Section 303.37 - Board of county commissioners - powers and dutiesEvery board of county commissioners shall have all the powers, and the right to exercise such powers, necessary or convenient to carry out sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code, including the following powers granted in addition to those specifically authorized by sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code:
(A) To undertake and carry out county renewal projects within the county but outside the corporate limits of cities and other incorporated municipalities, to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers under sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code, and to disseminate slum clearance and county renewal information;(B) To provide, arrange, or contract for the furnishing or repair by any person or agency, public or private, of services, privileges, works, streets, roads, public utilities, or other facilities for or in connection with a county renewal project; to install, construct, and reconstruct streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other public improvements; and to agree to any conditions that it determines reasonable and appropriate attached to federal financial assistance and imposed pursuant to federal law relating to the determination of prevailing salaries or wages or compliance with labor standards, in the planning, undertaking, or carrying out of a county renewal project, and to include in any contract let in connection with such a project, provisions to fulfill such of said conditions as it determines reasonable and appropriate;(C) To enter into any building or property in any county renewal area of the county in order to make inspections, surveys, appraisals, soundings, or test borings, and to obtain an order for this purpose from a court of competent jurisdiction in the event entry is denied or resisted; to acquire by purchase, lease, option, gift, grant, bequest, devise, eminent domain, or otherwise, any real property, or personal property for its administrative purposes, together with any improvements thereon; to hold, improve, clear, or prepare for redevelopment any such property; to mortgage, pledge, hypothecate, or otherwise encumber or dispose of any real property; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operations of the county against any risks or hazards, including the power to pay premiums on any such insurance; and to enter into any contracts or agreements necessary to effectuate the purposes of sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code. No statutory provision with respect to the acquisition, clearance, or disposition of property by public bodies shall restrict a board of county commissioners or other public body exercising any powers under sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code, in the exercise of such functions with respect to a county renewal project, unless the general assembly shall specifically so state;(D) To invest any county renewal project funds held in reserves or sinking funds or any such funds not required for immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which savings banks may legally invest funds subject to their control; to redeem such bonds as have been issued pursuant to section 303.46 of the Revised Code at the redemption price established therein or to purchase such bonds at less than redemption price, all such bonds so redeemed or purchased to be cancelled;(E) To borrow money and to apply for and accept advances, loans, grants, contributions, and any other form of financial assistance from the federal government, this state, or any other public body, or from any sources, public or private, for the purposes of sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code, and to give such security as may be required and to enter into and carry out contracts or agreements in connection therewith; and to include in any contract or agreement for financial assistance with the federal government for or with respect to a county renewal project such conditions imposed pursuant to federal laws as the board determines reasonable and appropriate and which are not inconsistent with the purposes of sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code;(F) Within the county but outside the corporate limits of cities and other incorporated municipalities, to make or have made all surveys and plans necessary to carry out the purposes of sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code, and to contract with any person, public or private, in making and carrying out such plans, and to adopt or approve, modify, and amend such plans, which plans may include, without limitation: a general plan for the county; county renewal plans; preliminary plans outlining county renewal activities for county communities or neighborhoods to embrace two or more county renewal areas; plans for carrying out a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements; plans for the enforcement of state and local laws, codes, and regulations relating to the use of land and the use and occupancy of buildings and improvements and to the compulsory repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or removal of buildings and improvements; and appraisals, title searches, surveys, studies, and other plans and work necessary to prepare for the undertaking of county renewal projects; and, to develop, test, and report methods and techniques, and carry out demonstrations and other activities, for the prevention and the elimination of county area slums and blight, and to apply for, accept, and utilize grants of funds from the federal government for such purposes;(G) To prepare plans for the relocation of persons, including families, business concerns, and others, displaced by a county renewal project, and to make relocation payments to or with respect to such persons for moving expenses and losses of property for which reimbursement or compensation is not otherwise made, including the making of such payments financed by the federal government.(H) To appropriate such funds and make such expenditures as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code, and to levy taxes and assessments for such purposes; to zone or rezone any part of the county other than areas within the corporate limits of cities and other incorporated municipalities or make exceptions from building regulations of the county;(I) To close, vacate, plan, or replan streets, roads, sidewalks, ways, or other places; and to plan or replan any part of a county area outside the corporate limits of cities and other incorporated municipalities;(J) To organize, coordinate, and direct the administration of the provisions of sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code, as they apply to the area of the county outside the corporate limits of cities and other incorporated municipalities in order that the objective of remedying county slum and blighted areas and preventing the causes thereof within the county's unincorporated areas may be most effectively promoted and achieved, and to establish such new office or offices of the county or such new department or departments or commissions thereof in order to carry out most effectively the purposes and objectives of sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code.Effective Date: 10/21/1959.