Title 36, LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Sec. 39. When the board receives a maintenance report under section 38 of this chapter, it shall prepare a schedule of assessments that includes the following items: (1) A description of each tract of land determined to be benefited, and the name and address of the owner, as list…

Sec. 4. There is established in each county a drainage board, which shall act in the name of "The __________ County Drainage Board" (designating the name of the county). [Pre-Local Government Recodification Citation: 19-4-1-3 part.] As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.101.

Sec. 40. (a) The board shall fix a date, time, and place for a hearing on the maintenance report of the county surveyor and on the schedule of assessments, and shall prepare a written notice for each owner of land proposed to be assessed. The notice, which must describe the land …

Sec. 41. (a) If recommended by the county surveyor, the board may, after notice and hearing to affected owners, combine regulated drains located in the same watershed for the purpose of annually assessing the owners benefited for periodic maintenance. (b) The notice shall be publ…

Sec. 42. (a) The board may at any time increase or decrease the amount annually assessed for periodic maintenance of a regulated drain if the board finds that the county surveyor's estimate of the cost of maintaining the drain was insufficient or excessive. (b) The board may decr…

Sec. 43. (a) If in any year a maintenance fund established under section 44 of this chapter has an unencumbered balance equal to or greater than four (4) times the estimated annual cost of periodically maintaining the drain for which the fund was established, the annual assessmen…

Sec. 44. (a) A maintenance fund is established for each regulated drain and for each combination of drains established under section 41 of this chapter. A maintenance fund consists of: (1) money received from annual assessments upon land benefited by the periodic maintenance of a…

Sec. 45. A maintenance fund established under section 44 of this chapter is subject to the use of the board for the necessary or proper repair, maintenance, study, or evaluation of the particular drain or combination of drains, which may be done whenever the board, upon the recom…

Sec. 45.5. (a) This section applies when a county surveyor advises the drainage board that in the county surveyor's opinion a maintenance fund has a balance in excess of the amount reasonably needed in that fund for maintenance work in the foreseeable future. (b) The board may tr…

Sec. 46. (a) When a regulated drain is obstructed or damaged by logs, trees, brush, unauthorized structures, trash, debris, excavating, filling, or pasturing livestock, or in any other way, the county surveyor shall immediately remove the obstruction and repair any damage. (b) No…

Sec. 47. (a) Whenever any person: (1) goes upon any land under any contract, easement, or statute; and (2) damages a regulated drain or impedes the flow of such a drain by placing pipe, cable, or other material over, under, or through the drain; the board shall serve upon the per…

Sec. 48. (a) Whenever, in the construction or reconstruction of a regulated drain, the county surveyor determines that: (1) the proposed drain will cross a pipeline, cable, or similar equipment of a public utility; and (2) the equipment will interfere with the proper operation of…

Sec. 49. (a) When the board refers a regulated drain to the county surveyor for a reconstruction report, the county surveyor shall determine and set forth in the county surveyor's report the best and cheapest method of reconstructing the drain so that it will adequately drain all…

Sec. 5. (a) Except as provided in subsection (c), the drainage board consists of either: (1) the county executive; or (2) three (3) or five (5) persons, at least one (1) of whom must be a member of the executive, appointed by the executive; at the option of the executive. Appoint…

Sec. 50. When the county surveyor files a reconstruction report, the county surveyor shall consult with the board, and the board shall take the following actions: (1) Prepare a schedule of assessments containing a description of each tract of land determined to be benefited by th…

Sec. 51. Whenever it becomes necessary to reconstruct a regulated drain that has become inadequate due to an increased flow of drainage resulting, in whole or in part, from a change in land use by one (1) or more owners of land affected by the drain, the board shall consider that…

Sec. 52. (a) When the schedules of damages and assessments are completed and marked filed, the board shall fix a date, time, and place for a hearing on the reconstruction report of the county surveyor and on the schedules of damages and assessments, and shall prepare a notice for…

Sec. 52.5. (a) If: (1) a proposed project for the reconstruction of a regulated drain is presented to the board for approval; (2) the proposed project consists exclusively of the relocation of a regulated drain from one (1) site on property owned by a person to another site on pr…

Sec. 53. (a) Whenever: (1) the board has initiated, or is considering initiating, a proceeding to reconstruct a regulated drain under this chapter; (2) one (1) or more other regulated drains in the same watershed are in need of reconstruction; (3) the board finds that no substant…

Sec. 53.5. (a) A county surveyor or board planning to perform a project for the reconstruction or maintenance of a regulated drain under this chapter that: (1) is subject to regulation under: (A) IC 14-26-5; or (B) IC 14-28-1; or (2) requires an individual permit under Section 40…

Sec. 54. (a) When one (1) or more persons want to establish a new regulated drain, and that drain cannot be established in the best and cheapest manner without affecting land owned by other persons, the person or persons seeking to establish the drain must file a petition with th…

Sec. 55. When the county surveyor has accepted a petition and marked it filed under section 54 of this chapter, the county surveyor shall make a personal inspection of the land described in the petition and file with the board a written preliminary report stating: (1) whether the…

Sec. 56. (a) If the county surveyor's report concerning any of the three (3) subdivisions of section 55 of this chapter is wholly in the negative, the board shall have a copy of the county surveyor's preliminary report served upon the attorney for the petitioner. (b) Within twent…

Sec. 57. (a) If the county surveyor, in the county surveyor's preliminary report, or the board, after a hearing under section 56 of this chapter, finds that the report concerning each of the three (3) subdivisions of section 55 of this chapter should be in the affirmative, the co…

Sec. 58. (a) Within seven (7) days after the attorney for the petitioner is served with notice of a hearing under section 57(e) of this chapter, the attorney for the petitioner shall prepare a written notice setting forth: (1) the fact of the filing and pendency of the petition; …

Sec. 59. (a) At least five (5) days before the board's hearing on a petition to establish a new regulated drain, one (1) or more persons who own two-thirds (2/3) in the area of the acreage and fifty-one percent (51%) of the assessed valuation of the land named in the petition, or…

Sec. 6. (a) When the membership of the board is reduced to less than three (3) because of disqualifications, the board shall immediately certify that fact to the circuit court of the county. The court shall then restore the membership of the board to three (3) by appointing the a…

Sec. 60. (a) At its hearing on a petition to establish a new regulated drain, the board shall consider: (1) any remonstrance filed under section 59(a) of this chapter; and (2) any objection filed under section 59(b) of this chapter. (b) If the board finds that a proper remonstran…

Sec. 61. When the board refers a petition to the county surveyor for a final report under section 60(b) of this chapter, the county surveyor shall do the following: (1) Make the necessary survey for the proposed drain. (2) Prepare plans for structures other than bridges or culver…

Sec. 62. (a) When the county surveyor has completed the maps, profiles, and plans required by section 61 of this chapter, the county surveyor shall meet with the board, and the board shall take the following actions: (1) Prepare a schedule of assessments containing a description …

Sec. 63. (a) When the schedules of assessments and damages prepared under section 62 of this chapter are completed and marked filed, the board shall fix the date, time, and place for a hearing on the county surveyor's report and on the schedules of assessments and damages. The bo…

Sec. 64. (a) Whenever: (1) a new open drain is to be constructed under this chapter; and (2) the drain will cross a tract of land in such a manner that the owner of the tract will be deprived of ingress and egress to part of the tract unless a private crossing is constructed acro…

Sec. 65. (a) Not less than five (5) days before the board's hearing on a petition for a new regulated drain, any owner of land affected by the report of the county surveyor or by the schedules of damages and assessments may file with the board written objections to the report, sc…

Sec. 66. (a) Whenever: (1) land has been assessed as benefited by the construction, reconstruction, or maintenance of a regulated drain; (2) there is no open or tiled drain connecting the land with the regulated drain; and (3) the waters from the land flow over or through land ow…

Sec. 67. (a) In the county surveyor's written report setting forth the county surveyor's order of priority for regulated drains under section 35 of this chapter, the county surveyor may designate any drain that is classified as in need of reconstruction as an urban drain. In adop…

Sec. 68. The county surveyor shall perform the following duties with respect to all urban drains within the county surveyor's jurisdiction: (1) Prepare and make available to the public design standards of rainfall intensity and frequency for urban land, design standards of storm …

Sec. 69. (a) After the county surveyor has filed the county surveyor's report on the construction or reconstruction of an urban drain, the county surveyor shall consult with the board, and the board may adopt or modify the designations recommended by the surveyor. The board shall…

Sec. 69.5. (a) As used in this section, "development" does not include utility infrastructure owned, controlled, installed, or constructed by a public or municipally owned utility. (b) Unless otherwise required by an ordinance of the county, a person who lays out a: (1) subdivisi…

Sec. 7. (a) The board shall organize at a meeting each January, by electing one (1) of its members as chair and one (1) of its members as vice chair. At the same time, the board shall elect a secretary, who need not be a member of the board. (b) The county surveyor may not hold a…

Sec. 70. (a) This section applies whenever the plans and specifications for the construction or reconstruction of any regulated drain disclose that the center line of the drain at any point will come within three hundred (300) feet of any levee that is subject to or was construct…

Sec. 71. (a) When, in the construction or reconstruction of a regulated drain, the county surveyor determines that the proposed drain will cross a public highway or the right-of-way of a railroad company at a point where: (1) there is no crossing; or (2) the crossing will not ade…

Sec. 72. (a) When, in the reconstruction or periodic maintenance of a regulated drain, the county surveyor determines that a private crossing will not adequately handle the flow of water from the drain or will be endangered by such flow, the county surveyor shall in the county su…

Sec. 73. (a) There is established in each county a general drain improvement fund, which shall be used to pay the cost of: (1) constructing or reconstructing a regulated drain under this chapter; and (2) removing obstructions from drains under IC 36-9-27.4. In addition, if a main…

Sec. 74. (a) This section applies to a county having a population of more than four hundred thousand (400,000) and less than seven hundred thousand (700,000). (b) Each year, the county shall levy the tax authorized by section 73 of this chapter at a rate on each one hundred dolla…

Sec. 75. The board may accept gifts or grants from any source for the purpose of paying all or part of the costs of constructing, reconstructing, or maintaining a drain under this chapter. The gifts or grants shall be used to reduce the costs assessed to affected owners. [Pre-Loc…

Sec. 76. The board may cooperate in joint effort with any state or federal agency in a proceeding to construct, reconstruct, or maintain a drain under this chapter. If the board is cooperating with a federal agency, and the rules or procedures of the agency are in conflict with t…