The Florida Senate

125.012  Project facilities; general powers and duties.--Any county and the board of county commissioners thereof shall have the power, in addition to the powers otherwise conferred:

(1)  To construct, acquire, establish, improve, extend, enlarge, reconstruct, equip, maintain, repair, and operate any project as defined in s. 125.011, either within or without the territorial boundaries of the county.

(2)  Subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and the State of Florida and the general laws of Florida relating to dredging and filling, to construct, establish, and improve harbors in the county and all navigable and nonnavigable waters connected therewith; to regulate and control all such waters; to construct and maintain such canals, slips, turning basins, and channels and upon such terms and conditions as may be required by the United States; and to enact, adopt, and establish by resolution rules and regulations for the complete exercise of jurisdiction and control over all such waters.

(3)  To acquire by grant, purchase, gift, devise, condemnation, or exchange, or in any other manner, property, real or personal, or any estate or interest therein, upon such terms and conditions as such county shall by resolution fix and determine.

(4)  To construct, maintain, and operate elevated toll roads and the approaches thereto, along, over, and across any public street or streets of any city, town, or municipality located within its boundaries.

(5)  To appoint shipping masters for ports or harbors under its control, to determine their qualifications, and to adopt rules and regulations prescribing their duties.

(6)  To license stevedores as independent contractors for hire to handle stevedoring at and in the harbors and airports in the county, to fix the terms and conditions of such licenses, and to determine the fees to be charged for same. Any and all such licenses of all persons, firms, groups, or corporations so licensed shall continue at the pleasure of the county.

(7)  To enter into joint arrangements with steamship lines, railroads, airlines, or other transportation lines, or any common carrier, if the county deems it advantageous so to do.

(8)  To make and enter into all contracts and agreements and to do and perform all acts and deeds necessary and incidental to the performance of its duties and the exercise of its powers.

(9)  To fix, regulate, and collect rates and charges for the services and facilities furnished by any project under its control; to establish, limit, and control the use of any project as may be deemed necessary to ensure the proper operation of the project; to impose sanctions to promote and enforce compliances; to prescribe rules and regulations and impose penalties and sanctions to ensure the proper performance of the duties of any stevedore or of any shipping master and the enforcement of any rule or regulation which the county may adopt in the regulation of the ports, harbors, wharves, docks, airports, and other projects under its control.

(10)  To fix the rates of wharfage, dockage, warehousing, storage, and port and terminal charges for the use of the port and harbor facilities located within or without the county and owned or operated by the county; and to fix and determine the rates, tolls, and other charges for the use of harbor and airport improvements and harbor and airport facilities located within or without the county insofar as it may do so under the State Constitution and the Constitution and laws of the United States.

(11)  To regulate the operation, docking, storing, and conduct of all watercraft of any kind plying or using the waterways within the county and of all aircraft of any kind operating over and within the county or utilizing any other area, field, location, or place within the county for air navigation purposes or for the repair, storage, or handling of aircraft within the county.

(12)  To receive and accept, from any federal agency, grants for or in aid of the construction, improvement, or operation of any project and to receive and accept contributions from any source of either money, property, labor, or other things of value.

(13)  To make any and all applications required by the Treasury Department and other departments or agencies of the United States Government as a condition precedent to the establishment within the county of a free port, foreign trade zone, or area for the reception from foreign countries of articles of commerce; to expedite and encourage foreign commerce and the handling, processing, and delivery thereof into foreign commerce free from the payment of custom duties and to enter into any agreements required by such departments or agencies in connection therewith; and to make like applications and agreements with respect to the establishment within the county of one or more bonded warehouses.

(14)  To enter into any contract with the government of the United States or any agency thereof which may be necessary in order to procure assistance, appropriations, and aid for the deepening, widening, and extending of channels and turning basins, the building and construction of public mass transit facilities, airport and airport facilities, slips, wharves, breakwaters, jetties, bulkheads, and any and all other harbor and air navigation improvements and facilities.

(15)  To employ consulting engineers, superintendents, managers, and such other engineering, construction, and accounting experts, attorneys, employees, and agents as may be necessary in its judgment, and to fix their compensation; and to pay to the clerk of the circuit court of any county such compensation as the board of county commissioners may determine, but not to exceed $2,500 per annum, to be paid exclusively from the revenues arising from the operation of any project owned and operated under authority of ss. 125.011-125.019 for his or her extraordinary services rendered to such board in the performance of its duties and the exercise of its powers. Such compensation shall be in addition to any and all other compensation provided by law for the clerk of the circuit court.

(16)  To make or cause to be made such surveys, investigations, studies, borings, maps, plans, drawings, and estimates of cost and revenues as it may deem necessary and to prepare and adopt a comprehensive plan or plans for the location, construction, improvement, and development of any project.

(17)  To grant exclusive or nonexclusive franchises to persons, firms, or corporations for the operating of restaurants, cafeterias, bars, taxicabs, vending machines, and other concessions of a nonaeronautical nature in, on, and in connection with any project owned and operated by the county. However, no exclusive franchise shall be so granted unless the board of county commissioners of such county shall award such franchise following receipt of sealed competitive bids in the manner prescribed by law, or cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county notice of the fact that it intends to grant such exclusive franchise and will at a time certain to be fixed in such notice, not less than 30 days after the publication of the notice, enter into negotiations with any interested parties as to the terms, conditions, and provisions of any such exclusive franchise. Such negotiations with any interested parties as to the terms, conditions, and provisions of any such exclusive franchise are to continue for a period of not less than 10 days before such exclusive franchise is granted.

(18)  To adopt and promulgate suitable rules, regulations, and directions for the operation and conduct of any project owned or operated by the county and for the use of any such project and any facility connected therewith by others.

(19)  To enter into contracts with utility companies or others for the supplying by such utility companies or others of water, electricity, or telephone service to or in connection with any project.

(20)  To approve or disapprove the location, establishment, construction, and operation of privately owned airports within the county. No state airport license or state approval of an airport site shall be effective in the county without the approval of the county on the application therefor.

(21)  To pledge by resolution or contract the revenues arising from the operation of any project or projects owned and operated by the county to the payment of the cost of operation, maintenance, repair, improvement, extension, or enlargement of the project or projects from the operation of which such revenues are received and for the payment of principal and interest on bonds issued in connection with any such project or projects; and to combine for financing purposes any two or more projects constructed or acquired by the county under the provisions of ss. 125.011-125.019. In any such case, the board of county commissioners may adopt separate budgets for the operation of such project or projects and it shall not be necessary to include such revenues and the expenditure thereof in the general county budget except by reference and for accounting purposes only. In every such case, such revenues shall be expended exclusively for the payment of the costs of operation, maintenance, repair, improvement, extension, and enlargement of the project or projects from the operation of which such revenues arise, for the performance of the contracts of the county in connection with such project or projects, and for the payment of principal and interest requirements of any bonds issued in connection with the project or projects. Any surplus of such funds remaining on hand at the end of any year shall be carried forward and may be expended in the succeeding year for the payment of the costs of operation of such project or projects or for the repair, improvement, or extension thereof as the board may determine, unless such surplus has been pledged for the payment of principal and interest on bonds, as authorized in s. 125.013, in which event any such surplus shall be applied in accordance with the resolution pledging the same.

(22)  To construct, own, maintain, and operate trade marts and exposition halls, and buildings for the display, exhibition, and sale of goods, wares, and merchandise, which are hereby defined to be projects within the meaning of s. 125.011; to rent space in, around, or connected with such trade marts to others and to collect rents, fees, and charges therefor; to sublet the whole or any part thereof to others and to enter into contracts with others for the operation thereof on such terms and conditions as the board of county commissioners shall by resolution determine to be for the best interest of the county; to rent, let, and lease to others ground space on, in, or connected with any project owned and operated by the county for the construction, maintenance, and operation thereon of any such trade mart, exposition hall, or building; to use the proceeds arising from the operation or rental of any such trade mart or exposition hall or building or from the rental of ground space therefor to pay the expense of operation, upkeep, and maintenance thereof, for advertising and publicity thereof, and for such other purposes as the board of county commissioners determines to be for the best interest of the county.

(23)  To borrow money and to issue notes for any purpose or purposes for which bonds may be issued under the provisions of s. 125.013 and to refund the same; to issue notes in anticipation of the receipt of the proceeds of the sale of any such bonds; to secure an advance of credit for any such purpose or purposes under a credit agreement or other agreement with any bank or trust company or any person, firm, or corporation within or without the state; and to secure any such borrowing, notes, or agreement by a pledge of all or any part of the available income or revenues to be received by the county under the provisions of ss. 125.011-125.019 or by an agreement to exercise any of the powers conferred by ss. 125.011-125.019.

(24)  To enter into contracts with tenants or other users of the project or providers of service in, on, or in connection with any project, which contracts may include agreements to design or construct any project or improvement, extension, or enlargement thereof, on such terms and conditions as the county shall by resolution determine. Such contracts may provide for the hiring of professional services, including the hiring of architects and engineers, and the award of construction contracts by such tenants, users, or providers of service and, in such cases, shall provide for their reimbursement upon audit for their reasonable and necessary expenses incurred on behalf of the project. Such reimbursement may, at the option of the county, be provided from the proceeds or issuance of revenue bonds, bond anticipation notes, or loans, or by any other method authorized by law, including the allowance of advance rental credits.

(25)  To publicize, advertise, and promote the activities and projects herein authorized; to make known the advantages, facilities, resources, products, attractions, and attributes of the activities and projects authorized; to create a favorable climate of opinion concerning the activities and projects authorized; to cooperate with other agencies, public and private, in accomplishing these purposes; and in furtherance thereof, to authorize expenditures for the purposes here enumerated, including meals, hospitality, and entertainment of persons in the interest of promoting and engendering good will towards the activities and projects authorized.

(26)  To own, maintain, operate, and control export trading companies, foreign sales corporations, and consulting services corporations as provided by the laws of the United States or this state; to enter into management contracts with such corporations or companies established for the purpose of providing or operating such facilities; to own, maintain, operate, and control cargo clearance centers and customs clearance facilities, and to enter into management contracts with corporations established for the purpose of providing or operating such facilities; to maintain the confidentiality of trade information and data pursuant to the patent or copyright laws of the United States, pursuant to the patent or copyright laws of foreign nations to the extent that same are enforced by the courts of the United States, and pursuant to the trade secrets doctrine; and to authorize airport and port employees to serve as officers and directors of export trading companies, foreign sales corporations, customs and cargo clearance corporations, and consulting services corporations for the sale of services to others. Counties are hereby authorized to expend any unobligated and available surplus funds from the activities authorized in this subsection for the construction of capital facilities.

(27)  To do all other acts and things necessary or proper in the exercise of the powers herein granted.

History.--s. 2, ch. 71-249; s. 2, ch. 79-291; s. 6, ch. 82-104; s. 2, ch. 87-144; s. 23, ch. 91-45; s. 814, ch. 95-147.