HB 1257

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 prior to
10	their assuming office; requiring commissioners to elect a
11	treasurer for the board; revising per diem and travel
12	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, a treasurer, and a secretary. Two members of the
72	board shall constitute a quorum. The vote of two members shall
73	be necessary to transact business. The chair and vice chair
74	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, or material for the use of said
121	district without the necessity of advertising any notice or
122	calling for bids regarding said purchase when the amount to be
123	paid therefor by said district does not exceed the competitive
124	bid and advertising requirement amounts 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 secretary
137	and under its corporate seals shall be delivered or transmitted
138	to the Board of County Commissioners of Indian River County, and
139	a copy shall be transmitted by mail to the Chief Financial
140	Officer not later than August 1 of each year. It shall be the
141	duty of the Board of County Commissioners of Indian River County
142	to order the property appraiser of said county to assess and the
143	collector of said county to collect the amount of said tax so
144	assessed by the Board of Commissioners of said district upon all
145	the taxable property, real or personal, in said district at the
146	rate of taxation adopted by said board for said year, but not
147	exceeding 10 mills on the dollar and as specified in said
148	resolution, and said levy shall be included in the warrant to
149	the tax collector and the property appraiser which is attached
150	to the assessment roll of taxes for said county each year. The
151	property appraiser shall make such assessment and the tax
152	collector shall collect such taxes so levied in the manner as
153	other taxes are assessed and collected and shall pay the same
154	when collected, within the time and in the manner prescribed by
155	law for the payment of other taxes, to the secretary of said
156	Board of Commissioners. It shall be the duty of said Chief
157	Financial Officer to assess and levy on all the railroad lines
158	and railroad property, telegraph lines and telegraph property,
159	and telephone lines and telephone property the amount of every
160	such levy herewith provided in this section, and as in the case
161	of other state and county taxes, and said taxes so levied by the
162	Chief Financial Officer shall be collected as provided for other
163	similar taxes, and the proceeds thereof shall be remitted to the
164	secretary of said board in the same manner as such remittances
165	are made in the collection of other taxes. If any such taxes so
166	assessed are not paid, the said property shall be sold by said
167	tax collector and certificates issued and tax deeds issued in
168	the same manner and under the same laws relating to the sales,
169	issuance of certificates, and deeds with reference to all other
170	state and county taxes. The Board of Commissioners of the Indian
171	River Mosquito Control District is herewith authorized to borrow
172	in any one tax year a sum not to exceed 80 percent of the
173	estimated taxes to be collected on behalf of said district
174	within such year and issue negotiable promissory notes and bonds
175	or such necessary instruments to secure said loan to enable the
176	board to carry out the provisions of this act to evidence such
177	loan made to said district by its tax anticipation note or notes
178	bearing interest at a rate not to exceed 10 percent per annum,
179	and which notes shall be payable at a time not greater than 1
180	year from the date of the borrowing of such moneys; the sums so
181	borrowed shall be repaid out of the next taxes collected by said
182	district to the extent necessary for the repayment thereof,
183	together with such interest at a rate not to exceed 6 percent
184	per annum; and no sums shall be borrowed as herewith provided in
185	any subsequent year unless all moneys so borrowed in any
186	preceding year shall have been entirely paid as to both
187	principal and interest.
188	Section 11.  In addition to all other powers granted to the
189	district by law, the Indian River Mosquito Control District,
190	acting by and through its duly qualified board of commissioners,
191	shall have the power to purchase and pay for insurance as a
192	legitimate public expenditure without waiving its right to
193	defend any action filed against it on the grounds of sovereign
194	immunity while reserving all rights and defenses available Said
195	board is hereby required to secure and keep in force in
196	companies duly authorized to do business in Florida insurance
197	covering liability for property damage or bodily injury or death
198	resulting therefrom to all persons and property by reason of the
199	ownership, maintenance, operation, or use of any vehicle,
200	dragline, dredge, tractor, and related equipment being used for
201	and in the interest of the purpose of said board in amounts not
202	less than $50,000 for bodily injury or death resulting therefrom
203	to any one person, and not less than $100,000 for bodily injury
204	or death resulting therefrom for any one accident, and not less
205	than $25,000 for damage to property.
206	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.

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