CHAPTER 117 - WILMINGTON PARK TRUST FUND COMMISSION
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A WILMINGTON PARK TRUST FUND COMMISSION.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware (two-thirds of all the members elected to each branch thereof concurring therein):
Sec. 1. That there is hereby created and established a Wilmington Park Trust Fund Commission to be under the management of a board of five commissioners to be known as the Wilmington Park Trust Fund Commission.
Sec. 2. Said commission shall consist of three appointive members, with the Mayor and the President of the Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Wilmington at any given time, as ex-officio members. The terms of the appointive commissioners shall be three years, beginning with the first day of July of the respective years, provided that the first three commissioners appointed under the provision of this act shall be appointed for the following terms: one to a one-year term, one to a two-year term, one to a three-year term, all said terms beginning July 1, 1935. Annually thereafter one member shall be appointed to a three-year term. Any vacancy arising on said commission shall be filled for the unexpired term.
Sec. 3. The appointive members of the Wilmington Park Trust Fund Commission shall be appointed prior to July 1, 1935, by the Associate Judge of the Superior Court of Delaware, residing in New Castle County.
Sec. 4. The Wilmington Park Trust Fund Commissioners shall organize during the month of July, 1935, by the election of a president and a vice-president, who shall be members of the commission, and a secretary and a treasurer, who may or may not be members of the commission. The treasurer and such other officers as the Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Wilmington shall from time to time determine shall furnish such bond with surety for the faithful performance of their duties as to the said Board of Park Commissioners may seem advisable.
Sec. 5. The Wilmington Park Trust Fund Commission shall adopt rules for its organization and meetings, and for the transaction of its business, except that:
(a) The secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings and transactions of the commission, specifying therein the names of the commissioners at all meetings and give the ayes and noes upon all votes.
(b) The Commission shall act by resolution adopted by a majority of its members, recorded in its minutes with the ayes and noes at length. Such action shall be attested by the signature of the president or vice-president or two members of the commission and by the signature of the secretary of the commission.
(c) The accounts of the commission shall be audited once a year or oftener by a certified public accountant.
(d) The members of the commission shall serve without any compensation.
Sec. 6. The Wilmington Park Trust Fund Commission is hereby authorized and empowered, with the approval of the Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Wilmington, to receive and hold in trust for the Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Wilmington, exempt from taxation, any grant or devise of lands or rights in land, and any gift or bequest of money or other personal property, made for the purpose of the act establishing the Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Wilmington, by any person or corporation. The Commission shall, except when otherwise specified, preserve and invest the proceeds thereof in notes or bonds secured by good and sufficient mortgage or other securities. Said trust property shall be known as the Wilmington Park Trust Fund, and the income shall be used and expended under the direction of the Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Wilmington and subject to its orders.
Sec. 7. If the Commission hereby created should at any time deem it desirable, one or more trust companies operating in the City of Wilmington and specializing in the management of funds of the kind herein referred to may be employed, under such terms and conditions as to the said Commission may seem meet.
Sec. 8. The Commission hereby created shall have power to own, hold, sell, transfer and otherwise deal in real or personal property of any description.
Sec. 9. The Wilmington Park Trust Fund Commissioners shall file an annual report with the Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Wilmington, at the close of each fiscal year, giving a full review of the work of the commission during that year.
Sec. 10. If the said Board of Park Commissioners shall cease to exist and/or if its jurisdiction and powers shall be conferred upon some other legally constituted body, municipal corporation or sub-division thereof, then all the terms of this act shall be carried out with the substitution of the said other legally constituted body, municipal corporation or subdivision thereof for and in place of the said Board of Park Commissioners and such successor or successors of the said Board of Park Commissioners shall be vested with the same power to receive the proceeds of the said trust funds as is herein before given to the Board of Park Commissioners.
Sec. 11. The Board of Park Commissioners may turn over to the Wilmington Park Trust Fund Commission any bequest, gift or devise which it has received or which it may in the future receive, either for a specific purpose or for general purposes.
Approved March 25, 1935.