85-7-1901. Board plan for acquisition and construction. (1) For the purpose of purchasing or constructing the necessary irrigation canals or works or acquiring the necessary property and rights therefor and otherwise carrying out the provisions of this chapter, the board of commissioners of any irrigation district must, as soon as practicable after such district has been organized, formulate a general plan for such purchase, construction, and acquisition of such property. The board shall cause such surveys, examinations, and plans to be made as shall demonstrate the practicability of such plans, as well as of procuring water from other and different sources, the amount of land that can be irrigated thereunder, and furnish the proper basis for an estimate of the cost of carrying out such plan and the value of any canal, works, property, or system of irrigation proposed to be purchased.
     (2) All such surveys, examinations, maps, plans, and estimates shall be made by or under the direction and supervision of an irrigation engineer of well-known standing and competency, and all such necessary surveys, examinations, maps, plans, and estimates must be certified to by him. When all such are completed, he shall submit them with all proper field notes to and file them with the board of commissioners, accompanied by his report and recommendation thereon. This report shall include a discussion of said plans submitted by him to said board, of the question of water supply, of the sufficiency of the works proposed to accomplish the desired results, of the practicability of the proposed system from an engineering standpoint, of the probability of being acquired or constructed within the estimate of the cost stated, and such general discussion and recommendation in regard to the engineering and financial features of the whole matter as in the judgment of such engineer shall be desirable for the information of the people of the district. Such report shall be accompanied by a map, when such is necessary for a proper explanation or understanding of the same.
     (3) Upon receiving such report, said board of commissioners shall proceed to determine the amount of money necessary to be raised for the purchase or construction of said proposed property, canals, or irrigation works and system and within 10 days after arriving at such determination shall cause the secretary of said board to notify all persons or corporations holding title or evidence of title to lands within said district (ascertained as provided in 85-7-101 and 85-7-102) of the filing of said report and their determination thereon. Said notices shall be given through the United States mail by letter addressed to such person or corporation at the last known post-office address of each person or corporation aforesaid. A certificate of the secretary of the board as to the fact of mailing said notice, affixed to a copy of said notice and recorded in the record book of said board of commissioners, shall be sufficient and conclusive evidence of such fact.

     History: En. Sec. 9, Ch. 146, L. 1909; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 145, L. 1915; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 153, L. 1917; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 116, L. 1919; re-en. Sec. 7174, R.C.M. 1921; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 157, L. 1923; re-en. Sec. 7174, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 111, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 307, L. 1975; R.C.M. 1947, 89-1301(12).