§ 165-26. Creation of authority. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 165‑26.  Creationof authority.

If the council of any city in the State having a population of morethan one hundred thousand, according to the last federal census, shall, uponsuch investigation as it deems necessary, determine:

(1)        That there is a lack of adequate veterans' recreationfacilities and accommodations from the operations of public or privateenterprises in the city and surrounding area; and/or

(2)        That the public interest requires the construction,maintenance or operation of a veterans' recreation project for the veteransthereof, the council shall adopt a resolution so finding (which need not gointo any detail other than the mere finding), and shall cause notice of such determination to be given to the mayor, who shall thereupon appoint, ashereinafter provided, five commissioners to act as an authority. SaidCommission shall be a public body and a body corporate and politic upon thecompletion of the taking of the following proceedings:

The commissioners shall present to the Secretary of State anapplication signed by them, which shall set forth (without any detail otherthan the mere recital): (i) that the council has made the aforesaiddetermination after such investigation, and that the mayor has appointed themas commissioners; (ii) the name and official residence of each of thecommissioners, together with a certified copy of the appointment evidencingtheir right to office, the date and place of induction into and taking oath ofoffice, and that they desire the recreation authority to become a public bodyand a body corporate and politic under this Article; (iii) the term of officeof each of the commissioners; (iv) the name which is proposed for thecorporation; and (v) the location and the principal office of the proposedcorporation. The application shall be subscribed and sworn to by each of thesaid commissioners before an officer authorized by the  laws of the State totake and certify oaths, who shall certify upon the application that hepersonally knows the commissioners and knows them to be the officers asasserted in the application, and that each subscribed and swore thereto in theofficer's presence. The Secretary of State shall examine the application, andif he finds that the name proposed for the corporation is not identical withthat of a person or of any other corporation of this State or so nearly similaras to lead to confusion and uncertainty, he shall receive and file it and shallrecord it in an appropriate book of record in his office.

When the application has been made, filed and recorded, as hereinprovided, the authority shall constitute a public body and a body corporate andpolitic under the name proposed in the application; the Secretary of Stateshall make and issue to the said commissioners a certificate of incorporationpursuant to this Article, under the seal of the State, and shall record thesame with the application.

The boundaries of such authority shall include said city and the areawithin 10 miles from the territorial boundaries of said city, but in no eventshall it include the whole or a part of any other city nor any area includedwithin the boundaries of another authority. In case an area lies within 10miles of the boundaries of more than one city, such area shall be deemed to bewithin the boundaries of the authority embracing such area which was firstestablished, all priorities to be determined on the basis of the time of theissuance of the aforesaid certificates by the Secretary of State. After thecreation of an authority, the subsequent existence within its territorialboundaries  of more than one city shall in no way affect the territorialboundaries of such authority.

In any suit, action or proceeding involving the validity or enforcementof or relating to any contract of the authority, the authority shall beconclusively deemed to have been established in accordance with the provisionsof this Article upon proof of the issuance of the aforesaid certificate by theSecretary of State. A copy of such certificate, duly certified by the Secretaryof State, shall be admissible evidence in any such suit, action or proceeding,and shall be conclusive proof of the filing and contents thereof. (1945, c. 460, s. 4.)