§ 4. General Powers and Purposes.

(1)

The authority created and established by the provisions of this chapter is hereby granted and shall have the right to acquire, hold, construct, improve, maintain, own and lease in the capacity of lessor and lease in the capacity of lessee, vocational educational facilities within the City of Jacksonville, subject to the terms and conditions provided herein.

(2)

The authority is hereby granted and shall have and may exercise all powers necessary, pertinent, conventional or incidental to the carrying out of the aforesaid purposes, including but without being limited to, the following rights and powers:

(a)

To sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, complain and defend in all courts.

(b)

To adopt, use and later [alter] at will, a corporate seal.

(c)

To acquire, purchase, hold, lease as lessee, receive as a donation, and use any franchise, property, real, personal or mixed, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein, necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of the authority and to sell, lease as lessor, transfer and dispose of any property or interest therein at any time required by it.

(d)

To enter into and make leases for terms not exceeding forty years, as either lessee or lessor in order to carry out the right to lease as set forth in this chapter.

(e)

To fix, alter, charge, establish and collect rates, fees, rentals and other charges for the facilities owned, maintained or constructed by the authority.

(f)

To borrow money, make and issue negotiable notes, bonds, refunding bonds and other evidences of indebtedness or obligation, either in temporary or definitive form. (Hereinafter in this chapter sometimes called "bonds") of the authority, for the purpose of funding or refunding, at or prior to maturity any bonds theretofore issued by said authority to finance any part of the cost of the services and facilities of the vocational educational system of the authority and for any other purpose authorized by this chapter, said bonds to mature and not exceeding forty years from the date of the issuance thereof, and to secure the payment of such bonds or any parts thereof by a pledge of any of [or] all of its revenues, rates, rentals, or other charges or other sources of income and in general to provide for the security of said bonds and the rights and remedies of the holders.

(3)

In the event that the authority shall determine to fund or refund any bonds theretofore issued by said authority, prior to the maturity thereof, the proceeds of such funding or refunding bonds, shall, pending the prior redemption of the bonds to be funded or refunded, be invested in direct obligations of the United States, and it is the express intention of this chapter that such outstanding bonds may be funded or refunded by the issuance of bonds pursuant to this chapter and notwithstanding the part of such outstanding bonds will not mature or become redeemable until six years after the date of issuance bonds pursuant to this chapter to fund or refund such outstanding bonds.

(4)

To make contracts of every name and nature and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient for the carrying on of its business.

(5)

Without limitation of the foregoing, to borrow money and accept grants and donations from and to enter into contracts, leases or other transactions with any federal agency, the state, any agency of the state, the City of Jacksonville or with any other public body of the state or any independent agency of the City of Jacksonville.

(6)

To pledge, hypothecate or otherwise encumber all or any part of the revenues, rates, fees, rentals or other charges or receipts of the authority as security for all or any of the obligations of the authority.

(7)

To do all acts and things necessary or convenient for the conduct of its business and the general welfare of the authority in order to carry out the powers granted to it by this chapter or any other law.

(8)

The authority shall have no power at any time or in any manner to pledge the credit or taxing power of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof, nor shall any of the authority's obligations be deemed to be obligations of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof except the authority be liable for the payment of the principal or of interest on such obligations. The authority shall have no power at any time or in any manner to establish a lien on any real or personal property owned or thereafter acquired by the authority as security for the payment of the principal of or interest on any such obligations.

(9)

To construct, acquire, establish, impose, extend, enlarge, reconstruct, reequip, maintain, repair a facility or facilities for the carrying out of vocational educational training in the City of Jacksonville and to construct, acquire, establish, improve, extend, enlarge, reconstruct, reequip, maintain[,] repair, and operate any and all buildings and improvements necessary or incidental thereto.

(10)

To have the power of eminent domain including the power to obtain supplemental orders of taking in connection therewith. The right of eminent domain conferred herein shall be exercised in the manner prescribed by law.

(11)

To acquire for the use of the vocational educational system herein provided for, by grant, purchase, gift, devise, condemnation by eminent domain proceedings, exchange or in any other manner, all property, real or personal, or any estate or interest therein, and to sell or otherwise transfer, with or without consideration, any such property when in the authority's discretion it is no longer needed or useful, all upon such terms and conditions as the authority shall, by resolution fix and determine.

(12)

To furnish vocational education center facilities to the city, and any other public body, organization, or unit, in any part of the city.

(13)

To make or cause to be made such surveys, investigations, studies, boxings, maps, drawings and estimates of cost and revenues as it may deem necessary, and to prepare and adopt a comprehensive plan or plans for the location, relocation, construction, improvement, revision and development of a vocational education facility or facilities.