Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 67. AERONAUTICS

CHAPTER 11. AIRPORT AUTHORITIES

Part 2. Powers

Joint Board

67-11-204. Joint board. (1) Public agencies acting jointly pursuant to 67-11-203 through 67-11-205 shall create a joint board that must consist of members appointed by the governing body of each participating public agency. The number of members to be appointed and their terms and compensation, if any, must be provided for in the joint agreement. A joint board shall organize, select officers for terms that are fixed by the agreement, and adopt and amend from time to time rules for its own procedure. The joint board, as agent of the participating public agencies, may plan, acquire, establish, develop, construct, enlarge, improve, maintain, equip, operate, regulate, protect, and police any airport or air navigation facility or airport hazard to be jointly acquired, controlled, and operated. Subject to subsection (2), the board may be authorized by the participating public agencies to exercise on behalf of its constituent public agencies all the powers of each public agency with respect to the airport, air navigation facility, or airport hazard.

(2) (a) The total expenditures to be made by the joint board for any purpose in a calendar year must be as determined by a budget approved by the constituent public agencies on or before the preceding June 10 or as otherwise specifically authorized by the constituent public agencies.

(b) An airport, air navigation facility, airport hazard, or real or personal property, the cost of which is in excess of sums fixed by the joint agreement or allotted in the annual budget, may not be acquired, established, or developed by the joint board without the approval of the governing bodies of its constituent public agencies.

(c) Eminent domain proceedings under 67-11-203 through 67-11-205 and Title 70, chapter 30, may be instituted by the joint board only by authority of the governing bodies of the constituent public agencies of the joint board. If authorized, the proceedings must be instituted in the names of the constituent public agencies jointly, and the property acquired must be held by the public agencies as tenants in common.

(d) The joint board may not dispose of any airport, air navigation facility, or real property under its jurisdiction except with the consent of the governing bodies of its constituent public agencies. However, the joint board may, without consent, enter into contracts, leases, or other arrangements contemplated by 67-11-211.

(e) Resolutions, rules, or orders of the joint board that deal with subjects authorized by 67-11-211 become effective only upon approval of the governing bodies of the constituent public agencies. However, upon approval, the resolutions, rules, or orders of the joint board have the same force in the territories or jurisdictions involved that the ordinances, resolutions, rules, or orders of each public agency would have in its own territory or jurisdiction.

History: En. 1-918 by Sec. 17, Ch. 433, L. 1971; amd. Sec. 8, Ch. 232, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 1-918(3), (4); amd. Sec. 45, Ch. 125, L. 2001.