Section 42-4-97. Powers of authority

   Each authority shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this article, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the power:

   (1) To bring and defend actions except to the extent the authority has governmental immunity, venue being located in the host county of any project of the authority. The authority shall have no governmental immunity against suits by bondholders or their investors;

   (2) To adopt and amend the corporate seal;

   (3) To acquire, construct, improve, or modify, to place into operation, or to operate or cause to be placed in operation and operated, a jail or jails within the counties in which the authority is activated and subject to execution of agreements with appropriate political subdivisions affected within other counties or municipalities and to pay all or part of the cost of any such jail or jails from the proceeds of revenue bonds of the authority or from any contribution or loan by persons, firms, or corporations or from any other contribution or use fees, all of which the authority is authorized to receive, accept, and use;

   (4) To acquire, in its own name, by purchase on such terms and conditions and in such manner as it may deem proper, or by condemnation in accordance with any and all laws applicable to the condemnation of property for public use, or by gift, grant, lease, or otherwise, real property or rights and easements therein and franchises and personal property necessary or convenient for its corporate purposes, which purposes shall include, but shall not be limited to, the constructing or acquiring of a jail or jails; the improving, extending, adding to, reconstructing, renovating, or remodeling of any jail or jails or parts thereof already constructed or acquired; or the demolition to make room for such jail or any part thereof and to insure the same against any and all risks as such insurance may, from time to time, be available. The authority may also use such property and rent or lease the same to or from others or make contracts with respect to the use thereof or sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, pledge, or otherwise dispose of or grant options for any such property in any manner which the authority deems to the best advantage of itself and its purposes, provided that the powers to acquire, use, and dispose of property as set forth in this paragraph shall include the power to acquire, use, and dispose of any interest in such property, whether divided or undivided, which acquisition may result in the ownership of such property or any part thereof in common with any other party or parties, public or private;

   (5) To make contracts and leases and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient, including contracts for construction of jails and leases of jails or contracts with respect to the use of jails which it causes to be acquired or constructed on a negotiated basis without competitive bid, provided that all private persons, firms, and corporations, this state, and all political subdivisions, departments, instrumentalities, or agencies of the state or of local government are authorized to enter into contracts, leases, or agreements with the authority, upon such terms and for such purposes as they deem advisable; and, without limiting the generality of the provisions of this paragraph, authority is specifically granted to municipal corporations and counties and to the authority to enter into contracts, lease agreements, or other undertakings relative to the furnishing of project activities and facilities or either of them by the authority to such municipal corporations and counties and by such municipal corporations and counties to the authority for a term not exceeding 50 years;

   (6) To exercise any one or more of the powers, rights, and privileges conferred by this Code section either alone or jointly or in common with one or more other public or private parties. In any such exercise of such powers, rights, and privileges jointly or in common with others with respect to the construction, operation, and maintenance of jail facilities, the authority may own an undivided interest in such facilities with any other party with which it may jointly or in common exercise the rights and privileges conferred by this article and may enter into an agreement or agreements with respect to any such jail facility with the other party or parties participating therein; and such agreement may contain such terms, conditions, and provisions, consistent with this article, as the parties thereto shall deem to be in their best interests, including, but not limited to, provisions for the construction, operation, and maintenance of such jail facility by any one or more of the parties to such agreement, which party or parties shall be designated in or pursuant to such agreement as agent or agents on behalf of itself and one or more of the other parties thereto, or by such other means as may be determined by the parties thereto, and including provisions for a method or methods of determining and allocating, among or between the parties, costs of construction, operation, maintenance, renewals, replacements, improvements, and disposal with respect to such facility, such agent shall be governed by the laws and regulations applicable to such agent as a separate legal entity and not by any laws or regulations which may be applicable to any of the other participating parties; provided, however, the agent shall act for the benefit of the public. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law to the contrary, pursuant to the terms of any such agreement, the authority may delegate its powers and duties with respect to the construction, operation, and maintenance of such facility to the party acting as agent; and all actions taken by such agent in accordance with the provisions of such agreement may be binding upon the authority without further action or approval of the authority;

   (7) To accept, receive, and administer gifts, grants, appropriations, and donations of money, materials, and property of any kind, including loans and grants from the United States, this state, a unit of local government, or any agency, department, authority, or instrumentality of any of the foregoing, upon such terms and conditions as the United States, this state, a unit of local government, or such agency, department, authority, or instrumentality shall impose; to administer trusts; and to sell, lease, transfer, convey, appropriate, and pledge any and all of its property and assets;

   (8) To do any and all things necessary or proper for the accomplishment of the objectives of this article and to exercise any power usually possessed by private corporations performing similar functions which is not in conflict with the Constitution and laws of this state, including the power to employ professional and administrative staff and personnel by and through the management committee and to retain legal, engineering, fiscal, accounting, and other professional services; the power to purchase all kinds of insurance, including, without limitation, insurance against tort liability and against risks of damage to property; the power to borrow money for any of the corporate purposes of the authority; the power to indemnify and hold harmless any parties contracting with the authority or its agents from damage to persons or property; and the power to act as self-insurer with respect to any loss or liability; provided, however, that obligations of the authority other than revenue bonds, for which provision is made in this article, shall be payable from the general funds of the authority and shall not be a charge against any special fund allocated to the payment of revenue bonds;

   (9) To borrow money and issue its revenue bonds and bond anticipation notes from time to time and to use the proceeds thereof for the purpose of paying all or part of the cost of any jail, including the cost of extending, adding to, or improving such jail, or for the purpose of refunding any such bonds of the authority theretofore issued; and otherwise to carry out the purposes of this article and to pay all other costs of the authority incident to, or necessary and appropriate to, such purposes, including the provision of funds to be paid into any fund or funds to secure such bonds and notes, provided that all such bonds and notes shall be issued in accordance with the procedures and subject to the limitations set forth in Code Section 42-4-100; and

   (10) To fix rentals and other charges which any user shall pay to the authority for the use of a jail or part or combination thereof, and to charge and collect the same, and to lease and make contracts with political subdivisions and agencies with respect to the use of any part of any jail or jails. Such rentals and other charges shall be so fixed and adjusted with respect to the aggregate thereof from the jail or any part thereof so as to provide a fund with other revenues of such jail, if any, to pay the cost of maintaining, repairing, and operating the jail, including reserves for extraordinary repairs and insurance, unless such cost shall be otherwise provided for, which costs shall be deemed to include the expenses incurred by the authority on account of the jail for water, light, sewer, and other services furnished by other facilities at such jail.

Code 1981, § 42-4-97, enacted by Ga. L. 1995, p. 292, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 1098, § 6; Ga. L. 1997, p. 143, § 42.