a city board or commission for 12 consecutive years. I feel that’s way too long for any board or commission, as it’s important to get some change and different people/viewpoints on these boards.

So I went searching through Danville’s City Code and found this…

Sec. 2-44. – Limitation on number of terms.

(a) Other provisions of this Code notwithstanding, Council appointees to Boards and Commissions shall be ineligible for reappointment by the Council for more than four (4) consecutive terms when the term of office is for three (3) years or less and for three (3) consecutive terms when the term of office is for four (4) years or more.

(b) When a person is appointed to fill less than fifty (50) percent of the unexpired term of a prior appointee, such term of office shall not be counted as a term of office in enforcing or applying this limitation. However, in no case shall a person serve more than fifteen (15) consecutive years on any Board or Commission.

(c) Any person ineligible for reappointment to a Board or Commission of the provisions of this section shall again be eligible for reappointment to such Board or Commission after at least one (1) full year has elapsed since the expiration of his last term of office.

(d) The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to the Industrial Development Authority.

Wait, what? What the hell is that?

(d) The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to the Industrial Development Authority.

Seriously? You’re telling me that once you’re appointed to Danville’s Industrial Development Authority, that you’re on for life unless you resign or city council’s committee on appointments chooses somebody else (and I haven’t ever seen that happen yet)?

Here’s all the things that the IDA can do…

Sec. 2-383. – General powers and duties.

The Industrial Development Authority shall have the following powers together with all powers incidental thereto or necessary for the performance of those hereinafter stated:

(1) To sue and be sued and to prosecute and defend, at law or in equity, in any court having jurisdiction of the subject matter and of the parties;

(2) To adopt and use a corporate seal and to alter the same at pleasure;

(3) To enter into contracts; however, any written contract of the Industrial Development Authority shall contain provisions addressing the issue of whether attorney’s fees shall be recoverable by the prevailing party in the event the contract is subject to litigation;

(4) To acquire, whether by purchase, exchange, gift, lease or otherwise, and to improve, maintain, equip and furnish one (1) or more Industrial Development Authority facilities including all real and personal properties which the Board of Directors of the Industrial Development Authority may deem necessary in connection therewith and regardless of whether any such facilities shall then be in existence;

(5) To lease to others any or all of its facilities and to charge and collect rent therefor and to terminate any such lease upon the failure of the lessee to comply with any of the obligations thereof; and to include in any such lease, if desired, a provision that the lessee thereof shall have options to renew such lease or to purchase any or all of the leased facilities, or that upon payment of all of the indebtedness of the Industrial Development Authority it may lease or convey any or all of its facilities to the lessee thereof with or without consideration;

(6) To sell, exchange, donate, and convey any or all of its facilities or properties whenever its board of directors shall find any such action to be in furtherance of the purposes for which the Industrial Development Authority was organized;

(7) To issue its bonds for the purpose of carrying out any of its powers, including specifically, but without intending to limit any power conferred by this section or this chapter, the issuance of bonds to provide long-term financing of any pollution control facility, whether any such facility was constructed prior to or after the enactment hereof or the receipt of a commitment from an Industrial Development Authority to undertake financing pursuant hereto, unless the major part of the proceeds of such bonds will be used to redeem any prior long-term financing of such facility other than financings pursuant to this chapter or any similar law;

(8) As security for the payment of the principal of and interest on any bonds so issued and any agreements made in connection therewith, to mortgage and pledge any or all of its facilities or any part or parts thereof, whether then owned or thereafter acquired, and to pledge the revenues therefrom or from any part thereof or from any loans made by the Industrial Development Authority;

(9) To employ and pay compensation to such employees and agents, including attorneys, and real estate brokers whether engaged by the Industrial Development Authority or otherwise, as the Board of Directors shall deem necessary in carrying on the business of the Industrial Development Authority;

(10) To exercise all powers expressly given the Industrial Development Authority by the governing body of the locality which established the Industrial Development Authority and to establish bylaws and make all rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter, deemed expedient for the management of the Industrial Development Authority’s affairs;

(11) To appoint an industrial advisory committee or similar committee or committees to advise the Industrial Development Authority, consisting of such number of persons as it may deem advisable. Such persons may be compensated such amount per regular, special, or committee meeting as may be approved by the appointing Industrial Development Authority, not to exceed fifty dollars ($50.00) per meeting day, and may be reimbursed for necessary traveling and other expenses incurred while on the business of the Industrial Development Authority;

(12) To borrow money and to accept contributions, grants and other financial assistance from the United States of America and agencies or instrumentalities thereof, the Commonwealth, or any political subdivision, agency, or public instrumentality of the Commonwealth, for or in aid of the construction, acquisition, ownership, maintenance or repair of the Industrial Development Authority facilities, for the payment of principal of any bond of the Industrial Development Authority, interest thereon, or other cost incident thereto, or in order to make loans in furtherance of the purposes of this chapter of such money, contributions, grants, and other financial assistance, and to this end the Industrial Development Authority shall have the power to comply with such conditions and to execute such agreements, trust indentures, and other legal instruments as may be necessary, convenient or desirable and to agree to such terms and conditions as may be imposed;

(13) To make loans or grants to any person, partnership, association, corporation, business, or governmental entity in furtherance of the purposes of this chapter, including for the purposes of promoting economic development, provided that such loans or grants shall be made only from revenues of the Industrial Development Authority which have not been pledged or assigned for the payment of any of the Industrial Development Authority’s bonds, and to enter into such contracts, instruments, and agreements as may be expedient to provide for such loans and any security therefor. An Industrial Development Authority may also be permitted to forgive loans or other obligations if it is deemed to further economic development. The word “revenues” as used in this subdivision [subsection] includes contributions, grants and other financial assistance, as set out in subdivision [subsection] (12); and

(14) Such other powers as my be delegated to Industrial Development Authorities by title 15.2 chapter 49 of the Code of Virginia as may be amended from time to time.

If that’s “TL;DR” for you, it means they can do a lot of things with money and property on their own without the approval of the city manager or city council. I’ve got a serious problem with giving all of that authority to someone who’s appointed for four years per term with no limits on the numbers of terms. The youngest member on the IDA is Rusty Reynolds and he’s around 50 years old. The average age of the IDA board members has to be at least 70.

Any board or commission service should be term limited, and especially on a board that handles lots of important transactions like Danville’s Industrial Development Authority. I’m asking for Danville City Council to review that ordinance and change it to better serve the citizens.