§ 160A-639.  General powers of the Authority.

The general powers of the Authority shall include any or all of the following:

(1) To sue and be sued.

(2) To have a seal.

(3) To make rules and regulations, not inconsistent with this Chapter, for its organization and internal management.

(4) To employ a chief administrative officer to carry out the functions and duties of the Authority. The Board of Trustees shall fix the compensation of the chief administrative officer and any employees hired by the chief administrative officer pursuant to G.S. 160A-639.1, within the limit of available funds.

(5) With the approval of the unit of local government's chief administrative official, to use officers, employees, agents, and facilities of the unit of local government for such purposes and upon such terms as may be mutually agreeable.

(6) To retain and employ counsel, auditors, engineers, and private consultants on an annual salary, contract basis, or otherwise for rendering professional or technical services and advice.

(7) To acquire, lease as lessee with or without option to purchase, hold, own, and use any franchise, property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein, and to sell, lease as lessor with or without option to purchase, transfer (or dispose thereof) whenever the same is no longer required for purposes of the Authority, or exchange same for other property or rights which are useful for the Authority's purposes, including but not necessarily limited to parking facilities.

(8) To acquire by gift, purchase, lease as lessee with or without option to purchase or otherwise to construct, improve, maintain, repair, operate, or administer any component parts of a public transportation system or to contract for the maintenance, operation or administration thereof, or to lease as lessor the same for maintenance, operation, or administration by private parties, including, but not necessarily limited to, parking facilities.

(9) To make or enter into contracts, agreements, deeds, leases with or without option to purchase, conveyances or other instruments, including contracts and agreements with the United States, the State of North Carolina, and units of local government.

(9a) To purchase or finance real or personal property in the manner provided for cities and counties under G.S. 160A-20.

(10) To surrender to the State of North Carolina any property no longer required by the Authority.

(11) To develop and make data, plans, information, surveys and studies of public transportation facilities within the territorial jurisdiction of the Authority and to prepare and make recommendations in regard thereto.

(12) To enter in a reasonable manner lands, waters, or premises for the purpose of making surveys, soundings, drillings, and examinations whereby such entry shall not be deemed a trespass except that the Authority shall be liable for any actual and consequential damages resulting from such entries.

(13) To develop and carry out demonstration projects.

(14) To make, enter into, and perform contracts with private parties, and public transportation companies with respect to the management and operation of public passenger transportation.

(15) To make, enter into, and perform contracts with any public utility, railroad or transportation company for the joint use of property or rights, for the establishment of through routes, joint fares, or transfer of passengers.

(16) To make, enter into, and perform agreements with governmental entities for payments to the Authority for the transportation of persons for whom the governmental entities desire transportation.

(17) With the consent of the unit of local government which would otherwise have jurisdiction to exercise the powers enumerated in this subdivision: to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity; and to grant franchises and enter into franchise agreements, and in all respects to regulate the operation of buses, taxicabs, and other methods of public passenger transportation which originate and terminate within the territorial jurisdiction of the Authority as fully as the unit of local government is now or hereafter empowered to do within the territorial jurisdiction of the unit of local government.

(18) To operate public transportation systems and to enter into and perform contracts to operate public transportation services and facilities, and to own or lease property, facilities and equipment necessary or convenient therefor, and to rent, lease or otherwise sell the right to do so to any person, public or private; further, to obtain grants, loans, and assistance from the United States, the State of North Carolina, any public body, or any private source whatsoever, but may not operate or contract for the operation of public transportation systems outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Authority except as provided by subdivision (20) of this section.

(19) To enter into and perform contracts and agreements with other public transportation authorities, regional public transportation authorities, or units of local government pursuant to the provisions of G.S. 160A-460 through G.S. 160A-464 (Part 1 of Article 20 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes); further to enter into contracts and agreements with private transportation companies, but this subdivision does not authorize the operation of, or contracting for the operation of, service of a public transportation system outside the service area of the Authority.

(20) To operate public transportation systems extending service into any political subdivision of the State of North Carolina unless a particular unit of local government operating its own public transportation system or franchising the operation of a public transportation system by majority vote of its governing board, shall deny consent, but such service may not extend more than 10 miles outside of the territorial jurisdiction of the authority, except that vanpool and carpool service shall not be subject to that mileage limitation.

(21) Except as restricted by covenants in bonds, notes, or equipment trust certificates, to set in its sole discretion rates, fees, and charges for use of its public transportation system.

(22) To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out its purpose and to exercise the powers granted to the Authority.

(23) To facilitate the coordination of transportation plans in the service area and the activities of the member Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

(24) To maintain databases for the projection of future travel demands in the region.

(25) To provide and operate regional ridesharing and vanpool operations.

(26) To provide and operate regional transportation services for the elderly and handicapped.

(27) To provide other transportation related services, including air quality monitoring and analysis, as determined by the Board of Trustees.

(28) To issue bonds or other obligations of the Authority as provided by law and apply the proceeds thereof to the financing of any public transportation system or any part thereof and to refund, whether or not in advance of maturity or the earliest redemption date, any such bonds or other obligations.

(29) To contract for, or to provide and maintain, with respect to the facilities and property owned, leased with or without option to purchase, operated or under the control of the Authority, and within the territory thereof, a security force to protect persons and property, dispense unlawful or dangerous assemblages and assemblages which obstruct full and free passage, control pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and otherwise preserve and protect the public peace, health, and safety; for these purposes a member of such force shall be a peace officer and, as such, shall have authority equivalent to the authority of a police officer of the city or county in which said member of such force is discharging such duties. (1997-393, s. 1; 1998-70, s. 3; 2016-54, s. 3.)