By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Mona now has a local building authority which was created at meeting last Tuesday.
It was preceded by several months of consideration by the Mona City Council and by Greg Newton, mayor, who requested that the city attorney draw up the legal paperwork for consideration by the council.
Eric Todd Johnson of Blaisdell, Church & Johnson, is the attorney for Mona City but was represented at the meeting by Jordan Bennett, an attorney with the firm.
"We would be foolish to not go down this road," said Greg Newton, mayor.
After some explanation, council members created a local building authority by resolution, and adopted articles of incorporation and by-laws. The authority became official immediately.
"Under the Utah Local Building Authority Act, by statute, the city may create a local building authority," said Bennett.
"This does away with the need to have a dedicated revenue stream," said Newton. "This way we do not have to raise water rates."
A building authority, said Bennett, also makes the city's projects more appealing to the CIB (Community Impact Board).
"The CIB wants everything secured before they give a loan," he said.
He had found that to be true in previous meetings he and council members had with the CIB, said Newton.
"CIB smiles a lot more when a city has its own building authority," Newton said.
Parowan recently used their building authority to undertake a new city office project, which, said Bennett, he understood the city council of Mona was wishing to do.
The building authority was helpful in that project.
Juab County also has a local building authority.
"The mayor and city council also serve as the building authority," Bennett said.
The normal course of events would be that the council would open a regular council meeting, would then move to leave that meeting, would convene in a building authority meeting, discuss that business, close that meeting and reconvene in city council; the mayor pro tem serves as the vice chair, the treasurer as the treasurer and the recorder acts as the secretary. The council members become governing board members.
The officers of the authority board are to be elected by the board and new offices may be created by the board at any meeting of the board.
A majority of the authority board will constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
The building authority board can also appoint committees to assist but they will have the authority of the board and must act under them and be responsible to them.
"The city recorder is authorized and directed to complete the attached record of proceedings to officially record the proceedings at which the resolution was considered for adoption," Bennett said.
The local building authority will not undertake any activities without prior authorization of the city council.
All meetings are to be advertised in keeping with the open meetings law.
"The purpose of the authority," said Bennett, "is to acquire, improve or extend one or more projects and to finance their costs on behalf of Mona City."
He said that the statute was pretty general and was used by cities for a variety of important projects.
The purposes of the building authority are civic, benevolent, charitable and philanthropic.
"We could run all sorts of projects through the building authority," said Newton.
Jeff Hearty, council member, asked if the city council could still hold a public hearing on a project, if they wanted, and was told that was possible.
All meetings must comply with the open and public meetings law. Special meetings of the authority may be held but must be in compliance with the open meeting law.
The city council created the building authority as a nonprofit corporation, in keeping with state statute.
Under terms of the resolution, the city and the authority agreed to retain Johnson as the legal counsel in creating the authority and financing projects thereunder.
The articles of incorporation also allow the building authority to have a perpetual duration though the authority may be dissolved if the proper procedure is followed.
"The objects and purposes for which the authority is founded and incorporated are to acquire, improve or extend one or more projects and to finance their costs on behalf of Mona," according Article IV of the articles.
The articles also recognize that the building authority was not organized for gain and that no loans, dividends or other distributions will ever be declared or paid to any of its trustees or officers. It will have no shares of stock and none of the property, real or personal, will ever be used or expended except in carrying into effect the legitimate ends and aims of the authority.
Bennett said that the building authority was created as a nonprofit corporation according to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
