Title 41 — Title 41 — Water

Petition for organization; when filed; contents; service of notice or petitions generally. (a) Whenever a majority of the adult owners of lands within any district of land, who shall represent one-third in area of the lands within said district to be reclaimed or benefited, or wh…

petitions. Petition for organization; amendment; multiple No petition having as many signers as are required by this section shall be declared void, but the court may at any time permit the petition to be amended in form and substance to conform to the facts, if the facts justify…

What lands may be included. Said territory need not be contiguous, provided, that it be so situated that the public health or welfare will be promoted by such drainage of each part thereof, and the benefits of the proposed work in each part will exceed the damages from and costs …

Notice of hearing; service generally; contents. (a) On such petition being filed the court or judge thereof shall make an order fixing a time and place of hearing thereon and ordering notice; thereupon the clerk of said court, for the county in which the proceedings are institute…

Notice of hearing; nonresidents. If any of the owners of land in said district are nonresidents of the county or counties in which the proposed district lies, the petition shall be accompanied by an affidavit giving the names and post-office address of such nonresidents, if such …

Notice of hearing; proof of service. The certificate of the clerk of the court or other public officer, or the affidavit of any other person who knows the facts, affixed to a copy of said notice, shall be sufficient evidence of the posting, serving, mailing or publication thereof…

Notice of hearing; effect of personal service. Personal service of said notice on (or service by leaving at the last usual place of abode of) all owners of lands or easements or interest in lands within said district, shall give the court complete jurisdiction, without posting, p…

Notice of hearing; adjournment of hearings when notice not fully served. If it shall be found, before the hearing on a petition for the organization of a drainage district, that one (1) or more owners of land in said district have not been duly served with notice of hearing on sa…

Notice of hearing; service after adjournment. Said notice shall be served personally or by leaving at the last usual place of abode of said unserved owners, as in W.S. 41-9-104; provided, not less than eight (8) days before said adjourned hearing, or published not less than fourt…

Notice of hearing; defective service generally. Upon the adjourned day the same proceedings, adjournments, trial findings and orders may be had as in case of complete service of notice in the first instance. In case of failure to mail said notice as herein required, the court or …

Hearings; grounds for contesting. On the day fixed for hearing on such petition all parties owning lands, or any interest or easement in land, within said proposed district, or who would be affected thereby, may appear and contest (a) the sufficiency of the petition, (b) the suff…

Hearings; procedure generally. The court shall hear and determine whether or not the petition contains the signatures of a majority of the adult owners of lands within the said proposed district who are of lawful age, and who represent one-third in area of the lands proposed to b…

Hearings; affidavits of petitioners as evidence. The affidavit of any three (3) or more of the signers of said petition stating that they have examined it and are acquainted with the locality of said district and that said petition is signed by a sufficient number of adult owners…

Hearings; dismissal of defective petition. If the court or presiding judge thereof, after hearing any and all competent evidence that may be offered for and against the said petition, shall find that the same has not been signed as herein required, the said petition shall be dism…

petition. Fraudulent conveyances to defeat or establish All deeds made for the purpose of establishing or defeating the prayer of said petition, and not made in good faith and for a valuable consideration, shall be taken and held to be a fraud and the holders thereof shall not be…

District commissioners; number; appointment; preliminary bond; qualifications; petition for election; election decree; election procedures; modification of decree. If it shall appear that the petition has so been signed, the court or judge shall so find, and order any necessary a…

quorum. District commissioners; oath; bond generally; Before entering upon their duties such commissioners shall take and subscribe an oath to support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Wyoming, to faithfully and impartially discharge their…

District commissioners; term. The commissioners first appointed shall hold their office until the first Tuesday in the second succeeding July following the date of the order organizing such district and until their respective successors are qualified. All commissioners appointed …

District commissioners; new appointments. Appointments to fill expired terms in the office of drainage commissioner shall be made by the presiding judge of the district court of the county having jurisdiction of the drainage district at the courthouse therein on the first Tuesday…

District commissioners; vacancies. Vacancies in the board may be filled by such judge at any time, the commissioners appointed to hold for the residue of the unexpired term. The removal of any commissioner from the county or counties in which lands of such district are situated s…

District commissioners; financial records, minutes of meetings to be kept. 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, and shall take vouchers for such payments and shall keep …

District commissioners; filing of annual financial report. On the first Tuesday of July each year they 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…

expenses. District commissioners; compensation and They shall receive for their services such compensation as the court or presiding judge thereof may determine. They shall also receive their actual reasonable expenses.

District commissioners; under control and direction of court; failure to obey. They shall at all times be under the control and direction of the court or presiding judge, and shall obey its or his directions; for failure so to do they shall forfeit their compensation and be dealt…

Suit on bond of commissioners. Suit may also be brought upon their bonds, in the name of the clerk of the court, and the amount recovered shall be applied to the construction of the work or to the party injured, as justice may require.

Organization of commission; examination of lands; contents of preliminary report. (a) Within ten (10) days after said commissioners shall be appointed and qualified they shall meet and organize by electing one (1) of their number secretary, and as soon as may be thereafter, they …

Change of plan proposed in petition. If said proposed work as in the petition described, is not best suited to carry out the purposes of the petition the commissioners shall consider and base their report upon the one (1) best suited to carry out those purposes and propose to the…

Hearings on report; notice generally. 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 thirty (30) days from t…

lands. Hearings on report; notice to owners of added 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.

Hearings on report; adjournment. 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.

Hearings on report; remonstrances. 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 five (5) days before the day fixed for hearing, and shall set forth t…

Hearings on report; trial; when petition for organization dismissed. All issues arising upon said preliminary report shall be tried by the court without a jury. If the court shall find in favor of the remonstrance, or if said report be that the proposed work will not promote the …

Hearings on report; when report confirmed. But if the preliminary report be that the benefits of said proposed work (or work by the commissioners proposed) will exceed the damages and the cost of construction and that the public health will be promoted thereby, or that the public…

Hearings on report; findings conclusive; appeal. Such findings and order shall be final and conclusive unless appealed from to the supreme court within thirty (30) days after filing thereof.

of report. Creation of corporate entity upon confirmation 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 …

Corporate authorities. The commissioners appointed as aforesaid and their successors in office shall, from the entry of such order of confirmation, constitute the corporate authority of said drainage district, and shall exercise the functions conferred on them by law, and do all …

All proceedings deemed necessary. 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.

repairs. Authority of commissioners to enter lands for 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…

Power of eminent domain. Any drainage district created and existing under W.S. 41-9-101 through 41-9-278 may, whenever it shall require a way of necessity outside its boundaries for any of its work or works theretofore authorized by the court, proceed to procure the same by the e…

commissioners. Presumption of validity of acts of 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 d…

Commissioners under supervision of court; removal; new bonds. The court shall at all times have supervision of said commissioners, and may at any time require them to make a report on any matter or matters connected with their duties as commissioners, and after due hearing may re…

Waiver of notice. In case of failure to serve any notice of any proceeding or hearing in this chapter provided for, upon any person or corporation, such person or corporation, may appear in open court and waive such defect of service, or may waive it by filing in court or deliver…

Liberal construction. The provisions of this act shall be liberally construed to promote the public health and welfare by reclaiming wet or overflowed lands, building embankments or levees and the preservation of any system of drainage heretofore constructed according to law. Div…

Levels, surveys and maps to be made; report to court required. As soon as may be after the confirmation of the said 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…

Contents; starting points, routes and termini. The commissioners shall report whether the starting point, routes and termini of the proposed work and the proposed location thereof, as in the petition contained, are in all respects proper and feasible, and, if not, shall report su…

Contents; change of boundaries generally. If it be found necessary to change the boundaries of said proposed district, as by them previously fixed, they shall report said proposed change, and, if possible, shall report the names, residence and post-office addresses of the owner o…

Contents; assessment of damages. The commissioners shall report what lands within the district will be injured by the proposed work, if any, and they shall therein award to each tract, lot, easement or interest by whomsoever held, the amount of damages which they shall determine …

Contents; assessment of benefits. The commissioners shall report what lands within the district will be benefited by the proposed work and they shall assess against each tract, lot and easement by whomever held the amount of benefits which they determine will be caused to the sam…

Contents; cost of construction. The commissioners shall also determine and report to the court the total amount, as near as they can determine, what said proposed work will cost, which cost shall include all incidental expenses, the reasonable cost of organizing said district, th…

Contents; assessments upon particular tracts, lots and corporations. If the cost of construction of any particular part of the work so proposed to be done should be assessed upon any particular tract or tracts, lot or lots of land, or upon any corporation or corporations, the com…