Title 85, Title 85

The secretary of the board of commissioners shall enter the result of the election in the minutes of the board and file with the clerk of the district court creating the district a statement showing the names of the persons elected as commissioners, the names of the commissioners…

(1) At all such elections, except as herein otherwise expressly provided, the following persons holding title or evidence of title to lands within the district shall be entitled to vote: (a) all of the persons having the qualifications of electors under the constitution and gener…

A person eligible to vote in the district may file a declaration of candidacy for the office of commissioner within the time period specified in 13-1-502. If a write-in candidate has filed pursuant to 13-1-502, the elector may write on the ballots the name or names of the persons…

If a vacancy occurs on the board of commissioners, the remaining members of the board shall elect some qualified elector to fill the vacancy, and the person elected holds office for the unexpired term and until a successor is elected and qualified. The person appointed must be ap…

(1) Before entering upon their duties, the commissioners shall: (a) take and subscribe an oath to support The Constitution of the United States and The Constitution of the State of Montana, to faithfully and impartially discharge their duties as commissioners, and to render a tru…

The commissioners shall keep an accurate record of all moneys collected on account of the work under their charge and of all payments made by them; shall take vouchers for such payments; and shall keep full, accurate, and true minutes of all their proceedings.

The county treasurer of the county in which the court having jurisdiction of the district is located is the custodian of all funds belonging to the district, and the treasurer shall pay out the funds upon warrants drawn by the board of commissioners of the district, except that t…

On the first Tuesday of July of each year the commissioners shall file in the office of the clerk of the court having jurisdiction in the matter an itemized statement of all their receipts and disbursements and leave said report in such office for examination by parties intereste…

(1) The commissioners must receive for their services compensation that the court or presiding judge may determine. They must also receive their actual reasonable expenses. They are at all times under the control or direction of the court or presiding judge and shall obey the cou…

Commissioners of drainage districts are hereby declared to be public officers. The presumption shall be in favor of the regularity and validity of all their official acts. Whenever any report of the commissioners of any drainage district or any part of any such report is conteste…

(1) Within 10 days after the commissioners are appointed and qualified, they shall meet and organize by electing one member as president and by electing a secretary, who may or may not be a member of the board. (2) The commissioners shall appoint one or more attorneys to assist i…

If said proposed work, as described in the petition, is not best suited to carry out the purposes of the petition, the commissioners shall consider and base their report upon the one best suited to carry out those purposes and propose to the court the one considered by them.

Upon the filing of the preliminary report the court or the presiding judge thereof shall by order fix a time and place when and where the same shall be heard at some general or special term of said court, not less than 30 days from the filing of said report. Notice of the time an…

Upon the day fixed for hearing upon said report, said court may adjourn said hearing for good cause or may proceed to hear, try, and determine all issues arising upon said report.

Any interested party may appear and remonstrate against said report or any material part thereof. All remonstrances shall be in writing, be verified on oath, be filed at least 5 days before the day fixed for hearing, and shall set forth the facts upon which they are based.

When lands are added to the district, the owners thereof shall be served with said notice as provided for serving of notice of hearing on the petition.

(1) All issues arising upon said preliminary report shall be tried by the court without a jury. (2) If the court shall find in favor of the remonstrance or if said report be that the proposed work will not promote the public health and will not promote the public welfare or that …

(1) Upon entering of such order of confirmation of said preliminary report of record, such drainage district shall be and is thereby declared to be organized as a drainage district, by the name mentioned in said petition or such other name as the court shall fix, with the boundar…

All proceedings herein required, prior to the entry of such order of confirmation of record, shall be deemed to be and are hereby declared to be necessary to the formation of said body corporate.

(1) As soon as may be after the confirmation of the preliminary report or within such time as the court may direct, said commissioners shall proceed to have all necessary levels taken and surveys made and shall lay out said proposed work; make a map thereof and plans, profiles, a…

(1) In apportioning the costs and expenses mentioned in 85-8-341(1)(d), the following classes of property, persons, corporations, and municipalities shall be assessed: (a) all lands which are swampy, bogged, or waterlogged and will be relieved and improved by virtue of the constr…

The commissioners shall not be confined to the points of commencement, routes, or termini of the drains or ditches or the number, extent, or size of the same or the location, plan, or extent of any levee, ditch, or other work as proposed by the petitioners but shall locate, desig…

If the commissioners find that the proposed district, as described in the filed petition, will not embrace all of the lands, including improvements, that will be benefited by the proposed work or that it will include lands that will not be benefited and are not necessary to be in…

(1) Upon the filing of the report under 85-8-341, the court shall make an order fixing the time and place when and where all interested persons may appear and protest against the confirmation of the petition. The clerk of court shall give notice to all interested parties by publi…

If the court finds that the report requires modification, the same may, by order of the court, be referred back to the commissioners, who may be required to modify it in any respect.

If there be no remonstrance or if the finding be in favor of the validity of the proceedings or after the report shall have been modified to conform to the findings, the court shall confirm the report. The order of confirmation shall be final and conclusive, the proposed work sha…

Said order of confirmation may, at the same or at any subsequent term of said court, be revised, modified, or changed, in whole or in part, on petition of the commissioners, after such notice to parties adversely interested as the court may require.

At any time prior to making the order confirming said report or thereafter, the court may permit the commissioners to present and file a supplemental report or amend their report as to any matter which, pursuant to the provisions hereof, was or might have been included in the ori…

(1) In case the petition or proceedings are dismissed as provided in 85-8-327, a judgment shall be entered for the costs, expenses, and liabilities incurred in said proceedings against the petitioners and in favor of the commissioners, but for the benefit of those who have render…

Before any such judgment is entered, said commissioners shall file with the clerk of the district court in which said proceedings were instituted an itemized statement of such costs and expenses, duly verified, upon which an order shall issue requiring said petitioners or landown…

All petitioners shall, among themselves, contribute to the payment of said judgment in proportion to the number of acres of land they have within the boundaries of the proposed district at the time of filing of said petition.

In all cases when the work to be done at any one time under the direction of the commissioners will, in their opinion, cost more than $15,000, the work must be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. The commissioners shall advertise for sealed bids, by notice published in a ne…

The commissioners may not, during their term of office, be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract for the construction of any drain, ditch, levee, or other work in the drainage district, in the sale of materials for the drainage district, or in the wages of or suppli…

The commissioners, their agents, servants, and employees shall have the right to go upon all lands along any drain, ditch, levee, or embankment in their district to inspect, deepen, widen, and repair the same, whenever necessary, doing no unnecessary damage, and shall not be liab…

(1) The damages allowed to the owners of lands must be paid or tendered before the commissioners are authorized to enter upon the lands (for damage to which the award is made) for the construction of any proposed drains, ditches, or levees. If the owner is unknown, if there is a …

When practicable, said drains provided for herein shall be laid out and constructed on the side of public highways or along natural watercourses.

(1) Said commissioners shall have the right to lay out and construct all necessary drains, ditches, and levees across any railway right-of-way or yards in their district. Any railway company whose right-of-way or yards cross the line of any proposed drain, ditch, or levee shall o…

Commissioners having charge of any completed drain, ditch, levee, or other work constructed under any drainage law of the state of Montana, whether now in force or repealed, shall be authorized, in the case of an emergency, to make such repairs as may be necessary for the preserv…

(1) The commissioners shall, on or before the first Tuesday of March of each year, file with the clerk of court having jurisdiction a report in which they shall specify in detail: (a) the emergency repairs which they have made during the preceding year; (b) the labor and repairs …

(1) Whenever, in the judgment of the commissioners of any drain district or drainage district, it is necessary or will be beneficial to such district to make any alteration and/or any addition to the drainage system of such district, they shall file a petition with the clerk of t…

Upon the filing of a petition under 85-8-401, a judge of the district court shall set the petition for hearing and direct the clerk of court to give notice of the hearing. The notice must contain a concise statement of the proposed alteration or addition and the estimated cost of…

(1) A landowner or corporation may, at any time prior to 5 days before the date fixed for the hearing under 85-8-402, file objections to the petition. A copy of the objections must be delivered to the attorney for the commissioners, if they have an attorney of record, or to the p…

A party interested in the hearing under 85-8-402 who is aggrieved by the order of the court may appeal from the order to the supreme court of Montana within 30 days after the entry of the order. If an appeal is not taken within the time limit, the order of the court made upon the…

Any lands within a drainage district, which district is not bonded or indebted and which lands have not been and will not in the future be benefited by the drainage system of the district and which lands do not contribute water to seep other lands in the district, may be excluded…

An action for the exclusion of lands from any such drainage district may be brought in the district court of the county wherein said lands are situated by the owner or owners in fee of said lands, who shall be designated as the plaintiff or plaintiffs, and in said action the memb…

(1) Said action shall be commenced by filing in the office of the clerk of the district court a complaint which must contain: (a) the title of the action, the name of the court and the county in which the action is brought, and the names of the parties to the action; (b) a statem…