General Powers

  1. Law
  2. Tennessee Code
  3. Consolidated Governments and Local Governmental Functions and Entities
  4. Metropolitan Governments' Port Authority Act
  5. General Powers

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An authority has all powers necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter, excluding the power to levy and collect taxes and special assessments, including but not limited to, the power to:

  1. Have perpetual succession, sue and be sued, and adopt a corporate seal;
  2. Acquire, construct, purchase, operate, maintain, replace, repair, rebuild, extend, and improve within the boundaries of the creating municipality and in contiguous counties so long as the governing bodies of such counties grant their concurrence and agreement, ports and any and all other related facilities, equipment, projects and appurtenances necessary or convenient for the promotion of industrial development, commerce and recreation and for the improvement of the access to all channels of commerce, and make the facilities available to any firm, person, public or private corporation, to any other shipper, consignee, or carrier, and charge for their use and for any and all services performed by the authority; provided, that nothing in this chapter shall give the authority the power or the duty to construct, purchase, operate, maintain, replace, repair, rebuild, extend and improve any public-use freight port or terminal; and provided, further, that such powers granted by this subdivision (2) shall only be exercised over lands acquired by the authority pursuant to the powers granted in this chapter;
  3. Issue and sell bonds payable solely out of the revenue and receipts derived from the authority's projects or of any thereof as may be designated in the proceedings of the authority commissioners under which the bonds shall be authorized to be issued, including debt obligations of the lessee, devisee, or contracting party obtained from or in connection with the financing of a project;
  4. Borrow money from banks and other financial institutions by issuing its notes for the purpose of carrying out any of its powers;
  5. As security for the payment of the principal of and interest on any bonds or notes so issued and any agreements made in connection with the bonds or notes, mortgage and pledge any or all of its projects, or any part or parts of its projects, whether then owned or thereafter acquired, and pledge the revenues and receipts from its projects, or from any thereof, or assign and pledge all or any part of its interest in and rights under the leases, sale contracts or loan agreements relating to its projects or to any thereof;
  6. Apply to the proper authorities of the United States, pursuant to appropriate law, for the right to establish, operate, and maintain foreign-trade zones within the limits of the port authority and establish, operate, and maintain the foreign-trade zones;
  7. Authorize the application for and establishment, operation and maintenance of foreign-trade subzones outside the limits of the port authority through the authority's foreign-trade zone upon the request of any party and the approval of a majority of the legislative body in the county or municipality in which the requesting party is located;
  8. Accept donations to the authority of cash, lands or other property to be used in the furtherance of the purposes of this chapter;
  9. Accept grants, loans, or other financial assistance from any federal, state, county, or municipal agency, or in aid of the acquisition or improvement of the administration and operation of any of the facilities provided for in this chapter;
  10. Purchase, rent, lease or otherwise acquire and dispose of any and all kinds of property, real, personal or mixed, tangible or intangible, and whether or not subject to mortgages, liens, charges, or other encumbrances, that in the judgment of the commissioners, is necessary or convenient to carry out the powers granted in this section. The authority granted in this section to acquire property shall include, but not be limited to, the acquisition of lands in the vicinity of the port and terminal facilities provided for in this section, and to give priority for the use of such lands to projects requiring access to inland waterways in their operations;
  11. Make contracts and execute instruments containing such covenants, terms and conditions, as in the judgment of the commissioners, may be necessary, proper or advisable for the purpose of obtaining grants, loans, or other financial assistance from any federal or state agency, for or in aid of the acquisition or improvement of the facilities provided for in this chapter; make all other contracts and execute all other instruments including, without limitation, licenses, long-term or short-term leases, deeds, mortgages and deeds of trust, and other agreements relating to property and facilities under its jurisdiction, and the construction, operation, maintenance, repair, and improvement thereof, as in the judgment of the board, may be necessary, proper, or advisable for the furtherance of the purposes of this chapter, and the full exercise of the powers granted in this section; and carry out and perform the covenants, terms, and conditions of all such contracts or instruments;
  12. Enter upon any lands, waters, and premises for the purpose of making surveys, soundings, and examination in connection with the acquisition, improvement, operation, or maintenance of any of the facilities provided for in this chapter;
  13. Promulgate and enforce such rules and regulations as the board may deem proper for the orderly administration of the authority and the efficient operation of its facilities;
  14. Use in the performance of its functions the officers, agents, employees, services, facilities, records and equipment of the creating municipality, with the consent of any such municipality and subject to such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon; and
  15. Do all acts and things necessary, or deemed necessary or convenient, to carry out the powers expressly given in this chapter. None of the powers created in this section may be exercised either directly or indirectly by the municipality to provide real estate that had been condemned by eminent domain subsequent to March 29, 1979, while such real estate was in use as residential dwellings, it being the intent of this chapter that none of the power or authority created in this chapter and vested in either the creating municipality or the authority to be created shall be exercised in such a way that real estate utilized in creating or carrying out the purposes or functions of the authority provided in § 7-5-104 shall have been condemned or acquired by eminent domain after March 29, 1979, while it was in use as residential dwellings.


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