(a) Notwithstanding Section 5784.7, a district may establish an alternative depositary pursuant to this section.
(b) The board of directors may adopt a resolution to designate a bank or a savings and loan association as the depositary of any or all of its funds. The board of directors and the board of supervisors of the principal county shall determine a mutually acceptable date for the transfer of the district’s funds to that depositary, not to exceed 15 months from the date on which the board of directors adopted its resolution.
(c) If the board of directors does not designate that depositary for all of its funds, the board of directors shall designate what funds are to be deposited in that depositary. The county treasurer shall be the depositary for all funds not so designated.
(d) The charges of any depositary designated pursuant to this section shall be a proper expense of the district.
(e) The board of directors shall appoint a person who shall be known as the finance officer, who shall serve at the pleasure of the board of directors. The finance officer may be a member of the board of directors, the general manager, or the office of finance officer may be consolidated with the office of secretary. The board of directors shall fix the amount of the finance officer’s compensation. The board of directors shall fix the amount of and approve the finance officer’s bond.
(f) Bond principal and interest and salaries shall be paid when due. Except as provided in subdivision (g), the board of directors shall approve all other claims and demands in an open meeting by a majority of the members of the board of directors.
(g) Warrants drawn in payment of claims and demands approved by the finance officer as conforming to an approved budget need not be approved by the board of directors prior to payment. These claims and demands shall be presented to the board of directors for ratification and approval in the audited comprehensive annual financial report.
(h) The finance officer shall draw the warrants. The warrants shall be signed by either the chair of the board of directors or another member of the board, and by either the secretary or the general manager. The board of directors, by ordinance or resolution, may prescribe an alternative method of drawing and signing warrants, provided that the method adheres to generally accepted accounting principles.
(i) The finance officer shall install and maintain a system of auditing and accounting that shall completely and at all times show the financial condition of the district.
(j) The finance officer shall make annual or more frequent written reports to the board of directors, as the board shall determine, regarding the receipts and disbursements and balances in the accounts that are controlled by the finance officer. The finance officer shall sign the reports and file them with the secretary.
(k) A bank or savings and loan association may act as a depositary, paying agent, or fiscal agent for the holding or handling of the district’s funds, notwithstanding the fact that a member of the board of directors whose funds are on deposit in that bank or savings and loan association is an officer, employee, or stockholder of that bank or savings and loan association, or of a holding company that owns any of the stock of that bank or savings and loan company.
(Repealed and added by Stats. 2001, Ch. 15, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 2002.)