257.310. Creation of district for primary drainage basin including previously formed district, procedure--establishment of subdistricts--officers, employees, powers--disincorporation of such district.
Creation of district for primary drainage basin including previouslyformed district, procedure--establishment of subdistricts--officers,employees, powers--disincorporation of such district.
257.310. 1. Where any conservancy district is organized andestablished within a primary drainage basin and the area of suchdistrict is a secondary drainage basin or a tributary drainagearea, the balance of the primary drainage basin may be the basisfor initiating, organizing, and establishing a conservancydistrict for the entire primary drainage basin. Other provisionsof this chapter shall apply to the initiating, organizing,establishment, and function of the primary drainage basinconservancy district, except:
(1) The provisions of this chapter for initiating,organizing and establishing a conservancy district shall applyonly to such balance of the primary drainage basin as lieswithout any other conservancy district, but the jurisdiction ofthe court shall be determined on the basis of the entire primarydrainage basin. In addition to the petitioning procedure as itshall apply to initiating a primary drainage basin conservancydistrict under this section, any established conservancy districtof lesser extent within the primary drainage basin shall have theright to be a petitioner under this section, regardless oflimitations on petitioners provided by this chapter, and may,solely and by itself, sign and present a petition to the courtfor the organization and establishment of a conservancy districtfor the primary drainage basin of which the lesser district is apart. It is understood hereby that
(a) The existence and function of any conservancy districtof lesser extent within the primary drainage basin shall in noway constitute a bar or limitation on the establishment of aconservancy district for the entire primary drainage basin;
(b) The referendum therefor shall be by vote of qualifiedvoters within those areas of the primary drainage basin which arewithout the boundaries of any established conservancy district;
(c) The procedure and basis for selection of trustees of theprimary drainage basin conservancy district shall be in no waydifferent from that otherwise provided for in this chapter forany conservancy district.
(2) Upon establishment of a primary drainage basinconservancy district under this section,
(a) Any conservancy district of a lesser extent, includingany subdistrict thereof, within the primary drainage basinestablished as a conservancy district, upon such establishmentshall forthwith become a subdistrict, subject to whatever theregular prosecution of the affairs of the primary drainage basindistrict shall resolve, in accord with the objects, purposes, andother provisions of this chapter;
(b) The trustees of any conservancy district of lesserextent shall no longer hold office and shall cease to functionupon qualification of the trustees of the primary drainage basindistrict but shall be held responsible, with appeal therefor tothe court by any party of interest, for a proper handling,transfer, and consolidation of the affairs of their districtbeing assumed by the primary drainage basin district trustees asdistrict trustees or as subdistrict trustees;
(c) The further position and responsibility of any otherofficer, employees, agents or persons responsible to any suchformer conservancy district shall be a matter of decision by theboard as district or subdistrict trustees. Such personnel shallbe subject to the same provisions for responsibility as theformer trustees of the lesser district are subject to in thissection.
2. In addition to the formation of a subdistrict aspreviously provided for in this section, whenever it is desiredto accomplish the purposes of this chapter and exercise thepowers of the board of trustees where such purposes and powerswill affect only a part of a conservancy district, a subdistrictmay be formed within such part of the district.
3. Establishment of such a subdistrict shall be preceded bya plan for the proposed subdistrict, which plan may be part of anofficial plan for the entire district or part of the district, ormay be a separate official plan in itself. In any case theprocedure for creating a subdistrict plan shall be, in allrespects, the same as provided herein for originating andsecuring an official plan, with the additional provision that theplan shall include a name for the subdistrict.
4. When the plan for a proposed subdistrict has beenapproved and made official, it may be subject to further actionas follows:
(1) The district board shall issue notice of the approval ofthe plan and may announce in such notice, or in a later notice,its intention to submit the question of establishing thesubdistrict, subject to a determination of the boundaries of theproposed subdistrict.
(2) If the district board, at the time of its notice of theapproval of the plan or within thirty days after publication ofsuch approval notice is complete, does not give notice of itsintention to call an election, subject to such determination ofthe boundaries, a petition for such action toward a subdistrictmay be presented to the board. The number of petitioners andtheir qualifications shall be the same as provided in thischapter for initiating the establishment of a conservancydistrict. Upon receipt of such petition, and finding it valid,the board shall take action forthwith on the proposed subdistrictas though on its own initiative. In such case, however, theboard may require the petitioners to give bond for the costs ofdetermining the boundaries and of the election. If the electionfor a subdistrict fails, such costs shall be paid by thepetitioners. If the subdistrict is established, the costs shallbe paid by the subdistrict.
5. At the time of the subdistrict election, questions ofadditional tax and bond issue may be presented to the voters ifso indicated by the official plan, and if the board in callingthe subdistrict election on its own initiative has so stated orif, in the case of a petition, the petitioners have so requestedthe board. If such questions are presented to the voters therespective provisions of this chapter for tax and bond electionsshall be followed insofar as such would apply.
6. The result of the election for the establishment of asubdistrict shall be entered upon the records of the board. Ifthe voters approve the subdistrict establishment, certifiedcopies of the board's record thereof shall be filed with thesecretary of state, the county recorder of the county or countieswithin the subdistrict, and the state reviewing agency.
7. Upon entry in the records of the board of the voteapproving establishment of the subdistrict, the subdistrict shallbe organized and established thereby, with the trustees of theconservancy district thereupon becoming trustees also of thesubdistrict. Thereafter, the proceedings in reference to thesubdistrict shall in all matters conform to the provisions ofthis chapter; except that in the issuance of bonds for thesubdistrict, in the levying of taxes by the subdistrict, and inall other matters affecting only the subdistrict, the provisionsof this chapter shall apply to the subdistrict as an independentconservancy district, and it shall not, in these things, beamalgamated with the district. It is understood that suchprovisions for a subdistrict shall in no way restrict aconservancy district's taxing and bonding authority orlimitations in the area of the subdistrict or elsewhere in thedistrict; except, no lesser district, absorbed as a subdistrictinto a primary drainage basin conservancy district, shall besubject to a general obligation bond tax by the primary districtwhen the lesser district has a bond tax of its own, unless theprimary district tax provides for the assumption of the lesserdistrict bonds; and provided further, that no bond tax shall belevied upon said lesser district until a sufficient time shallhave expired that would have permitted said district to haveretired all of the bonds originally voted and retired if saidbond tax had been levied to retire the original amount of thebonds voted and retired by a bond tax levied upon the assessedvaluation within said lesser district.
8. The board of trustees, chief engineer, attorney,secretary and other officers, agents and employees of thedistrict shall, so far as it may be necessary, serve in the samecapacities for such subdistrict. Contracts and agreementsbetween the district and the subdistrict may be made. Thedistribution of administrative expense between the district andsubdistrict shall be in proportion to the interests involved andthe amount of service rendered, such division to be made by theboard of trustees.
9. Any subdistrict may be disincorporated in the same manneras provided herein for a conservancy district insofar as securinga vote of disincorporation is concerned. If disincorporation isvoted, the board of trustees shall have the sole responsibilityfor all liquidating, taxing, financial, and other procedures,shall have the authority to exercise such taxing power of thesubdistrict as is necessary to dispose of any indebtedness of thesubdistrict, and shall, upon payment of all debts of thesubdistrict, consolidate into the district all else formerly apart of the subdistrict for such action or procedure as would bethe case in the regular prosecution of its affairs by thedistrict.
(L. 1959 S.B. 199 § 31, A.L. 1978 H.B. 971)