Officers and Meetings

Officers and Meetings. A. Officers and Authority: The presiding officer of the Board shall be a Chairman appointed by the Governor subject to the advice and consent of the Senate to serve at the will and pleasure of the Governor. A Vice-Chairman shall be elected by the membership of the board by majority vote at the annual meeting of the board to serve for a term of one year. The Chairman shall preside at all meetings and shall have such authority and shall perform such duties as provided by, or may be reasonably inferred from, statutory provision, these by-laws or as may be determined and conferred by a resolution of the board not inconsistent with the laws of this state or these by-laws. The Vice-Chairman shall be authorized to preside in the absence or incapacity of the Chairman. The six (6) ex officio members of the Board are: the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality, the Commissioner of Insurance; the Director of the Department of Finance and Administration; the Attorney General; the Commissioner of Public Safety; and the State Treasurer. B. Annual Meetings: There shall be an annual meeting of the Board held each year in the offices of the Department of Finance and Administration on the first Thursday of June, unless notice of the meeting to be held shall designate another place and time. C. Regular Meetings: The Board may authorize such other regular meetings as may be desired by resolution upon its minutes designating the time, date, and place of such regular meetings. D. Special Meetings: Extraordinary meetings of the Board may be held upon call of the Chairman or upon petition of any four (4) members of the Board should the Chairman refuse to call a meeting. Such meetings may be held at any time or place upon five (5) days written notice preceding the date of such meeting. The written notice shall state the place, date, and hour of said meeting and the purpose for which the meeting is called. Said notice shall be delivered or mailed to each member of the Board at his or her regular mailing address. E. Quorum: A quorum for the transaction of any business of the Board shall consist of an absolute majority of all the members of record of the Board. A quorum is necessary for any annual, regular or special meeting of the Board, and when a quorum is not present at any such meeting, a majority of the members present may adjourn the meeting to a time and place without the necessity of further notice to the members. F. Executive Director: The Director of the Department of Finance and Administration shall serve as the Executive Director of the Board and shall be authorized to conduct the administrative affairs of the Board. The Board is authorized to employ on a fulltime basis a staff attorney who shall possess at a minimum the qualifications required to be a member of the Mississippi Bar, and such other staff as it may deem necessary to carry out the purposes of the tort claims statutes; the employees in the positions approved by the Board shall be hired by the Executive Director, shall be employees of the Department of Finance and Administration, and shall be compensated from the Tort Claims Fund. Upon recommendation of the Executive Director the Board shall define the duties and fix the compensation of such employees. The Executive Director shall execute all contracts and other instruments in writing on behalf of the Board which have been duly authorized by the Board. The Executive Director shall be charged with the duty of taking and preserving the official minutes of the meetings of the Board and shall provide copies of the proposed minutes to the members in advance of the next regular meeting. In addition, the Executive Director shall perform such other duties and functions as are incident to the office and not inconsistent with these by-laws. G. Rules of Order: The most recent edition of Robert's Rules of Order shall serve as the rules of order for the Board. H. Proxies: To the extent allowed under Mississippi law, a member of the Board may designate a proxy representative to act for such member in such member's absence, and the vote of such proxy representative shall be counted as the vote of such absent member.