Title 69, Waters, Waterways, Drains And Levees

If any claims for damages have been filed, the court shall not establish the district until viewers have been appointed and have reported, and the court shall proceed to appoint three (3) viewers to assess such damages, who shall be disinterested freeholders of the county, and no…

The viewers appointed to assess damages, after being duly sworn to act impartially and faithfully to the best of their ability, shall proceed to view the premises and determine and fix the amount of damages to which each claimant is entitled, and file reports in writing with the …

The report of the viewers shall be filed as soon as practicable. If any one of them fails or refuses to act, for any reason, or does not proceed to act with promptness, the court may appoint another as a viewer in that viewer's place.

In estimating the damages, the viewers shall give the value of the land proposed to be taken without deduction, but incidental benefits that may result to the owner by reason of the proposed improvement may be taken into consideration in estimating the incidental damages.

After the filing of the report of the viewers, the court shall consider the amount of damages awarded in deciding whether such levee or drainage district should be established, and if, in its judgment, the probable cost of construction is not a greater burden than should be prope…

After the amount of damages due any claimant or claimants has been finally ascertained and fixed by the county court, the court shall require the amount of all such damages to be paid, in the first instance, by the parties benefited by the levee or drainage district, or be secure…

After damages have been paid, or secured as provided in § 69-5-207, the county court shall enter a proper order of condemnation showing all such lands are appropriated and belong to such drainage or levee district for all its necessary purposes.

In establishing any such district, all necessary lands may be appropriated as provided in this chapter, and a right-of-way as much as two hundred feet (200′) wide may be so appropriated, if deemed necessary, for the situs and location of any ditch or drain, or for the location of…

When the district, or other improvement provided for, has been located and established as provided for in part 1 of this chapter, the county court shall appoint three (3) or five (5) commissioners as may be determined by the county court, one (1) of whom shall be a competent civi…

The commissioners shall, as soon as practicable after their appointment, and after being duly sworn to perform their duty faithfully and impartially to the best of their ability, inspect and classify all the lands benefited by the location and construction of such drainage or lev…

The viewers and commissioners provided for by parts 1-3 of this chapter shall be paid at the rate of three dollars ($3.00) per day while engaged in the work, and, in addition, all actual expenses, including board paid for, for which itemized accounts shall be reported and sworn t…

The commissioners shall make an equitable apportionment and assessment of the costs, expenses, cost of construction, fees, and damages assessed for the construction of any such improvement, and make a report in writing of the apportionment and assessment to the county court.

In making the apportionment and assessment provided for in § 69-5-304, the lands receiving the greatest benefit shall be marked on scale of one hundred (100), and those benefited in a lesser degree shall be marked with such percentage of one hundred (100) as the benefit received …

In making the classification provided for in § 69-5-305, the commissioners are authorized to divide the land of one (1) owner lying in one (1) body into more than one (1) tract, and classify each subdivision of the tract, if they are of opinion that portions of the entire tract w…

The commissioners shall specify in their report each tract of land by reasonable description and the ownership of the tract as it appears on the tax books of the county or as it has been previously adjudged in the proceeding. Any objection to such assessment and apportionment sha…

If such district lies in more than one (1) county, publication need only be made in one (1) weekly newspaper published in each of the counties having land embraced within the district. If there are daily newspapers published in any county, but no weekly newspaper, it shall be suf…

When the day set for hearing has arrived, and the hearing is not continued by the court for good reason, as it may be, the county court shall proceed to hear and determine all objections made and filed to the report, and may increase, diminish, annul, or affirm the apportionment …

If the first assessment made by the court for the original cost of any improvement as provided is insufficient, the court may make an additional assessment in the same ratio as the first.

If, for any reason, the court annuls in toto or sets aside such report of the commissioners, it shall order them to make a new report, or shall remove them and appoint new commissioners to act as in the first instance, if desired by the parties concerned.

The assessments shall be levied upon the lands of the owners so benefited in the ratio mentioned in § 69-5-305, and shall be collected in the same manner as taxes for county purposes, except as specially provided in this chapter, and the funds so collected shall be kept as a sepa…

Whenever any railroad or public highway will be beneficially affected by the construction of any improvement or improvements in such district, it shall be the duty of the commissioners appointed to classify and assess benefits to determine and return in their report the amount of…

(a) Whenever any levee or drainage district is or has been organized under appropriate statutes of this state providing for the levee or drainage district, which levee or drainage district embraces within its boundaries any highway or highways that are a part of the state highway…

Whenever a district has been established or is being established and a mistake has been made as to the number of acres assessed to the owner of any tract of land embraced in the district, the decree in the cause fixing or adjudging the number of acres shall not be final until the…

Upon the filing of such petition, the county clerk shall give at least ten (10) days' written notice to all the directors of the district of the filing of the petition and at any time after twenty (20) days from the service of such notice on the directors the matter may be heard …

From a decree correcting a mistake in the number of acres, either side may appeal upon the same terms and conditions and to the same courts as provided for appeal from the decree on commissioners' reports fixing the acres assessed to each owner.

No such petition shall be filed or heard after the decree has been rendered upon the directors' report upon assessment roll and the number of acres assessed to each owner, and the boundaries of land so assessed to the owner shall be final after the rendering of the decree upon th…

(a) When a mistake has been made by which the lands belonging to one person have been assessed to or in the name of another person or as embraced within the boundaries set out for a tract assessed to another person, the original decree fixing such assessment shall not be final, a…

From a decree of the county court correcting a mistake in the owner's identity, any aggrieved party may appeal to the circuit court of the county, upon giving bonds for costs within ten (10) days after the decree in such amount as the county court may fix, and the cause shall be …

A certified copy of the decree in a case of a mistake in the owner's identity shall be certified by the clerk of the court to the clerk of the county having possession of the “drainage record” book of the district, and the clerk shall copy the decree on the drainage record book a…

Any party aggrieved may appeal from the decision of the court in establishing, or refusing to establish, the improvement district, or its decision in the allowance of damages, such appeal being to the circuit court, and any party so desiring to appeal shall have the right to have…

Any person opposing the creation of such district who appeals from the judgment of the county court establishing the district shall execute bond, with good security, in the penalty of four percent (4%) of the estimated cost of the improvement, as shown by the engineer's report, a…

If an order has been entered by the county court creating or establishing a district, and giving it a name or designation, the appeal bonds, when the district or petitioners for the bonds are appellants, may be made by the district in such name, to be signed by some one (1) of th…

When an appeal is taken and prosecuted from the judgment of the county court awarding damages, such appeal shall not prevent the work of the improvement or district being proceeded with, and the appropriation and condemnation of the lands, as provided by §§ 69-5-207 — 69-5-209, i…

The circuit court shall hear any such appeal de novo; and if the appeal is from the amount of damages allowed by the county court, the amount ascertained and fixed by the circuit court shall be entered of record, but no judgment shall be entered for that amount. The amount thus a…

If the appeal is from the action of the county court in establishing, or refusing to establish, the drainage or levee district, the circuit court shall enter such order as it deems just and proper in the premises, and the clerk of that court shall certify the order to the county …

In the circuit court, in such cases, the cases shall be docketed with the appellant or appellants as plaintiffs and the adversary parties as defendants, and where there are several appellants on questions of damages, the circuit court may consolidate the causes and try them toget…

On appeals under this part, it shall rest in the discretion of the circuit court how the costs shall be adjudged and distributed among the litigants.

The trial in the circuit court shall be with or without a jury, as the court may deem the right of the parties to be under the particular issues to be tried, the right to a jury being accorded wherever the parties have such right under the law of the land.

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), after a district has been located and established as provided, the county legislative body shall appoint two (2) directors, or in its discretion, four (4) directors of the district, who shall be owners of lands, or interested in lands, in…

If there is a vacancy in the office of the director appointed as mentioned in § 69-5-601, because of death, resignation, or other reason, the county legislative body shall appoint another director of like qualifications to fill such vacancy until the end of the two-year term, and…

At the end of each two-year term, the office of the appointed directors shall be again filled by appointment by the county legislative body from among those owning or interested in lands in such district.

The county mayor shall be chair of the board of directors, and the board shall elect one (1) of the other directors secretary and treasurer of the board, who, as treasurer, shall give bond in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) to faithfully account for all money co…

When there is an even number of directors of such district and there is a tie vote on any matter coming before the board of directors, then the chair has the right to give the deciding vote.

Members of the board of directors shall receive as compensation for their services, in attending to their duties as directors, fifty cents (50¢) per hour for the time actually consumed in attending to such duties, but not to exceed twenty-five (25) hours in any one (1) month, and…

No contracts for improvements to be done in a drainage or levee district shall be made until after the commissioners have made their inspection, classification, and apportionment as directed in §§ 69-5-301 — 69-5-312, nor until the question of classification and apportionment and…

Before entering into any contract for improvements, the board of directors of the improvement district shall cause notice to be given once a week for four (4) consecutive weeks in some newspaper published in the county where the improvement is located, and such additional publica…