The authority is given broad powers and duties to operate, contract, hire staff, manage funds and property, and promote regional economic development.
The authority has the power, function and duty to: Have perpetual succession in the corporate name; Sue and be sued in the corporate name; Adopt, use and alter a corporate seal, which shall be judicially noticed; Enter into such contracts and cooperative agreements with federal, state and local governments, and agencies thereof, with private individuals, corporations, associations and with other organizations as the board may deem necessary or convenient in carrying out the purposes of this chapter; Adopt, amend and repeal bylaws; Appoint such managers, officers, employees, attorneys and agents as the board deems necessary for the transaction of its business, fix their compensation, define their duties and require bonds of such of them as the board may determine; Receive and expend funds from any source for staffing and other administrative expenses, research, planning, coordination, economic development, demonstration projects and other activities deemed necessary to promote the efficiency and harmonious economic development of the region to receive grants from private foundations and other sources for the purposes of research and for demonstration projects oriented to human, physical and natural resources utilization; Cooperate and coordinate its activities with local, regional and state planning agencies and other areas in developing and implementing plans for development; Cooperate and coordinate its activities with the federal agencies having responsibility for developing natural, human and physical resources of the region; Cooperate with local and regional financial institutions in assembling financial resources for commercial, industrial and other development; Compile, prepare, publish and disseminate information about the economic resources of the region and about subareas; Encourage and assist in the creation of private and semipublic, nonprofit organizations as needed and under existing state law for carrying out specific projects and programs initiated under federal and state law; Enter into compacts or contractual arrangements with planning agencies of other adjoining or neighboring states, for the purpose of preparing joint-comprehensive plans for development of a broader area or region; Acquire and hold such real and personal property or interests in real and personal property as the board deems necessary or convenient in carrying out the purposes of this chapter; Support missions of authority directors or employees to other industrialized nations that may have enterprises willing to invest in the region, with the aim of convincing such businesses to invest in the region when such enterprises meet the criteria of the authority as desirable additions to the region; and Have and exercise such other authority as deemed necessary by the board to further and promote the orderly economic development of the region.