H.B. 189

1

SPECIAL DISTRICTS - DRAINAGE
2 DISTRICT AMENDMENTS
3 1997 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Sponsor: Michael R. Styler
6 AN ACT RELATING TO SPECIAL DISTRICTS; MODIFYING NOTICE REQUIREMENTS
7 IN PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT OF NEW BOARD MEMBERS; REPEALING
8 PROVISIONS RELATING TO ORGANIZATION OF DRAINAGE DISTRICTS;
9 REPEALING PROVISIONS RELATING TO JUDICIAL REVIEW OF DRAINAGE
10 DISTRICT ACTS AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS OR THE MAKING OF A
11 CONTRACT WITH THE UNITED STATES; AND MAKING TECHNICAL
12 CORRECTIONS.
13 This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
14 AMENDS:
15 17A-1-303, as enacted by Chapter 273, Laws of Utah 1991
16 17A-2-506, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
17 17A-2-537, as last amended by Chapter 273, Laws of Utah 1991
18 REPEALS:
19 17A-2-501, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
20 17A-2-503, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
21 17A-2-504, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
22 17A-2-505, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
23 17A-2-507, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
24 17A-2-515, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
25 17A-2-516, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
26 17A-2-517, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
27 17A-2-518, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990

1 17A-2-519, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
2 17A-2-520, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 186, Laws of Utah 1990
3 17A-2-521, as last amended by Chapter 227, Laws of Utah 1993
4 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
5 Section 1. Section 17A-1-303 is amended to read:
6 17A-1-303. Appointment procedures for appointed members.
7 (1) The appointing authority may, by resolution, appoint persons to serve as members of
8 a special district board by following the procedures established by this section.
9 (2) (a) In any calendar year when appointment of a new special district board member is
10 required, the appointing authority shall prepare a notice of vacancy that contains:
11 (i) the positions that are vacant that must be filled by appointment;
12 (ii) the qualifications required to be appointed to those positions;
13 (iii) the procedures for appointment that the governing body will follow in making those
14 appointments; and
15 (iv) the person to be contacted and any deadlines that a person must meet who wishes to
16 be considered for appointment to those positions.
17 (b) The appointing authority shall:
18 (i) post the notice of vacancy in [ten] four public places within the special district at least
19 one month before the deadline for accepting nominees for appointment; and
20 (ii) [either] publish the notice of vacancy:
21 (A) in a daily newspaper of general circulation within the special district for five
22 consecutive days before the deadline for accepting nominees for appointment; or [publish the
23 notice of vacancy]
24 (B) in a local weekly newspaper circulated within the special district in the week before
25 the deadline for accepting nominees for appointment.
26 (c) The appointing authority may bill the special district for the cost of preparing, printing,
27 and publishing the notice.
28 (3) (a) Not sooner than two months after the appointing authority is notified of the
29 vacancy, the appointing authority shall select a person to fill the vacancy from the applicants who
30 meet the qualifications established by law.
31 (b) The appointing authority shall:

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

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1 at least a majority of the acreage of the lands proposed to be reclaimed or benefited, or that said
2 petition is signed by the owners of title or evidence of title of a major portion in area of the lands
3 proposed to be reclaimed or benefited, may be taken by the county legislative body as prima facie
4 evidence of the facts stated therein; or the oath or affirmation before the said county legislative
5 body, or the affidavit of any person, properly taken and certified by any person or court authorized
6 to take acknowledgments of deeds to real estate in this state, giving the age of such party, and his
7 or her ownership of lands to be named in such oath, affirmation, or affidavit, by proper description,
8 shall be sufficient evidence to the county legislative body of such facts; provided, that all deeds
9 made for the purpose of establishing or defeating the prayers of said petition, not made in good
10 faith and for a valuable consideration, shall be taken and held to be in fraud of the provisions of
11 this part, and the holders thereof shall not be considered as owners thereof. If the commissioners,
12 after hearing any and all competent evidence that may be offered before it for and against the said
13 petition, shall find the same has not been signed as hereinbefore required, said petition shall be
14 dismissed at the cost of the petitioners; but if the commissioners shall find that the petition has
15 been signed as hereinbefore provided, the commissioners shall so find, and such finding shall be
16 conclusive upon the landowners of such district that they have assented to and accepted the
17 provisions of this part; and the county legislative body may make such changes in the proposed
18 boundaries as they may find to be proper, and shall establish and define such boundaries; provided,
19 that said body shall not modify said boundaries so as to except from the operation of this part any
20 territory within the boundaries of the district proposed by said petitioners which is susceptible of
21 drainage by the system of works applicable to the other lands in such proposed district; provided,
22 that any person whose lands will not, in the opinion of said body, be benefited by drainage by said
23 system, may have such lands excluded from such district upon application to said body, except as
24 provided in Section 17A-2-516; and provided, further, that any person whose lands are susceptible
25 of drainage by the same system may, in the discretion of the county legislative body, upon
26 application of the owner to said body have such lands included in said districts. If it shall further
27 appear to the commissioners that the proposed drain or drains, ditch or ditches, or other works, is
28 or are necessary or will be useful for the drainage of the lands proposed to be drained thereby for
29 agricultural or sanitary purposes, or conducive to the public health or welfare, the commissioners
30 shall so find, and appoint three competent persons, who shall be known as a board of supervisors,
31 according to the procedures and requirements of Title 17A, Chapter 1, Part 3. In case the lands

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1 to be drained shall be situated in different counties, not more than two of the members of the board
2 of supervisors shall be chosen from any one of such counties; provided that the petition presented
3 to the county legislative body, as herein authorized, may, in addition to the other matters required,
4 designate three persons to be appointed as members of said board of supervisors, and the persons
5 so designated in said petition shall, by the county legislative body, be appointed to be the members
6 of such board of supervisors. It shall be the duty of the]
7 (1) A drainage district is a body corporate and politic with the right to sue and be sued, to
8 have perpetual succession, and to adopt and use a corporate seal.
9 (2) The board of supervisors [to] shall lay out and construct [such proposed] the work[,
10 and to] found by the county legislative body, in connection with its review of the original petition
11 proposing organization of the drainage district, to be necessary or useful for the drainage of lands
12 in the district, and shall levy a tax upon the lands in [said] the drainage district, subject to the
13 approval of the county legislative body, as [hereinafter] provided in this part. [If said county
14 legislative body shall find that the establishment and creation of such drainage district will be a
15 benefit as hereinbefore set forth, said board shall, within ten days, proclaim such district created,
16 and such proclamation shall be published for at least ten days thereafter by posting in three public
17 places within said county or counties at least one of which places shall be within said drainage
18 district, or by publishing the said proclamation in some newspaper of general circulation published
19 in the county and if the district embraces lands in more than one county, then in a newspaper of
20 general circulation published in each such county, or if there be no such paper published in any
21 such county or counties, then in some newspaper having a general circulation in such county or
22 counties, and the said proclamation shall be substantially in the following form:]
23 [Office of the county legislative body, county of ____, State of Utah, A. D. 19__.]
24 [In the matter of the petition for the organization of ____ drainage district, of ____ county,
25 State of Utah.]
26 [The petition having been heard in the manner required by law and the commissioners
27 having duly examined said petition, and having heard evidence concerning the same, and
28 considered all objections to the same, it is ordered by the county legislative body that the petition
29 be, and the same is hereby granted; and the county legislative body further find that the work
30 proposed in said petition to be done will be useful for agricultural or sanitary purposes to the
31 owners of land within said proposed district; and the county legislative body also find that the

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1 persons who have signed said petition are of lawful age and are a majority of the adult landowners,
2 representing one-third in area (or are landowners who own a major portion, as the case may be)
3 of the land to be affected by such proposed work. The county legislative body further find that the
4 said drainage district is duly established as provided by law. The following named persons are to
5 be known as the board of supervisors:]
6 [_______________ of _______________]
7 [_______________ of _______________]
8 [_______________ of _______________]
9 [Attest:]
10 [_______________ Clerk.]
11

[_______________ County Commissioners.]

12 [And upon entering the order of proclamation of record said district is hereby declared by
13 law to be organized as a drainage district by the name mentioned in the petition, and with the
14 boundaries fixed by the order of said county legislative body, and said district is hereby declared
15 to be a body corporate and politic by the name mentioned in said order of the county legislative
16 body, with the right to sue and be sued, and to have perpetual succession, and may adopt and use
17 a corporate seal; and the]
18 (3) The board of supervisors [appointed as aforesaid] and their successors in office shall[,
19 from the entry of such order of proclamation,]:
20 (a) constitute the corporate authorities of [such] the drainage district[, and shall];
21 (b) exercise the functions conferred upon them by law [and shall];
22 (c) be entitled to enter immediately upon the duties of their respective offices upon
23 qualifying in accordance with law[,]; and [shall]
24 (d) hold such offices, respectively, until their successors are appointed and have qualified.
25 Section 3. Section 17A-2-537 is amended to read:
26 17A-2-537. Appointment of supervisor -- Vacancy -- No more than two supervisors
27 from same county in multi county district.
28 (1) The county legislative body shall appoint supervisors and fill vacancies by following
29 the procedures and requirements of Title 17A, Chapter 1, Part 3.
30 (2) If the lands in the drainage district are situated in different counties, not more than two
31 of the members of the board of supervisors shall be from any one of those counties.

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1 Section 4. Repealer.
2 This act repeals:
3 Section 17A-2-501, Who may propose organization.
4 Section 17A-2-503, Petition -- Bond -- Name of district.
5 Section 17A-2-504, Notice -- Publication -- Contents -- Proof.
6 Section 17A-2-505, Hearing -- Petition may be amended.
7 Section 17A-2-507, Appeal -- Duty of the county legislative body.
8 Section 17A-2-515, Making investigation.
9 Section 17A-2-516, Board to report findings -- Changes to be made.
10 Section 17A-2-517, Special proceedings for judicial examinations.
11 Section 17A-2-518, Court procedure.
12 Section 17A-2-519, Hearings -- Reference to petition.
13 Section 17A-2-520, Parties -- Writs of error and appeals.
14 Section 17A-2-521, Powers of court -- Substantial rights affected -- Decrees.




Legislative Review Note
as of 10-2-96 8:40 AM

A limited legal review of this bill raises no obvious constitutional or statutory concerns.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel

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