Section 46-5-138. Joint authorities

   (a) (1) By proper resolution of the local governing bodies, an authority may be created and activated by:

      (A) Any two or more municipal corporations;

      (B) Any two or more counties; or

      (C) One or more municipal corporations and one or more counties.

   (2) The resolutions creating and activating a joint authority shall specify the number of members of the authority, the number to be appointed by each participating county or municipal corporation, their terms of office, and their residency requirements.

   (3) The resolutions creating and activating joint authorities may be amended by appropriate concurrent resolutions of the participating governing bodies.

(b) The public authority shall be authorized to contract with the counties or municipalities which formed the authority to operate an emergency 9-1-1 system for such local governments throughout the corporate boundaries of such local governments. Pursuant to such contracts, the local governments shall be authorized to provide funding to the authority from the Emergency Telephone System Fund maintained by each local government. No authority shall be formed until each local government forming the authority has imposed a monthly 9-1-1 charge or a monthly wireless enhanced 9-1-1 charge.

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

   (1) To bring and defend actions;

   (2) To adopt and amend a corporate seal;

   (3) To make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary to exercise the powers of the authority;

   (4) To receive and administer gifts, grants, and devises of any property;

   (5) To operate emergency call answering services for law enforcement, emergency management, fire, and emergency medical service agencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year;

   (6) To acquire, by purchase, gift, or construction, any real or personal property desired to be acquired to operate the emergency 9-1-1 system;

   (7) To sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, pledge, mortgage, dispose of, or grant options for any real or personal property or interest therein for any such purposes; and

   (8) To mortgage, convey, pledge, or assign any properties, revenues, income, tolls, charges, or fees owned or received by the authority.

(d) The authority shall elect a chairperson and such other officers as deemed necessary by the authority. The authority shall select a director who shall be responsible for establishing operating standards and procedures and overseeing the operations of the emergency 9-1-1 system. The director may be an employee working in the operation of the emergency 9-1-1 system. The authority shall be responsible for hiring, training, supervising, and disciplining employees working in the operation of the emergency 9-1-1 system. An appropriate number of full-time and part-time employees shall be hired to operate the emergency 9-1-1 system. The authority shall determine the compensation of such employees and shall be authorized to provide other employee benefits. The authority shall submit its annual budget and a report of its financial records to the local governments which created the authority.

(e) The authority may contract with a service supplier in the same manner that local governments are so authorized under the provisions of this part.

(f) Notwithstanding subsection (i) of Code Section 46-5-134, if the joint authority and each local governing body activating the joint authority certify to the service provider in writing prior to the end of the 18 month period in advance of the date on which the 9-1-1 system was to have become fully operational that the system cannot be placed in operation on the date originally projected but that all parties are proceeding in a diligent and timely fashion to implement such service, the service provider shall continue to collect the monthly 9-1-1 charge for an additional period of 18 months or until the 9-1-1 system becomes fully operational, whichever occurs first.

(g) It is found, determined, and declared that the creation of the authority and the carrying out of its corporate purposes are in all respects for the benefit of the people of this state and constitute a public purpose, and the authority shall be performing an essential governmental function in the exercise of the power conferred upon it by this Code section. This state covenants that the authority shall be required to pay no taxes or assessments upon any of the property acquired or leased by it or under its jurisdiction, control, possession, or supervision, or upon its activities in the operation or maintenance of the buildings erected or acquired by it, or upon any fees, rentals, or other charges for the use of such buildings, or upon other income received by the authority. The exemption provided in this Code section shall include an exemption from state and local sales and use tax on property purchased by the authority for use exclusively by the authority.

Code 1981, § 46-5-138, enacted by Ga. L. 1993, p. 1368, § 3; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1017, § 12; Ga. L. 2004, p. 366, § 2A; Ga. L. 2005, p. 660, § 9/HB 470; Ga. L. 2007, p. 318, § 2/HB 394.