CS/HB 555

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to Indian River Mosquito Control District,
3	Indian River County; amending chapter 2006-344, Laws of
4	Florida; revising the powers of the board of commissioners
5	relating to the employment of certain persons; specifying
6	the provisions of law governing the election of
7	commissioners and removing obsolete provisions for the
8	staggering of initial terms; requiring the district to pay
9	for the surety bonds required of commissioners before they
10	assume office; requiring commissioners to elect a
11	secretary/treasurer for the board; revising per diem and
12	travel expense provisions for commissioners and employees;
13	revising powers of the board relating to the control of
14	mosquitoes and sandflies and deleting the power of the
15	board to eliminate all species of mosquitoes and sandflies
16	in the district; revising provisions relating to the
17	board's purchasing, borrowing, and insurance requirements;
18	providing an effective date.
19
20	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
21
22	Section 1.  Sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, and 11 of
23	section 3 of chapter 2006-344, Laws of Florida, are amended to
24	read:
25	Section 2.  The governing body of said Indian River
26	Mosquito Control District shall be known and designated as the
27	"Board of Commissioners of Indian River Mosquito Control
28	District." Said governing body shall be composed of three
29	members and shall have all the powers of a body corporate,
30	including the power to sue and be sued as a corporation in said
31	name in any court; to contract; to adopt and use a common seal
32	and alter the same at pleasure; to purchase, hold, lease, and
33	convey such real estate and personal property as said board may
34	deem proper to carry out the purposes of this act; to employ
35	appoint a director chief engineer, a consulting engineer, and an
36	attorney for said board and such other experts, consultants,
37	agents, and employees as said board may require; to borrow money
38	and to issue negotiable promissory notes or bonds therefor; and
39	to enable it to carry out the provisions of this act. The
40	commissioners shall be elected in a nonpartisan election for 4-
41	year terms pursuant to section 189.405, Florida Statutes, and
42	consistent with the Florida Election Code so that one
43	commissioner is elected at one general election by the highest
44	number of votes cast and two commissioners are elected by the
45	first and second highest number of votes cast at the next
46	ensuing general election.
47	Section 3.  Each commissioner under this act, before he or
48	she assumes office, shall be required to give to Indian River
49	Mosquito Control District a good and sufficient surety bond in
50	the sum of $5,000, conditioned for the faithful performance of
51	the duties of his or her office, said bond to be approved by and
52	filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Indian River County
53	and the expense of said bond to be borne by the Indian River
54	Mosquito Control District. Said bond shall also be recorded in
55	the minutes of said Board of Commissioners of said Indian River
56	Mosquito Control District. The failure of any person so elected
57	as commissioner of Indian River Mosquito Control District within
58	30 days after his or her election to give bond shall create a
59	vacancy as to such commissioner, and such vacancy shall be
60	filled by the Governor appointing a person duly qualified to
61	hold such office, which manner of filling such office shall
62	obtain in the case of resignation, death, or removal from said
63	district of any commissioner during his or her term of office.
64	No person shall be qualified to hold office as a commissioner
65	under this act unless such person shall be a duly qualified
66	elector of said district.
67	Section 4.  As soon as practicable after each general
68	election, the commissioners of Indian River Mosquito Control
69	District, after their qualification as such, shall meet and
70	organize by the election, from among their number, of a chair, a
71	vice chair, and a secretary/treasurer secretary. Two members of
72	the board shall constitute a quorum. The vote of two members
73	shall be necessary to transact business. The chair and vice
74	chair shall vote at all meetings of the board.
75	Section 5.  The commissioners and employees under this act
76	shall be paid for each day's service and for each mile actually
77	traveled in going to and from the office of the Board of
78	Commissioners of Indian River Mosquito Control District
79	according to per diem compensation expense and mileage rates
80	established from time to time for officials and employees of the
81	state pursuant to section 112.061, Florida Statutes. The per
82	diem herein provided for shall apply to services rendered for
83	inspection of work performed for the district or other services
84	under this act. Additionally, commissioners shall be compensated
85	for regular duties, as provided by general law or special act,
86	at the rate of $400 per month or such greater amount as may be
87	permitted by general law or special act.
88	Section 7.  Said board is hereby authorized and empowered
89	to do any and all things necessary for the control and complete
90	elimination of all species of mosquitoes and sandflies and
91	diseases transmitted by the same in said district and, for this
92	purpose, is hereby authorized and empowered to construct and
93	thereafter to maintain canals, ditches, drains, and dikes; to
94	fill in all depressions, lakes, and ponds or marshes that are
95	the breeding places of mosquitoes and sandflies, insofar as said
96	work does not interfere with the water supply of any city or
97	community; and to employ engineers, scientists, helpers, and all
98	other contractors servants, agents, and employees as may be
99	necessary for the purpose of controlling and eliminating all
100	species of mosquitoes and sandflies in said district. Said board
101	is hereby authorized and empowered to spray or otherwise
102	disburse, or cause to be sprayed or otherwise disbursed,
103	chemicals, substances, and materials of every nature upon and
104	over the area of said district as shall be deemed necessary or
105	desirable for the purpose of controlling and eliminating all
106	species of mosquitoes and sandflies in said district and, for
107	such purposes, may contract for and purchase such chemicals,
108	substances, and materials and may contract for the spraying or
109	disbursing thereof over the area of said district or may employ
110	such agents, entities servants, and employees for such purpose
111	as the commissioners of said district may deem necessary or
112	advisable; to do any and all things that may be necessary from
113	the standpoint of public health and comfort to control or
114	eliminate mosquitoes and sandflies or their larvae in said
115	district; and to promulgate such rules and regulations not
116	inconsistent with the provisions of this act and with any of the
117	laws of said state which, in their judgment, may be necessary
118	for the proper carrying into effect and enforcement of this act.
119	Section 9.  Said board is hereby authorized and empowered
120	to purchase goods, supplies, equipment, or material for the use
121	of said district without the necessity of advertising any notice
122	or calling for bids regarding said purchase when the amount to
123	be paid therefor by said district does not exceed category two
124	of the purchasing category thresholds pursuant to chapter 287,
125	Florida Statutes $10,000 or when the goods, supplies, or
126	materials to be purchased are obtainable from only one source or
127	supplier.
128	Section 10.  Said board is hereby authorized and empowered
129	to levy upon all the real and personal taxable property in said
130	district a special tax not exceeding 10 mills on the dollar for
131	the year 1947 and for each and every year thereafter, to be used
132	solely in carrying out the purposes of this act. Said levy shall
133	be made not later than the 15th of July of each year by
134	resolution of said board, or a majority thereof, duly entered at
135	large upon its minutes. A certified copy of such resolution
136	executed in the name of said board by its chair and
137	secretary/treasurer secretary and under its corporate seals
138	shall be delivered or transmitted to the Board of County
139	Commissioners of Indian River County, and a copy shall be
140	transmitted by mail to the Chief Financial Officer not later
141	than August 1 of each year. It shall be the duty of the Board of
142	County Commissioners of Indian River County to order the
143	property appraiser of said county to assess and the collector of
144	said county to collect the amount of said tax so assessed by the
145	Board of Commissioners of said district upon all the taxable
146	property, real or personal, in said district at the rate of
147	taxation adopted by said board for said year, but not exceeding
148	10 mills on the dollar and as specified in said resolution, and
149	said levy shall be included in the warrant to the tax collector
150	and the property appraiser which is attached to the assessment
151	roll of taxes for said county each year. The property appraiser
152	shall make such assessment and the tax collector shall collect
153	such taxes so levied in the manner as other taxes are assessed
154	and collected and shall pay the same when collected, within the
155	time and in the manner prescribed by law for the payment of
156	other taxes, to the secretary/treasurer secretary of said Board
157	of Commissioners. It shall be the duty of said Chief Financial
158	Officer to assess and levy on all the railroad lines and
159	railroad property, telegraph lines and telegraph property, and
160	telephone lines and telephone property the amount of every such
161	levy herewith provided in this section, and as in the case of
162	other state and county taxes, and said taxes so levied by the
163	Chief Financial Officer shall be collected as provided for other
164	similar taxes, and the proceeds thereof shall be remitted to the
165	secretary/treasurer secretary of said board in the same manner
166	as such remittances are made in the collection of other taxes.
167	If any such taxes so assessed are not paid, the said property
168	shall be sold by said tax collector and certificates issued and
169	tax deeds issued in the same manner and under the same laws
170	relating to the sales, issuance of certificates, and deeds with
171	reference to all other state and county taxes. The Board of
172	Commissioners of the Indian River Mosquito Control District is
173	herewith authorized to borrow in any one tax year a sum not to
174	exceed 80 percent of the estimated taxes to be collected on
175	behalf of said district within such year and issue negotiable
176	promissory notes and bonds or such necessary instruments to
177	secure said loan to enable the board to carry out the provisions
178	of this act to evidence such loan made to said district by its
179	tax anticipation note or notes bearing interest at a rate not to
180	exceed 10 percent per annum, and which notes shall be payable at
181	a time not greater than 1 year from the date of the borrowing of
182	such moneys; the sums so borrowed shall be repaid out of the
183	next taxes collected by said district to the extent necessary
184	for the repayment thereof, together with such interest at a rate
185	not to exceed 6 percent per annum; and no sums shall be borrowed
186	as herewith provided in any subsequent year unless all moneys so
187	borrowed in any preceding year shall have been entirely paid as
188	to both principal and interest.
189	Section 11.  In addition to all other powers granted to the
190	district by law, the Indian River Mosquito Control District,
191	acting by and through its duly qualified board of commissioners,
192	shall have the power to purchase and pay for insurance as a
193	legitimate public expenditure without waiving its right to
194	defend any action filed against it on the grounds of sovereign
195	immunity while reserving all rights and defenses available Said
196	board is hereby required to secure and keep in force in
197	companies duly authorized to do business in Florida insurance
198	covering liability for property damage or bodily injury or death
199	resulting therefrom to all persons and property by reason of the
200	ownership, maintenance, operation, or use of any vehicle,
201	dragline, dredge, tractor, and related equipment being used for
202	and in the interest of the purpose of said board in amounts not
203	less than $50,000 for bodily injury or death resulting therefrom
204	to any one person, and not less than $100,000 for bodily injury
205	or death resulting therefrom for any one accident, and not less
206	than $25,000 for damage to property.
207	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.