321.600. Powers of board in providing fire protection--employee benefits plan (first class counties).
Powers of board in providing fire protection--employee benefits plan(first class counties).
321.600. For the purpose of providing fire protection to the propertywithin the district, the district and, on its behalf, the board shall havethe following powers, authority and privileges:
(1) To have perpetual existence;
(2) To have and use a corporate seal;
(3) To sue and be sued, and be a party to suits, actions andproceedings;
(4) To enter into contracts, franchises and agreements with anyperson, partnership, association or corporation, public or private,affecting the affairs of the district, including contracts with anymunicipality, district or state, or the United States of America, and anyof their agencies, political subdivisions or instrumentalities, for theplanning, development, construction, acquisition or operation of any publicimprovement or facility, or for a common service relating to the control orprevention of fires, including the installation, operation and maintenanceof water supply distribution, fire hydrant and fire alarm systems;provided, that a notice shall be published for bids on all construction orpurchase contracts for work or material or both, outside the authoritycontained in subdivision (9) of this section, involving an expense of tenthousand dollars or more;
(5) Upon approval of the voters, as herein provided, to borrow moneyand incur indebtedness and evidence the same by certificates, notes ordebentures, and to issue bonds, in accordance with the provisions ofsections 321.010 to 321.450;
(6) To acquire, construct, purchase, maintain, dispose of andencumber real and personal property, fire stations, fire protection andfire-fighting apparatus and auxiliary equipment therefor, and any interesttherein, including leases and easements;
(7) To refund any bonded indebtedness of the district without anelection. The terms and conditions of refunding bonds shall besubstantially the same as those of the original issue of bonds, and theboard shall provide for the payment of interest, at not to exceed the legalrate, and the principal of such refunding bonds in the same manner as isprovided for the payment of interest and principal of bonds refunded;
(8) To have the management, control and supervision of all thebusiness and affairs of the district, and the construction, installation,operation and maintenance of district improvements therein;
(9) To hire and retain agents, employees, engineers and attorneys,including part-time or volunteer firemen;
(10) To have and exercise the power of eminent domain and in themanner provided by law for the condemnation of private property for publicuse to take any property within the district necessary to the exercise ofthe powers herein granted;
(11) To receive and accept by bequest, gift or donation any kind ofproperty. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, anyproperty received by the fire protection district as a gift or any propertypurchased by the fire protection district at a price below the actualmarket value of the property may be returned to the donor or resold to theseller if such property is not used for the specific purpose for which itwas acquired;
(12) To adopt and amend bylaws, fire protection and fire preventionordinances, and any other rules and regulations not in conflict with theconstitution and laws of this state, necessary for the carrying on of thebusiness, objects and affairs of the board and of the district, and referto the proper authorities for prosecution any violation thereof detrimentalto the district. Any person violating any such ordinance is herebydeclared to be guilty of a class B misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereofshall be punished as is provided herein:
(a) The prosecuting attorney for the county in which the violationoccurs shall prosecute such violations in the circuit court of that county.The legal officer or attorney for the fire district may be appointed by theprosecuting attorney as special assistant prosecuting attorney for theprosecution of any such violation; or
(b) The board may adopt a specific ordinance to impose a fine or aseries of fines for specific offenses of not more than five hundreddollars. The accused person may either appear in court at a set date ormake payment to the officer appointed by the board, either in person orthrough the United States mail, with the moneys handled as are all othermoneys of the district. If the fine is not paid by the deadline imposed,the violation and the failure to pay the fine or appear in court at the setdate may be further prosecuted as provided in paragraph (a) of thissubdivision.
The enactments of the fire district in delegating administrative authorityto officials of the district may provide standards of action for theadministrative officials, which standards are declared as industrial codesadopted by nationally organized and recognized trade bodies;
(13) To pay all court costs and expenses connected with the firstelection or any subsequent election in the district;
(14) To have and exercise all rights and powers necessary orincidental to or implied from the specific powers granted herein. Suchspecific powers shall not be considered as a limitation upon any powernecessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes and intent of sections321.010 to 321.450;
(15) To provide for health, accident, disability, and pensionbenefits, through either or both a contributory or noncontributory plan, ofthe salaried members and such other benefits for their spouses and eligibleunemancipated children of its organized fire department of the district.For purposes of this section, "eligible unemancipated child" means anatural or adopted child of an insured, or a stepchild of an insured who isdomiciled with the insured, who is less than twenty-three years of age, whois not married, not employed on a full-time basis, not maintaining aseparate residence except for full-time students in an accredited school orinstitution of higher learning, and who is dependent on parents orguardians for at least fifty percent of his or her support. Such benefitsshall be determined by the board of directors of the fire protectiondistrict within the level of available revenues of the pension program andother available revenues of the district. If an employee contributory planis adopted, then at least one voting member of the board of trustees shallbe a member of the fire district elected by the contributing members, whichshall not be the same as the board of directors;
(16) To provide for life insurance, accident, sickness, health,disability, annuity, uniform, length of service, pension, retirement andother employee-type fringe benefits, subject to the provisions of section70.615, RSMo, through either a contributory or noncontributory plan orboth, for the volunteer members and such other benefits for their spousesand minor children of any organized fire department of the district. Thetype and amount of such benefits shall be determined by the board ofdirectors of the fire protection district within available revenues of thedistrict, including the pension program of the district. The provision andreceipt of such benefits shall not make the recipient an employee of thedistrict. Directors who are also volunteer members may receive suchbenefits while serving as a director of the district;
(17) To contract for services with any rural, volunteer orsubscription fire department or organization, or volunteer fire protectionassociation, as defined in section 320.300, RSMo, for the purpose ofproviding the benefits described in subdivision (16) of this section.
(L. 1947 V. I p. 432 § 23, A.L. 1961 p. 550, A.L. 1965 p. 509, A.L. 1969 H.B. 334 § 321.220, A.L. 1978 H.B. 971, S.B. 628, A.L. 1982 S.B. 649, A.L. 1989 H.B. 487, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1395 & 1448 merged with H.B. 1675, A.L. 1992 S.B. 649, A.L. 1993 H.B. 373, A.L. 1995 H.B. 452, et al., A.L. 1999 S.B. 436)