All personnel, facilities, equipment and supplies within the
Harrisburg Land Bank shall be governed by a Board of Directors as
provided herein.
The Harrisburg Land Bank shall be governed by a Board of Directors
comprised of seven members. The Board of Directors shall not have
authority to modify the size of the Board under any provision of the
bylaws of the Land Bank, except as provided herein
Each initial Board member who is a member of the Board of Directors
of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Harrisburg (RACH) shall
serve on the Board of Directors of the Harrisburg Land Bank for a
term coterminous with his or her term on the RACH. The names of the
initial Board members and length of terms which they will serve are
as follows.
The Board of Directors of the Harrisburg Land Bank shall be
comprised of seven members, at least one of whom shall be a resident
of the City of Harrisburg; and not be a public official or municipal
employee; and maintain a membership with a recognized civic organization
in the City of Harrisburg. The five sitting members of the Board of
Directors of the RACH shall each be appointed to serve as a member
of the Board of the Harrisburg Land Bank. The two remaining members
of the Board shall be appointed by the Mayor of the City of Harrisburg,
with the advice and consent of the City Council, which will have authority
to approve the appointment by a simple majority vote.
Members of the Board of Directors shall continue to serve until
their successors have been appointed.
The acts and decisions of members of the Board and of employees
of the Harrisburg Land Bank shall be deemed subject to the act of
July 19, 1957 (P.L. 1017, No. 451), known as the "State Adverse Interest
Act." The Board may adopt supplemental rules addressing potential
professional, business or personal conflicts of interest in the course
of Land Bank business.
Board members and Harrisburg Land Bank employees are deemed
to be subject to 65 Pa.C.S.A. Ch. 11 (relating to ethics standards
and financial disclosure). The Board shall adopt strict ethical guidelines
for members of the Board and land bank employees.
The members of the Board shall elect annually from among their
members a Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and other officers
as the Board determines.
The Board shall establish rules in accordance with Section 2105(d)
of the Land Bank Act.
The Harrisburg Land Bank shall hold regular public meetings
monthly and shall allow for public comment on matters under deliberation
at each such public meeting. The place, date and time of the Harrisburg
Land Bank meetings shall be determined at the discretion of the Board
of Directors. All meetings of the Board of Directors shall comply
with the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act and any related or successor provisions of Pennsylvania
law governing public bodies or public meetings. The Chair of the Board
may call special meetings by written notice delivered at least 24
hours in advance to each Board member and advertised in accordance
with the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. Special meetings may also be called
upon written notice signed by a majority of the Board members and
delivered at least 24 hours in advance to each Board member and advertised
in accordance with the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act.
A quorum shall be necessary for the transaction of any business
by the Board. A majority of the members of the Board, excluding vacancies
on the Board, shall constitute a quorum. The Board shall act by a
majority vote of the members at a meeting at which a quorum is present.
Voting by proxy shall not be permitted.
Minutes of all meetings of the Board of Directors and its Committees
shall be made and maintained.
The Board of Directors may establish such committees as may
be needed to assist the Board in conducting the business of the Harrisburg
Land Bank. Committee members shall be appointed by the Chair, and
each Committee shall include at least one member of the Board of Directors.
Any business proposed by a Committee shall require approval by the
Board of Directors. No Committee may be empowered to legally bind
the Board or the Land Bank in any matter.
The members of Board of Directors of the Harrisburg Land Bank
are under a fiduciary duty to conduct the activities and affairs of
the Land Bank in the best interests of the residents of the City of
Harrisburg, including the safekeeping and use of all Land Bank monies
and assets. The Board of Directors shall discharge its duties in the
utmost good faith, with the care an ordinarily prudent person in a
like position would exercise under similar circumstances.
The Board shall have all powers necessary to carry out and effectuate
the purposes and provisions of this ordinance, this chapter and the
Land Bank Act, including, but not limited to, the powers set forth
in Sections 2107 and 2117(a) of the Land Bank Act.
The members of the Board shall receive no compensation for the
performance of their duties. A Board member may engage in private
or public employment, or in a profession or business, except to the
extent prohibited by Pennsylvania law. The Harrisburg Land Bank may
reimburse members of the Board for actual and necessary expenses incurred
in the discharge of their official duties on behalf of the Land Bank.
A vacancy among the members of the Board appointed under this
section, whether caused by the death, resignation or removal of a
Board member, shall be filled by the original appointing authority
within 60 days of the creation of the vacancy, and if not filled within
that time, the Mayor is given the authority to fill the vacancy.