Chapter 24, DRAINAGE AND LEVEES

24-302. Drainage ditch, drain or watercourse; maintenance and repair; tax levy, use of proceeds. The county commissioners of any county which has or which shall construct a drainage ditch, drain or watercourse within said county are authorized hereby and empowered to levy a tax u…

24-303. Petition to be filed; bond; notice to persons owning lands. That before the county commissioners of any such county shall take any steps toward locating or establishing any ditch, drain, or watercourse, there shall be filed with the county clerk a petition of one or more …

24-305. Duties of county commissioners; eminent domain proceedings; assistance of engineer; adjournments. On the day set for the hearing of said petition, if it appear to the board of county commissioners that any person or persons who may be interested in said ditch have not bee…

24-306. Division into sections; performance of work; fees and costs; assessments. The said board of county commissioners, whenever they shall have established any such ditch, drain, or watercourse, shall divide the same into suitable sections, not less in number than the number o…

24-307. Penalty for obstructing ditch, drain or stream; damages. Any person who shall willfully or maliciously fill up or obstruct any such ditch, drain, or watercourse, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be fined in a sum not to exceed twenty-five dolla…

24-313. Sale of work to lowest bidder. It shall be the duty of said county commissioners, upon the expiration of the time specified by them for the opening of such ditch, drain, or watercourse, and upon being satisfied by inspection and view that any section or sections of the sa…

24-314. Commissioners to certify to county clerk the amounts due for sections sold; payment of such amounts; amounts placed on tax roll. Immediately after the sale of any such sections or parts of sections as provided for in K.S.A. 24-313, said board of county commissioners shall…

24-316. Corporation benefited to pay part of expense. That when any ditch, drain or watercourse, located and established under this act, crosses or drains, either in whole or in part, any public or corporated road, or any railroad, or benefits any or either of said roads, so that…

24-317. Act does not repeal K.S.A. 24-201 through 24-215. This act shall not repeal or in any way render inoperative, the whole or any part of a similar act passed by the legislature of this state, which went into effect March twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine. Hist…

24-4,100. Dissolution of certain inoperative districts located wholly within cities; procedure. Whenever the county clerk shall petition the board of county commissioners to disorganize and dissolve a drainage district located wholly within a city in the county, and it shall appe…

24-401. Organization of drainage districts; duties of board of county commissioners. Subject to the provisions of K.S.A. 19-270, the boards of county commissioners of the several counties in this state shall have power and it shall be their duty, upon a proper petition being pres…

24-402. Lands within cities may be included in drainage district. That any drainage district may include lands within the county subject to overflow from the same natural watercourse, whether the same be situated partly within and partly without or wholly within or without any in…

24-403. Petition for organization of drainage district; definitions. (A) That the petition for the incorporation and organization of a drainage district shall be addressed to the board of county commissioners of the county in which the lands which it is proposed shall constitute …

24-403a. Inclusion of land located in other benefit districts. Any land located within an improvement district created pursuant to K.S.A. 19-2753 et seq., and amendments thereto, or any land located within an industrial district created pursuant to K.S.A. 19-3801 et seq., and ame…

24-404. Time and notice of hearing. Whenever a petition in conformity to the provisions of K.S.A. 24-403, signed by not less than two-fifths of the taxpayers residing within the boundaries of the proposed district, or signed by the record owners of not less than fifty-one percent…

24-405. Hearing of petition; corporate name; perpetual succession. That at the time set for the hearing of the petition, as provided in the next preceding section, it shall be the duty of the board of county commissioners to first ascertain and determine whether notice has been g…

24-406. Record of organization; first election; description of lands. That it shall be the duty of the board of county commissioners incorporating any drainage district under the provisions of this act to cause an entry to be made upon its records showing all of its declarations,…

24-407. Powers of drainage districts. Each drainage district incorporated pursuant to K.S.A. 24-401 et seq., and amendments thereto, shall be a body politic and corporate. Subject to the superior jurisdiction of the United States over navigable waters, the governing body of each …

24-408. Powers of districts incorporated under law of 1905. All drainage districts incorporated under the provisions of chapter 215 of the Session Laws of 1905, shall have power: First, to take from any navigable river within their corporate limits, sand, gravel, rock, or other m…

24-408a. Sanitary sewers of district; bonds. If the board of directors of any drainage district incorporated under the provisions of chapter 215 of the Session Laws of 1905, and amendments thereto, shall find and determine by resolution that the sanitary sewers of such drainage d…

24-409. Board of directors; members' qualifications and terms. (a) All powers granted to drainage districts incorporated under the provisions of this act shall be exercised by a board of directors consisting of three persons. Except as provided in K.S.A. 24-412 and K.S.A. 24-139a…

24-410. Who may vote at elections; definitions. Within five days after any drainage district shall have been incorporated, the county clerk shall ascertain the qualified electors of such district, and deliver a certified list of the same to one of the persons appointed as judges …

24-412. Elections of directors, when; term of office. (a) An election to choose three directors in each district shall be held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November of 2017, and an election shall be held each four years thereafter, on the Tuesday following the fir…

24-412a. Directors' names and district description to secretary of state. Within 30 days following the election held pursuant to K.S.A. 24-412, as amended, the county election officer of the county where the drainage district is located shall transmit to the secretary of state on…

24-413. Vacancy in office of director. That should a vacancy occur at any time in the office of a director of any drainage district, the remaining directors shall appoint from the qualified residents in said district a person to hold the office of director until the next election…

24-414. Manner of nomination and election of directors; filing fee; election boards; notice of election; who entitled to vote; election expenses. (a) Elections to choose directors shall be conducted, the returns made and the results ascertained in the manner provided by law for g…

24-415. Organization of board; record of proceedings; treasurer, powers and duties; bond; county treasurer's duties. (a) Except as provided by subsection (b), the directors shall meet after they have been qualified and select from their number a president, secretary and treasurer…

24-416. Meetings of the board; executive session authorized, when. (a) The board of directors shall meet at least once each year. At such meeting, the board shall adopt a resolution stating the time, date and place of all regular meetings of the board. The resolution also shall s…

24-417. Engineer; plans and specifications. That the board of directors may appoint or employ one or more engineers and prescribe their duties, and may cause all such surveys, plats, estimates, specifications and reports to be made as may be required to determine whether the cons…

24-418. Improvements authorized; estimate; construction; bonds; election. The board of directors may cause any or all natural watercourses within the district to be widened and deepened, walls, embankments and levees to be constructed along the banks, and obstructions and sand ba…

24-419. Board to determine work to be done; surveys; estimates; reports. That the board of directors, subject to the limitations contained in the next preceding section, shall have power and it shall be its duty to determine what work is necessary to be done, levees constructed o…

24-420. Action of board on engineer's report; special election; issuance of bonds. That upon the filing of the engineer's report provided for in the next preceding section, the board of directors shall carefully examine and consider the same, and if they shall approve the same an…

24-421. Change of channel of natural watercourse; issuance of bonds; levy of assessments. That if the board of directors shall determine that it is necessary or advisable to alter, change or relocate the channel or any part of the channel of any natural watercourse within the dis…

24-422. Assessment of cost against landowners; appointment of assessors, qualifications. (a) After examination of the report of the engineer, if the board of directors shall determine that any levee ought to be constructed or other work done, including construction of detention d…

24-423. Same; meeting of taxpayers, when; notice; vote. That if it shall appear by the assessors' report to be made as provided in the next preceding section that the amount to be charged against any tract of land for benefits will exceed ten percent upon its actual value as fixe…

24-424. Hearing on assessments; notice; equalization; time for bringing actions. That as soon as practicable after the report of the assessors has been filed, the secretary of the board of directors shall cause a notice to be published once in some newspaper published in the coun…

24-425. Election upon bond issue; notice; canvass of returns. That whenever the board of directors deems it necessary to issue bonds to be paid by general taxation, which issue requires the sanction of the taxpayers, it shall make an entry on its journal so declaring and an order…

24-426. Manner of letting contracts; bond of contractor; tools and machinery. That the board of directors shall not make any contract for any work to be done under the provisions of this act, the payment for which is to be made by the issuing of bonds or the levying of special as…

24-428. Bond elections; costs included. If an election is held to vote upon the question of issuing bonds to be paid by general taxation and if the issuance is authorized by the taxpayers, there shall be included in the amount of bonds issued all costs thereof including legal, en…

24-429. Prevention of overflow of streams. The board of directors shall have charge of all the levees, embankments and other works or improvements constructed to prevent the overflow of any natural watercourse within their respective districts, and, to protect and keep the same i…

24-430. Installment assessments or bonds. Whenever the board of directors of any drainage district shall, under authority vested in it by this act, cause any levee to be constructed or other work done, payment for which is to be made by the levy of special assessments, it may in …

24-433. Levy and collection of assessments to pay bonds. That when improvement bonds are or have been issued under the next preceding sections of this act for improvements the cost of which is to be charged by special assessments against specific property, the board of directors …

24-434. Construction and purposes of act; limitation of actions. This act shall be liberally construed, to encourage the improvement of natural watercourses, to protect lands from damage and injury by overflow, and promote the public health, convenience, and welfare; and the coll…

24-435. Supplemental assessments to correct errors. That if at any time it shall appear to the board of directors that any lands that will be affected by the proposed work have been omitted from the assessment, or if any mistake has occurred in the assessment, it shall have power…

24-436. Relevy of assessments; when. In case any special assessment shall for any reason be set aside as erroneous by any court, such court shall ascertain the amount of benefit which accrued to the property on which the erroneous assessment was made by reason of the work or impr…

24-437. Order requiring railroad to elevate tracks; mandamus. If it shall be determined by the board of directors of any drainage district that it is necessary to construct any levee across the right of way, roadbed or tracks of any railroad or street-railway company or across an…

24-438. Eminent domain proceedings. Whenever it shall be deemed necessary to construct any levee across the right-of-way of any railroad company, and such railroad company shall be entitled to compensation therefor, the board of directors shall have the power to make such crossin…

24-448. Contracts with federal agencies. That the board of directors of any drainage district shall have power to contract with any commissioner, officer, board of officers or other agency of the United States for the purpose of securing the construction, maintenance, or repair, …

24-449. Cooperation of districts; aid from persons or corporations; letting of contracts. That whenever it shall be ascertained and determined that any natural watercourse in one drainage district is accustomed by its overflow to injure lands situated in any other drainage distri…

24-450. Contract with railroad company. That the board of directors of any drainage district shall have power to contract with any railroad company or street-railroad company or companies to construct, maintain and keep in repair the whole or any part of any levee in such distric…