43-401. PLAN OF CONSTRUCTION — ISSUANCE OF BONDS — INDEBTEDNESS — ELECTION. As soon as practicable after the organization of any such district the board of directors shall, by a resolution entered on its records, formulate a general plan of its proposed operations, in which it shall state what constructed works or other property it proposes to purchase and the cost of purchasing the same; and further what construction work it proposes to do and how it proposes to raise the funds for carrying out said plan. For the purpose of ascertaining the cost of any such construction work, said board shall cause such surveys, examinations and plans to be made as shall demonstrate the practicability of such plan, and furnish the proper basis for an estimate of the cost of carrying out the same. All such surveys, examinations, maps, plans and estimates, shall be made under the direction of a competent irrigation engineer and certified by him. Said board shall then submit a copy of the same to the department of water resources, and within ninety (90) days thereafter the department shall file a report upon the same with said board, which report shall contain such matters as, in the judgment of the department may be desirable.

Upon receiving said report said board of directors shall proceed to determine the amount of money necessary to be raised, and shall immediately thereafter call a special election, at which shall be submitted to the electors of said district possessing the qualifications hereinafter prescribed the question whether or not the bonds of said district, or the right to enter into an obligation with the United States in the manner hereinafter in this title provided, or whether a contractual arrangement with a money-lending institution in the amount as determined, shall be authorized.

Notice of such election must be given by posting notices in three (3) public places in each election precinct in said district at least four (4) weeks before the date of said election, and by publication of the same once a week for four (4) consecutive weeks in a newspaper having general circulation within the district. Notice given by publication in a weekly newspaper shall be published in four (4) consecutive issues thereof, or if in a daily newspaper, at least six (6) days shall elapse between the first and last dates of publication, and in either case, publication shall be completed not less than fifteen (15) days before the election. Such notice must specify the time of holding the election, the qualifications of voters, the amount of bonds proposed to be issued, and, in case such maps and estimates have been made, it shall further state that copies thereof, and in all cases it shall state that said report of the department of water resources, are on file and open to public inspection by the people of the district, at the office of said board and at the office of the department of water resources.

No person who is not a resident holder of title or evidence of title to lands located and subject to assessment within such district, or the wife or husband of such holder of title or evidence of title, shall be entitled to vote at such election. Otherwise said election must be held and the results thereof determined and declared in all respects as nearly as practicable in conformity with the provisions of this title governing the election of directors: provided, that no informalities in conducting such an election shall invalidate the same if the election shall have been otherwise fairly conducted. At such election the ballots shall contain the words "bonds–yes" or "bonds–no," or other words equivalent thereto. If two-thirds (2/3) of the votes cast are "bonds–yes" the board of directors shall cause bonds in said amount to be issued; if more than one-third (1/3) of the votes cast at any bond election are "bonds–no" the result of such election shall be so declared and entered of record.

And whenever thereafter said board in its judgment deems it for the best interest of the district that the question of the issuance of bonds in said amount, or any other amount, shall be submitted to the electors, it shall so declare of record in its minutes, and may thereupon submit such questions to said electors in the same manner and with like effect as at such previous election.

History:

[(43-401) 1903, p. 150, sec. 15; am. 1907, p. 484, sec. 1, subd. 15; reen. R.C., sec. 2396; am. 1915, ch. 143, sec. 5, p. 304; compiled and reen. C.L., sec. 2396; C.S., sec. 4359; am. 1929, ch. 177, sec. 1, p. 311; I.C.A., sec. 42-401; am. 1959, ch. 223, sec. 1, p. 488; am. 1976, ch. 251, sec. 1, p. 857; am. 2001, ch. 183, sec. 19, p. 628; am. 2006, ch. 124, sec. 2, p. 358; am. 2014, ch. 71, sec. 4, p. 179.]