A CHARTER ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF GARNETT, KANSAS EXEMPTING THE CITY FROM THE PROVISIONS OF K.S.A. 17-2339, K.S.A. 17-2346, K.S.A. 17-2347 AND K.S.A. 17-2351 RELATING TO MUNICIPAL HOUSING PROJECTS AND THE OPERATION THEREOF AND PROVIDING SUBSTITUTE AND ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS RELATING THERETO.
WHEREAS, Article 12, Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of Kansas (hereinafter referred to as “Article 12, § 5”) provides that cities may exercise certain home rule powers, including adopting charter ordinances which exempt such cities from the whole or any part of acts of the Kansas Legislature, other than acts of statewide concern applicable uniformly to all cities; and
WHEREAS, the City of Garnett, Kansas (the “City”) is a city as defined in Article 12, § 5, duly created and organized under the laws of the State of Kansas; and
WHEREAS, K.S.A. 17-2339, K.S.A. 17-2346, K.S.A. 17-2347 and K.S.A. 17-2351 are a part of an enactment of the Kansas Legislature, K.S.A. 17-2337 et. seq. Jointly, with this Charter Ordinance, the “Municipal Housing Law”), relating to municipal housing projects and the operation thereof, which enactment is applicable to the City, but is not uniformly applicable to all cities within the State of Kansas; and
WHEREAS, the Governing Body of the City desires, by charter ordinance, to exempt the City from the provisions of K.S.A.17-2339, K.S.A. 17-2346, K.S.A. 17-2347 and K.S.A. 17-2351, and to provide substitute and additional provisions therefor, including expanding the definition of “persons of low income” and other changes, in order to provide additional opportunities to develop, finance and rent to elderly persons dwelling accommodations in the City’s housing projects, as defined by the Municipal Housing Law.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF GARNETT, KANSAS AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Exemption-K.S.A. 17-2339. The City, by the power vested in it by Article 12, § 5, hereby elects to exempt itself from and make inapplicable to it, the provisions of K.S.A. 17-2339 and does hereby provide the following substitute and additional provisions in place thereof:
Definitions. The following terms, wherever used or referred to in the Municipal Housing Law, shall have the following respective meanings, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
(a) “Housing authority” or “authority” shall mean any agency of the City created pursuant to the Municipal Housing Law.
(b) “State public body” shall mean any city, county, township, municipal corporation, commission, district authority, or other subdivision or public body of the state.
(c) “Governing body” shall mean the Board of Commissioners of the City.
(d) “Mayor” shall mean the mayor of the City.
(e) “Clerk” shall mean the clerk of the City.
(f) “Area of operation” shall include the City and the area within five (5) miles of the territorial City boundaries: Provided, such area shall not include any area which lies within the territorial boundaries of another city as herein defined without the consent of the other city nor any area in another county.
(g) “Federal government” shall include the United States of America, the public housing administration, or any other agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise of the United States of America.
(h) “Slum” means any area where dwellings predominate which by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement or design, lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities, or any combination of these factors are detrimental to safety, health and morals.
(i) “Housing project” or “project” shall mean any work or undertaking to provide decent, safe and sanitary urban or rural dwellings, apartments, or other living accommodations for persons of low income. Such work or undertaking may include buildings, land, equipment, facilities, and other real or personal property for necessary, convenient or desirable appurtenances, streets, sewers, water service, utilities, parks, site preparation, landscaping, administrative, community, health, recreational, welfare, or other purposes. The term “housing project” or “project” also may be applied to the planning of the buildings and improvements, the acquisition of property, the demolition of existing structures, the construction, reconstruction, alteration or repair of the improvements and all other work in connection therewith, and the term shall include all other real and personal property and all tangible or intangible assets held or used in connection with the housing project.
(j) “Persons of low income” shall mean (i) persons or families who lack the amount of income which is necessary (as determined by the City) to enable them without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding and (ii) elderly person(s).
(k) “Elderly person” shall mean a single person or a family, the head of which (or their spouse) has attained the age of 55 years.
(l) “Bonds” shall mean any bonds, notes, interim certificates, debentures, or other obligations issued by the City or an authority pursuant to the Municipal Housing Law.
(m) “Real property” shall include all lands, including improvements and fixtures thereon; and property of any nature appurtenant thereto, or used in connection therewith, and every estate, interest and right, legal or equitable, therein, including terms for years.
(n) “Obligee” shall include any bondholder, agent or trustee for any bondholder, or lessor demising to the City property used in connection with a project, or any assignee or assignees of such lessor’s interest or any part thereof, and the federal government when it is a party to any contract with the City in respect to a housing project.
(o) “Municipally” shall mean the City.
Section 2. Exemption-K.S.A. 17-2346. The City, by the power vested in it by Article 12, § 5, hereby elects to exempt itself from and make inapplicable to it the provisions of K.S.A. 17-2346 and does hereby provide substitute and additional provisions in place thereof as follows:
Operation of housing projects; nonprofit; fixing rentals; non-dwelling facilities, rental. The City shall manage and operate its housing projects in an efficient manner so as to enable it to fix the rentals or payments for dwelling accommodations at rates consistent with its providing decent, safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of low income and that the City shall not construct or operate any housing project for profit, or as a source of revenue to the City. To this end the City shall fix the rentals or payments for dwellings in its projects at no higher rates than it shall find to be necessary in order to produce revenues which (together with all other available moneys, revenues, income and receipts in connection with or for such projects from whatever sources derived, including federal financial assistance) will be sufficient
(a) to pay, as the same become due, the principal and interest on the bonds issued pursuant to this act;
(b) to create and maintain such reserves as may be required to assure the payment of principal and interest as it becomes due on such bonds;
(c) to meet the cost of, and to provide for, maintaining and operating the projects (including necessary reserves therefor and the cost of any insurance and of administrative expenses); and
(d) to make such payments in lieu of taxes and, after payment in full of all obligations for which federal annual contributions are pledged, to make such repayments of federal and local contributions as it determines are consistent with the maintenance of the low-rent character of projects. Rentals or payments for dwellings shall be established and the projects administered, as far as possible, so as to assure that any federal financial assistance required shall be strictly limited to amounts and periods necessary to maintain, if applicable, the low-rent character of the projects. Nothing herein shall be construed to limit the amount an authority may charge for non-dwelling facilities. All such income, together with other income and revenue, shall be used in the operation of the projects to aid in accomplishing the public purposes of the Municipal Housing Law.
Section 3. Exemption-K.S.A. 17-2347. The City, by the power vested in it by Article 12, § 5, hereby elects to exempt itself from and make inapplicable to it the provisions of K.S.A. 17-2347 and does hereby provide substitute and additional provisions in place thereof as follows:
Housing rentals and tenant admissions; non-dwelling facilities, tenants and rental. The City shall:
(a) rent or lease the dwelling accommodations in a housing project only to persons of low income and at rentals within the financial reach of such persons;
(b) rent or lease to a tenant such dwelling accommodations consisting of the number of rooms which it deems necessary to provide safe and sanitary accommodations to the proposed occupants thereof, without overcrowding; and
(c) fix income limits to the extent required by federal law for occupancy and rents after taking into consideration the family size, composition, age, physical handicaps, and other factors which might affect the rent paying ability of the family, including the economic factors which affect the financial stability and solvency of the project.
In computing the rental for this purpose of admitting tenants, there shall be included in the rental the average annual cost (as determined by the City) to occupants of heat, water, electricity, gas, cooking fuel and other necessary services or facilities, whether or not the charge for such services and facilities is included in the rental.
The City shall give a preference to those persons who occupied dwellings which were razed so that a slum could be cleared or the housing project could be constructed, if such persons are otherwise qualified to rent or lease dwelling accommodations in such housing project, and to elderly persons whether or not so displaced, and who desire to rent or lease dwelling accommodations in such housing project. Notwithstanding the provisions hereof, the City may agree to conditions as to tenant eligibility or preference required by the federal government pursuant to federal law in any contract for financial assistance. Further, notwithstanding the provisions hereof, nothing herein shall be construed to limit the amount of rental that an authority may charge or the tenants that an authority may admit for non-dwelling facilities. All such rental, together with other income and revenue, shall be used in the operation of the projects to aid in accomplishing the public purposes of the Municipal Housing Law.
Nothing contained in this section or the immediately preceding section of this Charter Ordinance shall be construed as limiting the power of the City, with respect to a housing project, to vest in an obligee the right, in the event of a default by the City, to take possession or cause the appointment of a receiver thereof, free from all the restrictions imposed by this section or the immediately preceding section of this Charter Ordinance.
Section 4. Exemption-K.S.A. 17-2351. The City, by the power vested in it by Article 12, § 5, hereby elects to exempt itself from and make inapplicable to it the provisions of K.S.A. 17-2351 and does hereby provide substitute and additional provisions in place thereof as follows:
Issuance of revenue bonds; types; exempt from taxation. The City shall have power to issue bonds from time to time in its discretion, for any of the purposes of the Municipal Housing Law. The City shall also have power to issue refunding bonds for the purpose of paying or retiring bonds previously issued by it in the manner prescribed by and subject to the provisions of K.S.A. 10-l16a. The City may issue such types of bonds as it may determine, including (without limiting the generality of the foregoing) bonds on which the principal and interest are payable (a) exclusively from the income and revenues of the project financed with the proceeds of such bonds, or (b) exclusively from the income and revenues of certain designated housing projects whether or not they are financed in whole or in part with the proceeds of such bonds. Any such bonds may be additionally secured by a pledge of any loan, grant or contribution or parts thereof from the federal government or other source, or a pledge of any income or revenues connected with a housing project or a mortgage of any housing project or projects.
Neither the Governing Body of the City nor any person executing the bonds shall be liable personally on the bonds by reason of the issuance thereof hereunder. The bonds and other obligations issued under the provisions of the Municipal Housing Law (and such bonds and obligations shall so state on their face) shall be payable solely from the sources provided in this section and shall not constitute an indebtedness within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory debt limitation or restriction and shall not under any circumstances become general obligations of the City. Bonds issued pursuant to the Municipal Housing Law are declared to be issued for an essential public and governmental purpose and to be public instrumentalities and, together with interest thereon and income therefrom, shall be exempt from taxes. The tax exemption provisions of the Municipal Housing Law shall be considered part of the security for the repayment of bonds and shall constitute, by virtue of the Municipal Housing Law and without the necessity of the same being restated in said bonds, a contract between the bondholders and each and every one thereof, including all transferees of said bonds from time to time on the one hand and the City and the state on the other.
Section 5. Severability. If any provision or section of this Charter Ordinance is deemed or ruled unconstitutional or otherwise illegal or invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such illegally or invalidity shall not affect any other provision of this Charter Ordinance. In such instance, this Charter Ordinance shall be construed and enforced as if such illegal or invalid provision had not been contained herein.
(03-25-1997)