P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4504
Every municipality shall constitute and have a Bidding Board of which the mayor shall be its president or a member. The Bidding Board shall be composed of five (5) members. Four (4) of the members shall be municipal officers appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the municipal legislature. The fifth member, who shall not be a municipal official, shall be a resident of said municipality and of recognized moral probity, who shall be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the municipal legislature, and shall not have any contractual relationship with the municipality.
The mayor shall designate a chairman from among the members of the Board, or an administrative official who is not a member of the Board, to preside the same. Should an administrative official be designated, the appointment shall be submitted to the legislature for confirmation, and he/she shall have a voice, but no vote, and his/her functions shall be limited to administrative matters. The Internal Auditor and the official in charge of the legal affairs of the municipality may not be appointed as members of the Board. However, the Director of Finances and the Director of Public Works shall be ex officio members of the Bidding Board, and shall have a voice but no vote, thus limiting their function on the Board as advisors.
The members of the Board shall be appointed for the term for which the mayor who made their appointments is in office. In no case shall the term of office of the appointed members of the Board exceed [beyond] the second Monday of the month of January of the year following the general elections, although they shall remain in office until their successors are appointed and take office. The above shall not be construed as a limitation for the members to be renominated for more than one (1) term. In such a case, the provision indicating that they shall remain in said office until their successors are appointed shall not apply, and their appointments shall have to be reconfirmed by the legislature.
The members of the Board who are not municipal employees or officials or employees of a public agency, may receive as reimbursement a per diem of not more than fifty dollars ($50) for each day they attend Board meetings.
No Board member shall incur financial liability for any action taken in the discharge of his/her duties and powers, provided his/her actions are not intentionally illegal or contrary to the practices prohibited while in the performance of his/her duties, or incurs a manifest abuse against authority or the discretion conferred to him/her by this or other laws or regulations that apply to such procedures, including the provisions in Section 4.1(a)(7) of Act No. 12 of June 24, 1985, as amended. The municipality shall acquire liability insurance against any intentional or illegal action performed by any member of the bidding board.
Any member of the Board may only be removed from office before the term of his/her appointment expires with the vote of three-fourths (¾) of the total number of members of the legislature or when after an investigation conducted as part of the process for bringing charges in a court with jurisdiction, a competent government agency or the municipality itself, one or several of the following causes are proven to exist: manifest incompetence in the performance of functions or duties to protect the best fiscal interests of the municipality; violations of the legal provisions that prohibit certain practices regarding the discharge of their functions; conviction for a felony or a misdemeanor implying moral depravation; manifest abuse of the authority or the discretion any powers conferred by this, or other laws; dereliction of duties; and the violation of the provisions of the Government Ethics Act or its regulations. When the latter occurs, the mayor, at his/her discretion and with the confirmation of the legislature, may restore said member to his/her functions on the Board after the Government Ethics Office has certified that the required corrective action has been complied with.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 11.004; Oct. 29, 1992, No. 84, sec. 44, Apr. 13, 1995, No. 36, § 34; renumbered as § 10.004 on Jan. 10, 1999, No. 30, § 3; Aug. 21, 1999, No. 279, § 3; Sept. 7, 2004, No. 258, § 25; Aug. 26, 2005, No. 102, § 2.