4. Quorum. Five members A majority of appointed and sworn trustees constitute a quorum. Five affirmative votes are A majority vote of those present and voting is required for the board of trustees to take action.

7. Officers; temporary agents. The trustees shall elect a chair and vice-chair from among their members the trustees. The authority may contract with technical experts and other temporary agents that it requires if the authority has available funds to reimburse such experts and agents for their services. The authority may employ an executive director, technical experts and other agents and employees, permanent and temporary, that it requires and may determine their qualifications, duties and compensation. For required legal services, the authority may retain its own legal counsel.

Sec. 6. 5 MRSA §13083-D, as enacted by PL 2001, c. 568, §1, is amended to read:

§13083-D. Property of authority

The authority may lease, sell or transfer property or interests in property to a local development corporation or other entity determined by the trustees to be eligible to take ownership and possession of the property or interests in property to accomplish the readjustment or reuse of the facilities owned by the authority. A person may not hold any pecuniary interest in property owned by the authority while that person is a member of the board of trustees.

SUMMARY

This bill amends the laws governing the powers and duties of the Washington County Development Authority. It expands the powers of the authority to include buying, selling, developing, redeveloping and leasing property for the purpose of further developing the economy of Washington County. The bill also enables the membership of the board of trustees to expand to 13 members. The bill also expands the definition of "primary impact community" to include all of the municipalities and unorganized territories in the county.