COMPACT BETWEEN ARKANSAS AND MISSISSIPPI CREATING AN ARKANSAS-MISSISSIPPI BRIDGE COMMISSION
There is created an Arkansas-Mississippi Bridge Commission (hereinafter referred to as the commission) which shall be a body corporate and politic and which shall have the following powers and duties:
(1) To plan, construct, maintain, and operate a bridge and approaches thereto across the Mississippi River at or near Helena, Arkansas, and Friars Point, Mississippi, at a point deemed by the commission as most suitable to the interests of the citizens of the States of Arkansas and Mississippi in accordance with the provisions of an act of the Seventy-Ninth Congress, Second Session, of the United States entitled “The General Bridge Act of 1946”;
(2) To purchase, maintain and, in its discretion, to operate all or any ferries across the Mississippi River within twenty-five (25) miles of the site selected for the bridge;
(3) To contract, to sue, and be sued in its own name; to purchase or otherwise acquire, hold, and dispose of real and personal property;
(4) To acquire by proper condemnation proceedings such real property as may be necessary for the construction and operation of the bridge and the approaches thereto;
(5) To issue bonds on the security of the revenues derived from the operation of the bridge and ferries for the payment of the cost of the bridge, its approaches, ferry or ferries, and the necessary lands, easements, and appurtenances thereto including interest during construction and all necessary engineering, legal, architectural, traffic surveying, and other necessary expenses. Such bonds shall be the negotiable bonds of the commission, the income of which shall be tax free. The principal and interest of the bonds, and any premiums to be paid for their retirement before maturity, shall be paid solely from the revenues derived from the bridge and ferries;
(6) To establish and charge tolls for transit over such bridge and ferries in accordance with the provisions of this compact;
(7) To perform all other necessary and incidental functions.
The rates of tolls to be charged for transit over such bridge and ferries shall be so adjusted as to provide a fund sufficient to pay for the reasonable cost of maintenance, repairs, and operation (including the approaches to the bridge) under economical management, and also to provide a sinking fund sufficient to pay the principal and interest of the outstanding bonds. All tolls and other revenues derived from facilities of the commission are pledged to such uses.
The commission shall keep an accurate record of the cost of the bridge and other expenses and of the daily revenues collected and shall report annually to the governor of each state setting forth in detail the operations and transactions conducted by it pursuant to this agreement and any legislation thereunder.
When the bonds have been retired, the part of the bridge within the State of Arkansas shall be conveyed to the State of Arkansas, and that part within the State of Mississippi to the State of Mississippi, and the high contracting parties to this compact do hereby agree that thereafter the bridge shall be free of tolls and shall be properly maintained, operated and repaired by the two states as may be agreed upon.
The commission shall consist of eighteen (18) members, nine (9) of whom shall be qualified electors of the State of Arkansas and nine (9) of whom shall be qualified electors of the State of Mississippi. The Arkansas members are to be chosen by the State of Arkansas, and the Mississippi members are to be chosen by the State of Mississippi, in the manner and for the term fixed by the legislature of each state, except as herein provided. The first commission, acting under this compact, shall be the present members of the Arkansas-Mississippi Bridge Commission heretofore appointed under the terms and provisions of Act of Congress approved May 17, 1939 (Public Act 80, 76th Congress), as amended by Act of Congress approved June 19, 1948 (Public Act 701, 80th Congress), said commission consisting of the following members: J. B. Lambert, Helena, Arkansas; R. L. Brooks, Helena, Arkansas; K. B. Laswell, Helena, Arkansas; John C. Sheffield, Helena, Arkansas; C. N. Houck, Marianna, Arkansas; William Campbell, Forrest City, Arkansas; Clarence Thomas, Clarendon, Arkansas; Ballard Deane, St. Charles, Arkansas; DeWitt Poe, McGehee, Arkansas; W. K. Anderson, Clarksville, Mississippi; E. Cage Brewer, Clarksdale, Mississippi; M. D. Brett, Clarksdale, Mississippi; R. N. Baltzer, Clarksdale, Mississippi; Sol Hirsburg, Friars Point, Mississippi; John Dunlap, Batesville, Mississippi; Noel M. Hodge, Oxford, Mississippi; Grady Cook, Pontotoc, Mississippi; James A. Finely, Tupelo, Mississippi.
(1) The Commission shall elect from its number a chairman and a vice chairman and may appoint such officers and employees as it may require for the performance of its duties and shall fix and determine their qualifications and duties.
(2) Until otherwise determined by the legislature of the two states, no action of the commission shall be binding unless taken at a meeting at which at least five (5) members from each state are present and unless a majority of the members from each state present at such meeting shall vote in favor thereof. Each state reserves the right hereafter to provide by law for the exercise of the veto power by the governor thereof over any action of any commission appointed therefrom.
(3) The two states shall provide penalties for violations of any order, rule or regulation of the commission, and for the manner of enforcing same.
(a) The States which are parties to this Compact (hereinafter referred to as “party states”) do hereby establish and create a joint agency which shall be known as the Arkansas-Mississippi Great River Bridge Authority (hereinafter referred to as “the authority”). The membership of each authority shall consist of five (5) representatives from the State of Mississippi, to be selected in such manner as may be provided by the laws enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, and five (5) members from the State of Arkansas, to be selected in such manner as determined by laws enacted by the Arkansas General Assembly. The terms of the members of such authority from each of the party states, the method of appointing successor members, and the method of filling vacancies on the authorities of the party states, shall be determined by the laws of Mississippi and Arkansas.
(b) The members of the authority shall not be compensated for services on the authority, but each member shall be entitled to actual and reasonable expenses incurred in attending meetings or incurred otherwise in the performance of his/her duties as a member of the authority.
(c) The members of the authority shall meet upon the call of the chairman and hold such other meetings as its business may require. Special meetings of the authority may be called by the chairman or upon written request of a majority of the members of the authority from each of the party states. The authority shall choose annually a chairman and vice chairman from its members, and the chairmanship shall rotate each year among the party states, in order of their acceptance of this compact.
(d) The secretary of the authority (hereinafter provided for) shall notify each member in writing of all meetings of the authority in such a manner and under such rules and regulations as the authority may prescribe.
(e) The authority shall adopt rules and regulations for the transaction of its business; and the secretary shall keep a record of all its business and shall furnish a copy thereof to each member of the authority.
(f) It shall be the duty of the authority, in general, to promote, encourage, and coordinate the efforts of the party states to secure the development of the Arkansas-Mississippi Great River Bridge at or near Rosedale, Mississippi and McGehee-Dumas, Arkansas. Toward this end, the authority shall have power to:
(i) Hold hearings;
(ii) Conduct studies and surveys of all problems, benefits, and other matters associated with the construction of the Arkansas-Mississippi Great River Bridge, and to make reports thereon;
(iii) Acquire by gift, grant or otherwise, from local, state, federal, or private sources, such money or property as may be provided for the proper performance of their function, and to hold and dispose of the same;
(iv) Cooperate with other public or private groups, whether local, state, regional, or national, having an interest in the bridge construction;
(v) Formulate and execute plans and policies for emphasizing the purpose of this Compact before the Congress of the United States and other appropriate officers and agencies of the United States; and
(vi) Negotiate with one or more railroads in the State of Mississippi and the State of Arkansas, and with the appropriate federal authorities for the construction of the Arkansas-Mississippi Great River Bridge as a combined highway-railroad bridge, with the cost of the railroad portion of the bridge to be provided from sources other than funds of the two party states, unless moneys to defray part or all of the cost of constructing such railroad portion of the bridge is appropriated by the legislatures of the party states. If necessary, the authority may enter into a contract with one or more railroads and/or the appropriate agencies of Congress to borrow funds for the construction of such railroad portion of the bridge, to be reimbursed, including all costs of principal, interest and other costs in connection with such indebtedness, by revenues derived from rental fees, grants, or other charges, with such indebtedness to be secured solely by a pledge of such revenues, and such indebtedness shall not be an obligation upon the revenues or the full faith and credit of the party states to this compact, unless laws authorizing such pledge are enacted by the party states;
(vii) Exercise such other powers as may be appropriate to enable it to accomplish its functions and duties in connection with the construction of the Arkansas-Mississippi Great River Bridge as a highway bridge or a combined highway-railroad bridge, and to carry out the purposes of this compact.
The commission is authorized and directed to proceed with the planning and construction of the bridge and the approaches thereto as rapidly as may be economically practicable and is vested with all necessary and appropriate powers, not inconsistent with the constitution or the laws of the United States or of either state, to effect the same, except the power to assess or levy taxes.
In witness thereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals under authority vested in us by law.
(Signed) In the presence of: (Signed)
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