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H.B. 189 Enrolled

    

SPECIAL DISTRICTS - DRAINAGE

    
DISTRICT AMENDMENTS

    
1997 GENERAL SESSION

    
STATE OF UTAH

    
Sponsor: Michael R. Styler

    AN ACT RELATING TO SPECIAL DISTRICTS; MODIFYING NOTICE REQUIREMENTS
    IN PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT OF NEW BOARD MEMBERS; REPEALING
    PROVISIONS RELATING TO ORGANIZATION OF DRAINAGE DISTRICTS;
    REPEALING PROVISIONS RELATING TO JUDICIAL REVIEW OF DRAINAGE
    DISTRICT ACTS AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS OR THE MAKING
    OF A CONTRACT WITH THE UNITED STATES; AND MAKING TECHNICAL
    CORRECTIONS.
    This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
    AMENDS:
         17A-1-303, as enacted by Chapter 273, Laws of Utah 1991
         17A-2-506, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
         17A-2-537, as last amended by Chapter 273, Laws of Utah 1991
    REPEALS:
         17A-2-501, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
         17A-2-503, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
         17A-2-504, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
         17A-2-505, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
         17A-2-507, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
         17A-2-515, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
         17A-2-516, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
         17A-2-517, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
         17A-2-518, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
         17A-2-519, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
         17A-2-520, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990


         17A-2-521, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
    Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
        Section 1. Section 17A-1-303 is amended to read:
         17A-1-303. Appointment procedures for appointed members.
        (1) The appointing authority may, by resolution, appoint persons to serve as members of a
    special district board by following the procedures established by this section.
        (2) (a) In any calendar year when appointment of a new special district board member is
    required, the appointing authority shall prepare a notice of vacancy that contains:
        (i) the positions that are vacant that must be filled by appointment;
        (ii) the qualifications required to be appointed to those positions;
        (iii) the procedures for appointment that the governing body will follow in making those
    appointments; and
        (iv) the person to be contacted and any deadlines that a person must meet who wishes to be
    considered for appointment to those positions.
        (b) The appointing authority shall:
        (i) post the notice of vacancy in [ten] four public places within the special district at least
    one month before the deadline for accepting nominees for appointment; and
        (ii) [either] publish the notice of vacancy:
        (A) in a daily newspaper of general circulation within the special district for five consecutive
    days before the deadline for accepting nominees for appointment; or [publish the notice of vacancy]
        (B) in a local weekly newspaper circulated within the special district in the week before the
    deadline for accepting nominees for appointment.
        (c) The appointing authority may bill the special district for the cost of preparing, printing,
    and publishing the notice.
        (3) (a) Not sooner than two months after the appointing authority is notified of the vacancy,
    the appointing authority shall select a person to fill the vacancy from the applicants who meet the
    qualifications established by law.
        (b) The appointing authority shall:

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        (i) comply with Title 52, Chapter 4, Open and Public Meetings, in making the appointment;
        (ii) allow any interested persons to be heard; and
        (iii) adopt a resolution appointing a person to the special district board.
        (c) If no candidate for appointment to fill the vacancy receives a majority vote of the
    appointing authority, the appointing authority shall select the appointee from the two top candidates
    by lot.
        (4) Persons appointed to serve as members of the special district board serve four-year terms,
    but may be removed with cause at any time after a hearing by 2/3 vote of the appointing body.
        (5) At the end of each board member's term, the position is considered vacant and the
    governing body may either reappoint the old board member or appoint a new member after following
    the appointment procedures established in this section.
        (6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, if the appointing authority appoints
    one of its own members, it need not comply with the provisions of this section.
        Section 2. Section 17A-2-506 is amended to read:
         17A-2-506. Corporate status -- Board of supervisors.
        [When such petition is presented, the said county legislative body shall hear the petition, and
    may adjourn such hearing from time to time, not exceeding four weeks in all. On the hearing of any
    petition filed under the provisions of this part, all parties through or upon whose land any of the
    proposed work may be constructed, or whose land may be damaged or benefited thereby, may appear
    and contest the necessity or utility of the proposed work, or any part thereof, and the contestants and
    petitioners may offer any competent evidence in regard thereto. It shall be the duty of the
    commissioners to hear and determine whether or not said petition contains the signatures of a
    majority of the owners of title or evidence of title to the lands within said proposed district who own
    or control not less than one-third in area of the lands to be reclaimed or benefited, or which are
    susceptible of drainage; or, in the alternative, that said petition contains the signatures of the owners
    of title or evidence of title of a major portion in area of the lands proposed to be reclaimed or
    benefited, or which are susceptible of drainage, and the affidavit of any three or more of the signers
    of said petition that they have examined said petition and are acquainted with the locality of said

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    district and that said petition is signed by a majority of such owners who represent at least a majority
    of the acreage of the lands proposed to be reclaimed or benefited, or that said petition is signed by
    the owners of title or evidence of title of a major portion in area of the lands proposed to be
    reclaimed or benefited, may be taken by the county legislative body as prima facie evidence of the
    facts stated therein; or the oath or affirmation before the said county legislative body, or the affidavit
    of any person, properly taken and certified by any person or court authorized to take
    acknowledgments of deeds to real estate in this state, giving the age of such party, and his or her
    ownership of lands to be named in such oath, affirmation, or affidavit, by proper description, shall
    be sufficient evidence to the county legislative body of such facts; provided, that all deeds made for
    the purpose of establishing or defeating the prayers of said petition, not made in good faith and for
    a valuable consideration, shall be taken and held to be in fraud of the provisions of this part, and the
    holders thereof shall not be considered as owners thereof. If the commissioners, after hearing any
    and all competent evidence that may be offered before it for and against the said petition, shall find
    the same has not been signed as hereinbefore required, said petition shall be dismissed at the cost
    of the petitioners; but if the commissioners shall find that the petition has been signed as
    hereinbefore provided, the commissioners shall so find, and such finding shall be conclusive upon
    the landowners of such district that they have assented to and accepted the provisions of this part;
    and the county legislative body may make such changes in the proposed boundaries as they may find
    to be proper, and shall establish and define such boundaries; provided, that said body shall not
    modify said boundaries so as to except from the operation of this part any territory within the
    boundaries of the district proposed by said petitioners which is susceptible of drainage by the system
    of works applicable to the other lands in such proposed district; provided, that any person whose
    lands will not, in the opinion of said body, be benefited by drainage by said system, may have such
    lands excluded from such district upon application to said body, except as provided in Section
    17A-2-516; and provided, further, that any person whose lands are susceptible of drainage by the
    same system may, in the discretion of the county legislative body, upon application of the owner to
    said body have such lands included in said districts. If it shall further appear to the commissioners
    that the proposed drain or drains, ditch or ditches, or other works, is or are necessary or will be

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    useful for the drainage of the lands proposed to be drained thereby for agricultural or sanitary
    purposes, or conducive to the public health or welfare, the commissioners shall so find, and appoint
    three competent persons, who shall be known as a board of supervisors, according to the procedures
    and requirements of Title 17A, Chapter 1, Part 3. In case the lands to be drained shall be situated
    in different counties, not more than two of the members of the board of supervisors shall be chosen
    from any one of such counties; provided that the petition presented to the county legislative body,
    as herein authorized, may, in addition to the other matters required, designate three persons to be
    appointed as members of said board of supervisors, and the persons so designated in said petition
    shall, by the county legislative body, be appointed to be the members of such board of supervisors.
    It shall be the duty of the]
        (1) A drainage district is a body corporate and politic with the right to sue and be sued, to
    have perpetual succession, and to adopt and use a corporate seal.
        (2) The board of supervisors [to] shall lay out and construct [such proposed] the work[, and
    to] found by the county legislative body, in connection with its review of the original petition
    proposing organization of the drainage district, to be necessary or useful for the drainage of lands
    in the district, and shall levy a tax upon the lands in [said] the drainage district, subject to the
    approval of the county legislative body, as [hereinafter] provided in this part. [If said county
    legislative body shall find that the establishment and creation of such drainage district will be a
    benefit as hereinbefore set forth, said board shall, within ten days, proclaim such district created, and
    such proclamation shall be published for at least ten days thereafter by posting in three public places
    within said county or counties at least one of which places shall be within said drainage district, or
    by publishing the said proclamation in some newspaper of general circulation published in the
    county and if the district embraces lands in more than one county, then in a newspaper of general
    circulation published in each such county, or if there be no such paper published in any such county
    or counties, then in some newspaper having a general circulation in such county or counties, and the
    said proclamation shall be substantially in the following form:]
        [Office of the county legislative body, county of ____, State of Utah, A. D. 19__.]
        [In the matter of the petition for the organization of ____ drainage district, of ____ county,

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    State of Utah.]
        [The petition having been heard in the manner required by law and the commissioners having
    duly examined said petition, and having heard evidence concerning the same, and considered all
    objections to the same, it is ordered by the county legislative body that the petition be, and the same
    is hereby granted; and the county legislative body further find that the work proposed in said
    petition to be done will be useful for agricultural or sanitary purposes to the owners of land within
    said proposed district; and the county legislative body also find that the persons who have signed
    said petition are of lawful age and are a majority of the adult landowners, representing one-third in
    area (or are landowners who own a major portion, as the case may be) of the land to be affected by
    such proposed work. The county legislative body further find that the said drainage district is duly
    established as provided by law. The following named persons are to be known as the board of
    supervisors:]
    [_______________ of _______________]
    [_______________ of _______________]
    [_______________ of _______________]
     [Attest:]
    [_______________ Clerk.]
    
[_______________ County Commissioners.]

        [And upon entering the order of proclamation of record said district is hereby declared by law
    to be organized as a drainage district by the name mentioned in the petition, and with the boundaries
    fixed by the order of said county legislative body, and said district is hereby declared to be a body
    corporate and politic by the name mentioned in said order of the county legislative body, with the
    right to sue and be sued, and to have perpetual succession, and may adopt and use a corporate seal;
    and the]
        (3) The board of supervisors [appointed as aforesaid] and their successors in office shall[,
    from the entry of such order of proclamation,]:
        (a) constitute the corporate authorities of [such] the drainage district[, and shall];
        (b) exercise the functions conferred upon them by law [and shall];

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        (c) be entitled to enter immediately upon the duties of their respective offices upon
    qualifying in accordance with law[,]; and [shall]
        (d) hold such offices, respectively, until their successors are appointed and have qualified.
        Section 3. Section 17A-2-537 is amended to read:
         17A-2-537. Appointment of supervisor -- Vacancy -- No more than two supervisors
     from same county in multi county district.
        (1) The county legislative body shall appoint supervisors and fill vacancies by following the
    procedures and requirements of Title 17A, Chapter 1, Part 3.
        (2) If the lands in the drainage district are situated in different counties, not more than two
    of the members of the board of supervisors shall be from any one of those counties.
        Section 4. Repealer.
        This act repeals:
        Section 17A-2-501, Who may propose organization.
        Section 17A-2-503, Petition -- Bond -- Name of district.
        Section 17A-2-504, Notice -- Publication -- Contents -- Proof.
        Section 17A-2-505, Hearing -- Petition may be amended.
        Section 17A-2-507, Appeal -- Duty of the county legislative body.
        Section 17A-2-515, Making investigation.
        Section 17A-2-516, Board to report findings -- Changes to be made.
        Section 17A-2-517, Special proceedings for judicial examinations.
        Section 17A-2-518, Court procedure.
        Section 17A-2-519, Hearings -- Reference to petition.
        Section 17A-2-520, Parties -- Writs of error and appeals.
        Section 17A-2-521, Powers of court -- Substantial rights affected -- Decrees.

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