(1) Application, in writing, may be made by a group of 3 or more persons to the governing body for permission to incorporate the economic development corporation for the municipality. Application shall include proposed articles of incorporation. The governing body shall give public notice of the application, and after public hearing, with notice of the hearing given in accordance with section 17(1), may approve the application. As a part of the approval, the governing body may make any amendments to the proposed articles of incorporation as it considers appropriate.

  (2) The board of directors of the corporation shall consist of not less than 9 persons, not more than 3 of whom shall be an officer or employee of the municipality. The chief executive officer and any member of the governing body of the municipality may serve on the board of directors. These directors shall be appointed for terms of 6 years, except of the directors first appointed, 4 shall be appointed for 6 years, 1 for 5 years, 1 for 4 years, 1 for 3 years, 1 for 2 years, and 1 for 1 year. The corporation shall notify the chief executive officer of the municipality in writing upon the corporation’s designation of the project area as provided in section 8(1), and there shall be appointed promptly after that notice 2 additional directors of the corporation who shall serve only in respect to that project and shall be representative of neighborhood residents and business interests likely to be affected by the project proposed by the corporation and who shall cease to serve when the project for which they are appointed is either abandoned or, if undertaken, is completed in accordance with the project plan. Directors shall serve without salary, but may be reimbursed their actual expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties, and may receive a per diem of not more than $50.00. The meetings of the board of directors shall be public. Directors shall be public officers. The rules of procedure or the by-laws of the corporation may permit a person to be appointed to the board in his or her capacity as a public official, whether appointed or elected. The rules of procedure or the by-laws of the corporation may also provide that a member’s term on the board shall expire upon expiration of the member’s service as a public official. The expiration of service as a public official shall be defined to also include the public official’s resignation or removal from the position as a public official.

  (3) The chief executive officer of a municipality, with the advice and consent of the governing body, or in the case of a county where there is not an elected chief executive officer, the chairperson of the county board of commissioners, with the advice and consent of the county board of commissioners, shall appoint the members of the board of directors.

  (4) Subsequent directors shall be appointed in the same manner as original appointments at the expiration of each director’s term of office.

  (5) A director whose term of office has expired shall continue to hold office until the director’s successor has been appointed with the advice and consent of the governing body. A director may be reappointed with the advice and consent of the governing body to serve additional terms. If a vacancy is created by death or resignation or removal by operation of law, a successor shall be appointed with the advice and consent of the governing body within 30 days to hold office for the remainder of the term of the vacated office.

  (6) A director may be removed from office for cause by a majority vote of the governing body.

  (7) A director who has a direct interest in any matter before the corporation shall disclose the director’s interest before the corporation takes any action with respect to the matter, which disclosure shall become a part of the record of the corporation’s official proceedings and the interested director shall further refrain from participation in the corporation’s proceedings relating to the matter.

  (8) By ordinance, the governing body of a municipality that has a population of less than 5,000 may have the municipality’s planning commission created pursuant to the Michigan planning enabling act, 2008 PA 33, MCL 125.3801 to 125.3885, serve as the board of directors provided for in this section.