143B-299. Sedimentation Control Commission - members; selection; compensation; meetings.

(a) Creation; Membership. - There is hereby created in the Department of Environmental Quality the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission, which is charged with the duty of developing and administering the sedimentation control program provided for in this Article. The Commission shall consist of the following members:

(1) A person to be nominated jointly by the boards of the North Carolina League of Municipalities and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.

(2) A person to be nominated by the Board of the North Carolina Home Builders Association.

(3) A person to be nominated by the Carolinas Branch, Associated General Contractors of America.

(4) A representative of a North Carolina public utility company.

(5) The Director of the North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute.

(6) A member of the North Carolina Mining Commission who shall be a representative of nongovernmental conservation interests, as required by G.S. 74-38(b).

(7) A member of the State Soil and Water Conservation Commission.

(8) A member of the Environmental Management Commission.

(9) A soil scientist from the faculty of North Carolina State University.

(10) Two persons who shall be representatives of nongovernmental conservation interests.

(11) A professional engineer registered under the provisions of Chapter 89C of the General Statutes nominated by the Professional Engineers of North Carolina, Inc.

(b) Appointment. - The Commission members shall be appointed by the Governor. All Commission members, except the person appointed under subdivision (5) of subsection (a) of this section, shall serve staggered terms of three years and until their successors are appointed and duly qualified. The person appointed under subdivision (5) of subsection (a) of this section shall serve as a member of the Commission, subject to removal by the Governor as hereinafter specified in this section, so long as the person continues as Director of the Water Resources Research Institute. The terms of members appointed under subdivisions (2), (4), (7), and (8) of subsection (a) of this section shall expire on 30 June of years evenly divisible by three. The terms of members appointed under subdivisions (1), (3), and (10) of subsection (a) of this section shall expire on 30 June of years that follow by one year those years that are evenly divisible by three. The terms of members appointed under subdivisions (6), (9), and (11) of subsection (a) of this section shall expire on 30 June of years that precede by one year those years that are evenly divisible by three. Except for the person appointed under subdivision (5) of subsection (a) of this section, no member of the Commission shall serve more than two complete consecutive three-year terms. Any member appointed by the Governor to fill a vacancy occurring in any of the appointments shall be appointed for the remainder of the term of the member causing the vacancy. The Governor may at any time remove any member of the Commission for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance, or because they no longer possess the required qualifications for membership. The office of the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission is declared to be an office that may be held concurrently with any other elective or appointive office, under the authority of Article VI, Sec. 9, of the North Carolina Constitution.

(b1) Chair. - The Governor shall designate a member of the Commission to serve as chair.

(c) Compensation. - The members of the Commission shall receive the usual and customary per diem allowed for the other members of boards and commissions of the State and as fixed in the Biennial Appropriation Act, and, in addition, the members of the Commission shall receive subsistence and travel expenses according to the prevailing State practice and as allowed and fixed by statute for such purposes, which said travel expenses shall also be allowed while going to or from any place of meeting or when on official business for the Commission. The per diem payments made to each member of the Commission shall include necessary time spent in traveling to and from their places of residence within the State to any place of meeting or while traveling on official business for the Commission.

(d) Meetings of Commission. - The Commission shall meet at the call of the chair and shall hold special meetings at the call of a majority of the members.