To amend section 3735.27 of the Revised Code to change the composition of certain metropolitan housing authorities.

Section 1. That section 3735.27 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 3735.27.  (A) Whenever the director of development has determined that there is need for a housing authority in any portion of any county that comprises two or more political subdivisions or portions thereof of two or more political subdivisions but is less than all the territory within the county, a metropolitan housing authority shall be declared to exist, and the territorial limits thereof of the authority shall be defined, by a letter from the director. The director shall issue a determination from the department of development declaring that there is need for a housing authority within such those territorial limits after finding either of the following:

(1) Unsanitary or unsafe inhabited housing accommodations exist in such that area;

(2) There is a shortage of safe and sanitary housing accommodations in such that area available to persons who lack the amount of income which that is necessary, as determined by the director, to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings without congestion.

In determining whether dwelling accommodations are unsafe or unsanitary, the director may take into consideration the degree of congestion, the percentage of land coverage, the light, air, space, and access available to the inhabitants of such the dwelling accommodations, the size and arrangement of the rooms, the sanitary facilities, and the extent to which conditions exist in such buildings which the dwelling accommodations that endanger life or property by fire or other causes.

The territorial limits of a metropolitan housing authority, as defined by the director, under this division shall be fixed for such the authority upon proof of a letter from the director declaring the need for such the authority to function in those territorial limits. Any such letter from the director, any certificate of determination issued by the director, and any certificate of appointment of members of the authority shall be admissible in evidence in any suit, action, or proceeding.

A certified copy of the letter from the director, declaring the existence of a metropolitan housing authority and boundaries the territorial limits of a its metropolitan housing authority district, shall be immediately forwarded to each appointing authority. A metropolitan housing authority shall consist of five members, who shall be residents of the territory embraced in such metropolitan housing authority its district.

(B)(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (C) of this section, one member the members of a metropolitan housing authority shall be appointed as follows:

(a)(i) In a district in a county in which a charter has been adopted under Article X, Section 3 of the Ohio Constitution, and in which the most populous city is not the city with the largest ratio of housing units owned or managed by the authority to population, one member shall be appointed by the probate court, one member shall be appointed by the court of common pleas, one member shall be appointed by the board of county commissioners, and two members one member shall be appointed by the chief executive officer of the city that has the largest ratio of housing units owned or managed by the authority to population, and two members shall be appointed by the chief executive officer of the most populous city in the territory included in the district, in accordance with the last preceding federal census. At

(ii) If, in a district that appoints members pursuant to division (B)(1)(a) of this section, the most populous city becomes the city with the largest ratio of housing units owned or managed by the authority to population, when the term of office of the member who was appointed by the chief executive officer of the city with the largest ratio expires, that member shall not be reappointed, and the membership of the authority shall be as described in division (B)(1)(b) of this section.

(b) In any district other than one described in division (B)(1)(a) of this section, one member shall be appointed by the probate court, one member shall be appointed by the court of common pleas, one member shall be appointed by the board of county commissioners, and two members shall be appointed by the chief executive officer of the most populous city in the district.

(2) At the time of the initial appointment of the authority, the member appointed by the probate court shall be appointed for a period of four years, the appointee of member appointed by the court of common pleas shall be appointed for three years, the appointee of member appointed by the board of county commissioners shall be appointed for two years, one appointee of the member appointed by the chief executive officer of the most populous city in the district shall be appointed for one year, and one appointee of the other member appointed by the chief executive officer of the most populous city in the district shall be appointed for five years. Thereafter

If appointments are made under division (B)(1)(a) of this section, the member appointed by the chief executive officer of the city in the district that is not the most populous city, but that has the largest ratio of housing units owned or managed by the authority to population, shall be appointed for five years.

After the initial appointments, all members of the authority shall be appointed for five-year terms, and vacancies due to expired terms any vacancy occurring upon the expiration of a term shall be filled by the same appointing powers authority that made the initial appointment.

(3) For purposes of this division, population shall be determined according to the last preceding federal census.

(C) For any metropolitan housing authority district that contained, as of the 1990 federal census, a population of at least one million, two members of the authority shall be appointed by the municipal legislative authority of the most populous city in the territory included in the district, two members shall be appointed by the chief executive officer of the most populous city in the territory included in the district, and one member shall be appointed by the chief executive officer, with the approval of the municipal legislative authority, of the city in the district which that has the second highest number of housing units owned or managed by the authority.

At the time of the initial appointment of the authority, one member appointed by the municipal legislative authority of the most populous city in the territory included in the district shall be appointed for three years, and one such member shall be appointed for one year; the appointee of member appointed by the chief executive officer of the city with the second highest number of housing units owned or managed by the authority shall be appointed, with the approval of the municipal legislative authority, for three years; and one appointee of member appointed by the chief executive officer of the most populous city in the district shall be appointed for three years, and one such member shall be appointed for one year. Thereafter, all members of the authority shall be appointed for three-year terms, and any vacancy shall be filled by the same appointing power authority that made the initial appointment. At the expiration of the term of any member appointed by the chief executive officer of the most populous city in the territory included in the district prior to before March 15, 1983, the chief executive officer of the most populous city in the district shall fill the vacancy by appointment for a three-year term. At the expiration of the term of any member appointed by the board of county commissioners prior to before March 15, 1983, the chief executive officer of the city in the district with the second highest number of housing units owned or managed by the authority shall, with the approval of the municipal legislative authority, fill the vacancy by appointment for a three-year term. At the expiration of the term of any member appointed prior to before March 15, 1983, by the court of common pleas or the probate court, the legislative authority of the most populous city in the territory included in the district shall fill the vacancy by appointment for a three-year term.

After March 15, 1983, at least one of the members appointed by the chief executive officer of the most populous city shall be a resident of a dwelling unit owned or managed by the housing authority. At least one of the initial appointments by the chief executive officer of the most populous city, after March 15, 1983, shall be a resident of a dwelling unit owned or managed by the housing authority. Thereafter, any member appointed by the chief executive officer of the most populous city for the term established by this initial appointment, or for any succeeding term thereof, shall be a person who resides in a dwelling unit owned or managed by the housing authority. If there is an elected, representative body of all residents of the housing authority, then the chief executive officer of the most populous city shall, whenever there is a vacancy in this resident term, provide written notice of the vacancy to the representative body. If the representative body submits to the chief executive officer of the most populous city, in writing and within sixty days after the date on which it was notified of the vacancy, the names of at least five residents of the housing authority who are willing and qualified to serve as a member, then the chief executive officer of the most populous city shall appoint to the resident term one of the residents recommended by the representative body. At no time shall residents constitute a majority of the members of the authority.

(D) Public officials, other than the officers having the appointing power authority under this section, shall be eligible to serve as members, officers, or employees of the a metropolitan housing authority notwithstanding any statute, charter, or law to the contrary. Not more than two such public officials shall be members of the authority at any one time.

All members of such housing an authority shall serve without compensation but shall be entitled to be reimbursed for all necessary expenses incurred. After such

After a metropolitan housing authority district has been is formed, the director may enlarge the territory within such the district to include other political subdivisions, or portions thereof of other political subdivisions, but the territorial limits of which the district shall be less than that of the county.

(E)(1) Any vote taken by a metropolitan housing authority shall require a majority affirmative vote to pass. A tie vote shall constitute a defeat of any measure receiving equal numbers of votes for and against it.

(2) The members of a metropolitan housing authority shall act in the best interest of the district and shall not act solely as representatives of their respective appointing authorities.

Section 2. That existing section 3735.27 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.