Ohio Code 6121.04 – Powers of Ohio water development authority
The Ohio water development authority may do any or all of the following:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 6121.04
- Beneficial use: means a use of water, including the method of diversion, storage, transportation, treatment, and application, that is reasonable and consistent with the public interest in the proper utilization of water resources, including, without limitation, domestic, agricultural, industrial, power, municipal, navigational, fish and wildlife, and recreational uses. See Ohio Code 6121.01
- Bond: includes an undertaking. See Ohio Code 1.02
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Governmental agencies: means departments, divisions, or other units of state government, watershed districts, soil and water conservation districts, municipal corporations, counties, townships, and other political subdivisions, special water districts, including county and regional sewer and water districts, conservancy districts, sanitary districts, sewer districts, or any other public corporation or agency having the authority to acquire, construct, or operate waste water or water management facilities, the United States or any agency thereof, and any agency, commission, or authority established pursuant to an interstate compact or agreement. See Ohio Code 6121.01
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Person: means any individual, firm, partnership, association, or corporation, or two or more or any combination thereof. See Ohio Code 6121.01
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Pollution: means the placing of any noxious or deleterious substances in any waters of the state or otherwise affecting the waters or properties of any waters of the state, including the temperature or radioactivity thereof, in a manner that is or renders the waters harmful or inimical to the public health, to animal or aquatic life, or to the use of the waters for domestic water supply, industrial, or agricultural purposes or recreation. See Ohio Code 6121.01
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Revenues: means all rentals and other charges for the use or services of any water development project, any gift or grant received with respect thereto, including, without limitation, any moneys received by the authority pursuant to an agreement entered into under section 6109. See Ohio Code 6121.01
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Waste water: means any water containing sewage or industrial waste or other pollutants or contaminants derived from the prior use of the water. See Ohio Code 6121.01
- water development project: means either of the following:
(1) Any waste water facility or water management facility, including undivided or other interests therein, acquired or constructed or to be acquired or constructed by the Ohio water development authority under this chapter, or acquired or constructed or to be acquired or constructed by a governmental agency or person with all or a portion of the cost thereof being paid from a loan or grant from the authority under this chapter, including all buildings and facilities that the authority considers necessary for the operation of the project, together with all property, rights, easements, and interest that may be required for the operation of the project;
(2) Any project or activity qualifying for financial assistance under section 6109. See Ohio Code 6121.01
- Water management facilities: means facilities for the development, use, and protection of water resources, including, without limitation, facilities for water supply, facilities for stream flow improvement, dams, reservoirs, and other impoundments, water transmission lines, water wells and well fields, pumping stations and works for underground water recharge, facilities for the management and treatment of storm water, stream monitoring systems, facilities for the stabilization of stream and river banks and coastal erosion areas, as defined in section 1506. See Ohio Code 6121.01
- Waters of the state: means all streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and other bodies or accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural or artificial, that are situated wholly or partly within, or border upon, this state or are within its jurisdiction, except those private waters that do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters. See Ohio Code 6121.01
(A) Adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business;
(B) Adopt an official seal;
(C) Maintain a principal office and suboffices at places within the state that it designates;
(D) Sue and plead in its own name and be sued and impleaded in its own name with respect to its contracts or torts of its members, employees, or agents acting within the scope of their employment, or to enforce its obligations and covenants made under sections 6121.06, 6121.08, and 6121.13 of the Revised Code. Any such actions against the authority shall be brought in the court of common pleas of the county in which the principal office of the authority is located or in the court of common pleas of the county in which the cause of action arose, provided that the county is located within this state, and all summonses, exceptions, and notices of every kind shall be served on the authority by leaving a copy thereof at the principal office with the person in charge thereof or with the secretary-treasurer of the authority.
(E) Make loans and grants to governmental agencies for the acquisition, construction, or refinancing of water development projects by any such governmental agency and adopt rules and procedures for making such loans and grants, including rules governing the financing and refinancing of such loans;
(F) Acquire, construct, reconstruct, enlarge, improve, furnish, equip, maintain, repair, operate, or lease or rent to, or contract for operation by, a governmental agency or person, water development projects, and establish rules for the use of those projects;
(G) Make available the use or services of any water development project to one or more persons, one or more governmental agencies, or any combination thereof;
(H) Issue water development revenue bonds and notes and water development revenue refunding bonds of the state, payable solely from revenues as provided in section 6121.06 of the Revised Code, unless the bonds are refunded by refunding bonds, for the purpose of paying any part of the cost of or refinancing one or more water development projects or parts thereof;
(I) Acquire by gift or purchase, hold, and dispose of real and personal property in the exercise of its powers and the performance of its duties under this chapter;
(J) Acquire, in the name of the state, by purchase or otherwise, on terms and in the manner that it considers proper, or by the exercise of the right of condemnation in the manner provided by section 6121.18 of the Revised Code, public or private lands, including public parks, playgrounds, or reservations, or parts thereof or rights therein, rights-of-way, property, rights, easements, and interests that it considers necessary for carrying out this chapter, but excluding the acquisition by the exercise of the right of condemnation of any waste water facility or water management facility owned by any person or governmental agency, and compensation shall be paid for public or private lands so taken, except that a government-owned waste water facility may be appropriated in accordance with section 6121.041 of the Revised Code;
(K) Adopt rules to protect augmented flow in waters of the state, to the extent augmented by a water development project, from depletion so it will be available for beneficial use, and to provide standards for the withdrawal from waters of the state of the augmented flow created by a water development project that is not returned to the waters of the state so augmented and to establish reasonable charges therefor if considered necessary by the authority;
(L) Make and enter into all contracts and agreements and execute all instruments necessary or incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this chapter in accordance with the following requirements:
(1) When the cost under any such contract or agreement, other than compensation for personal services, involves an expenditure of more than fifty thousand dollars, the authority shall make a written contract with the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, in accordance with section 9.312 of the Revised Code, after advertisement for not less than two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in Franklin county, and in other publications that the authority determines, which shall state the general character of the work and the general character of the materials to be furnished, the place where plans and specifications therefor may be examined, and the time and place of receiving bids, provided that a contract or lease for the operation of a water development project constructed and owned by the authority or an agreement for cooperation in the acquisition or construction of a water development project pursuant to section 6121.13 of the Revised Code or any contract for the construction of a water development project that is to be leased by the authority to, and operated by, persons who are not governmental agencies and the cost of the project is to be amortized exclusively from rentals or other charges paid to the authority by persons who are not governmental agencies is not subject to the foregoing requirements and the authority may enter into such a contract or lease or such an agreement pursuant to negotiation and upon terms and conditions and for the period that it finds to be reasonable and proper in the circumstances and in the best interests of proper operation or of efficient acquisition or construction of the project.
(2) Each bid for a contract for the construction, demolition, alteration, repair, or reconstruction of an improvement shall contain the full name of every person interested in it and shall meet the requirements of section 153.54 of the Revised Code.
(3) Each bid for a contract except as provided in division (L)(2) of this section shall contain the full name of every person or company interested in it and shall be accompanied by a sufficient bond or certified check on a solvent bank that if the bid is accepted, a contract will be entered into and the performance thereof secured.
(4) The authority may reject any and all bids.
(5) A bond with good and sufficient surety, approved by the authority, shall be required of every contractor awarded a contract except as provided in division (L)(2) of this section, in an amount equal to at least fifty per cent of the contract price, conditioned upon the faithful performance of the contract.
(M) Employ managers, superintendents, and other employees and retain or contract with consulting engineers, financial consultants, accounting experts, architects, attorneys, and other consultants and independent contractors that are necessary in its judgment to carry out this chapter, and fix the compensation thereof. All expenses thereof shall be payable solely from the proceeds of water development revenue bonds or notes issued under this chapter, from revenues, or from funds appropriated for that purpose by the general assembly.
(N) Receive and accept from any federal agency, subject to the approval of the governor, grants for or in aid of the construction of any water development project or for research and development with respect to waste water or water management facilities, and receive and accept aid or contributions from any source of money, property, labor, or other things of value, to be held, used, and applied only for the purposes for which the grants and contributions are made;
(O) Engage in research and development with respect to waste water or water management facilities;
(P) Purchase fire and extended coverage and liability insurance for any water development project and for the principal office and suboffices of the authority, insurance protecting the authority and its officers and employees against liability for damage to property or injury to or death of persons arising from its operations, and any other insurance the authority may agree to provide under any resolution authorizing its water development revenue bonds or in any trust agreement securing the same;
(Q) Charge, alter, and collect rentals and other charges for the use or services of any water development project as provided in section 6121.13 of the Revised Code;
(R) Provide coverage for its employees under Chapters 145., 4123., and 4141. of the Revised Code;
(S) Assist in the implementation and administration of the drinking water assistance fund and program created in section 6109.22 of the Revised Code and the water pollution control loan fund and program created in section 6111.036 of the Revised Code, including, without limitation, performing or providing fiscal management for the funds and investing and disbursing moneys in the funds, and enter into all necessary and appropriate agreements with the director of environmental protection for those purposes;
(T) Issue water development revenue bonds and notes of the state in principal amounts that are necessary for the purpose of raising moneys for the sole benefit of the water pollution control loan fund created in section 6111.036 of the Revised Code, including moneys to meet the requirement for providing matching moneys under division (D) of that section. The bonds and notes may be secured by appropriate trust agreements and repaid from moneys credited to the fund from payments of principal and interest on loans made from the fund, as provided in division (F) of section 6111.036 of the Revised Code.
(U) Issue water development revenue bonds and notes of the state in principal amounts that are necessary for the purpose of raising moneys for the sole benefit of the drinking water assistance fund created in section 6109.22 of the Revised Code, including moneys to meet the requirement for providing matching moneys under divisions (B) and (F) of that section. The bonds and notes may be secured by appropriate trust agreements and repaid from moneys credited to the fund from payments of principal and interest on loans made from the fund, as provided in division (F) of section 6109.22 of the Revised Code.
(V) Make loans to and enter into agreements with boards of county commissioners for the purposes of section 1506.44 of the Revised Code and adopt rules establishing requirements and procedures for making the loans and entering into the agreements;
(W) Do all acts necessary or proper to carry out the powers expressly granted in this chapter.
Any instrument by which real property is acquired pursuant to this section shall identify the agency of the state that has the use and benefit of the real property as specified in section 5301.012 of the Revised Code.