4040-4049

HARBORS AND NAVIGATION CODE
SECTION 4040-4049




4040.  In any county of this State in which there exists any harbor,
bay, inlet, or other arm of the sea, the board of supervisors, upon
receiving a petition signed by persons who are both freeholders and
electors in such county, equal in number to at least fifteen per cent
of the vote cast in the county for the office of Governor at the
last preceding election, asking that the matter of issuing bonds of
the county for the purpose of improving, developing or protecting the
harbor, naming it by the name by which it is commonly called, be
submitted to the electors of the county, may appoint a harbor
commission for the county, which shall perform the duties and
exercise the powers specified in this chapter.



4041.  The harbor commission shall consist of five members, each of
whom, at the time of his appointment, is and has been for two years a
bona fide resident, elector, and freeholder of the county.
   The commissioners shall be appointed to serve for the term of four
years, and until their successors are appointed and qualified, and
any vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the board of
supervisors.



4042.  (a) Each commissioner shall, within 20 days after receiving
notice of appointment, qualify by taking and subscribing the
constitutional oath of office, and by executing and filing with the
clerk of the county in which the commissioner is appointed, a bond in
a sum to be fixed by the board of supervisors, which bond, when
approved by the superior court of the county, shall be recorded in
the office of the county recorder, as other official bonds are
recorded, at any time subsequent to 20 days after the appointment.
   (b) The commissioners, or a majority of them having qualified,
shall meet at a convenient place in the county and organize by
electing a chairperson.



4043.  Each member of the commission shall receive five dollars for
each day actually and necessarily spent in the discharge of his
duties under this chapter, together with his necessary traveling
expenses to be allowed and paid monthly by the board upon verified
demands presented by each commissioner.



4044.  When a harbor commission appointed under the provisions of
this chapter ceases to exist another harbor commission may thereafter
be created by the board without requiring an additional petition,
and the harbor commission when so created may exercise all of the
powers and is governed by the provisions of this chapter to the same
extent as the commission first appointed.



4045.  If, after a careful survey, investigation and examination,
the commission reports to the board of supervisors that the
improvement, development or protection of the harbor is not
practicable, or would involve too great an expense, and if the report
is approved by the board, the harbor commission shall cease to
exist.
   If the proposition for the issuance of the bonds of the county for
the improvement, development, or protection of the harbor, when
submitted to the electors, fails to carry by the requisite number of
votes, or when any proposed improvement, development or protection of
the harbor is completed, and that fact is established by a finding
of the board, the harbor commission shall cease to exist, unless the
board shall, by an order entered upon its minutes continue the
commission in existence for the purpose of carrying out any
additional improvement, development or protection of the harbor, bay,
inlet, or other arm of the sea.



4046.  When any improvement, development or protection of a bay,
inlet, or other arm of the sea, commenced under this chapter is
accomplished, and if the board continues the commission in existence,
or if it thereafter creates another commission, the commission shall
proceed to examine the harbor, bay, inlet or other arm of the sea in
connection with the proposed further or additional improvement,
development or protection and it shall provide detail plans and
specifications therefor and report to the board the practicability
and estimated cost.
   The board shall then proceed as if the report was an original one.



4047.  The commission may, with the approval of the board of
supervisors, appoint and fix the compensation of a clerk, and his
necessary office assistants, and it may also employ and appoint an
engineer or engineers and other experts, and, if in its judgment it
is necessary, employ an attorney. All employees and appointees shall
hold office at the pleasure of the commission.



4048.  Whenever the commission ceases to exist, it shall make a
final report to the board and file all books, records and papers
appurtenant to the commission and to all work done by it with the
board, and, if the report is approved by the board, the commission is
discharged from duty and its bonds from that date exonerated.




4049.  This chapter does not apply to any harbor, bay, inlet, or
other arm of the sea, or any portion thereof, maintained or operated
by the State or any municipality or to any harbor, bay, inlet, or
other arm of the sea, in which the State, since the present State
constitution was adopted, has ceded or granted to any municipality
the whole or any portion of the salt-marsh or tidelands.