Where the commissioners of any district shall find that any of the provisions of land-use regulations prescribed in an ordinance adopted in accordance with the provisions of Section 69-27-37 are not being observed on particular lands, and that such violations are the proximate cause of damage to any other landowner within the district, then the commissioners may present to the chancery court of the county in which the lands of the defendant may lie a petition, duly verified, setting forth the adoption of the ordinance prescribing land-use regulations, the failure of the defendant landowner or operator or both to observe such regulations, and to perform particular work, operations or avoidance as required thereby and that such nonobservance tends to increase erosion on such lands and is interfering with the prevention or control of erosion on other lands within the district and is the proximate cause of damage to other landowners within the district, and praying the court to require the defendant to perform the work, operations, or avoidances within a reasonable time and to order that if the defendant shall fail so to perform the commissioners may go on the land, perform the work or other operations or otherwise bring the condition of such lands into conformity with the requirements of such regulations and recover the costs and expenses thereof from the defendant. Upon the filing of such petition, process shall issue against the defendant returnable in the manner provided by law, and said cause shall be tried in the manner provided by law for the trial of civil actions. The defendant may demand a trial by jury and in such event, the jurors shall have the qualifications of jurors in eminent domain proceedings in the chancery court. If the decree of the court be against the defendant, the court may require the defendant to perform the work, operations, or avoidances, and may provide that upon the failure of the defendant to initiate such performance within the time specified in the order of the court, and to prosecute the same to completion with reasonable diligence, the commissioners may enter upon the lands involved and perform the work or operations or otherwise bring the condition of such lands into conformity with the requirements of the regulations and may recover the costs and expenses thereof, from the defendant. In no case, however, shall the commissioners enter upon such lands for such purpose until the court shall have found that the landowner or person in possession has not prosecuted such work as was ordered by the court with reasonable diligence. In all cases where the person in possession of lands who shall fail to perform such work, operations, or avoidances shall not be the owner, the owner of such lands shall be joined as party defendant.

The court shall retain jurisdiction of the case until after the work has been completed. Upon completion of such work pursuant to such order of the court, the commissioners may file a petition with the court, a copy of which shall be served upon the defendant in the case, in the manner provided by law for service of process, stating the costs and expenses sustained by them in the performance of the work and praying judgment therefor. The court shall have jurisdiction to enter, upon a hearing to be held not sooner than five days after service of such process, its decree for the amount of such costs and expenses together with the costs of suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee to be fixed by the court. Such decree shall when entered upon the lis pendens docket of said court, constitute a lien on the lands of the defendant.