CHAPTER 76
HOUSE BILL No. 2246
An Act concerning certain drainage districts; relating to the
powers and duties of the gov-
erning bodies thereof; amending K.S.A. 24-611 and 24-639 and
repealing the existing
sections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 24-611 is hereby
amended to read as follows: 24-
611. If, upon the filing of any report of said engineer,
together with his
or her estimates as herebefore provided, it shall appear
that lands, other
than those incorporated by the court in said district will
be benefited (a)
Subject to the provisions of K.S.A. 19-270, and amendments
thereto, and
if the board of supervisors determines that land located outside
the district
benefits by the drainage improvements of
said the district it shall be
the
duty of the chairman of said board of supervisors to file a
petition in the
district court of the county where said district is
originally organized,
containing a description of said lands, the name or names
of the owners
as they appear on the tax rolls of the county in which the
lands are situated
and their place or places of residence, alleging that said
lands will be
benefited by the improvements and ought in justice bear its
proportion
of the expense and cost of such improvement, and that said
land was not
incorporated within the limits of said drainage district as
originally estab-
lished by said court, and if the names of the owners of any
such tract or
tracts of land are unknown this fact should be stated, and
praying that
such tract or tracts of land may be incorporated, and made
a part of said
district.
Upon the filing of any such petition
duly verified as herein provided
the clerk of the district court of said county shall issue
summons or notice
to the parties interested as provided by K.S.A. 24-602 with
reference to
the original petition for the establishment of said
district, and the same
proceedings shall be had upon said petition and in said
court as upon the
original petition for the establishment of said district
and the same pro-
visions of law shall apply thereto insofar as the same are
applicable. Upon
the return day of said notice or summons or any other time
to which said
court shall adjourn said cause the court shall have
jurisdiction to try and
determine said matter at chambers and to make all necessary
orders,
judgments and decrees. The owners of said land may by
writing duly
verified, waive the issuance and service of all notice or
process and con-
sent that the court may at once upon the filing of said
petition and waiver
enter the necessary decree.
Upon filing said petition in said
court it shall be the duty of the clerk
to docket said cause, as a proceeding in and as a part of
the original cause
for the establishment of said district. After the entering
of the decree of
the court as aforesaid the land of all the parties so
brought into said district
shall be subject to the same provisions of law as would
have applied to
them had they been incorporated in the original petition
and decree en-
tered thereon. No land shall be included in said drainage
district or sub-
ject to taxation for said drainage except wet, submerged
and swamp land
or lands within a district subject to
overflow., the board shall present a
petition to the board of county commissioners of the county in
which the
greater portion of the territory of the original drainage
district is located
asking for the extension of the territorial limits of the
district to include
such land. The board of county commissioners shall investigate
such pe-
tition and determine whether such land should be included within
the
district.
(b) The petition submitted pursuant to
subsection (a) shall:
(1) Describe the land proposed to be
included within the drainage
district by sections or subdivisions of sections, according to
the govern-
ment survey or by metes and bounds;
(2) state that the land and property
thereon are subject to injury and
damage from the overflow of some natural or manmade
watercourse,
naming or describing it;
(3) state that improvement of the
channel of such watercourse, the
construction and maintenance of levees, drains, ditches, dikes,
jetties, rip-
rap or other works are necessary to prevent such
overflow;
(4) state that such improvement or
works will be conducive to the
public health, convenience or welfare; and
(5) contain a prayer that the land
described in the petition be included
within such drainage district. If any land requested to be
included in the
original drainage district is located within the corporate
limits of any city,
it shall be sufficient to describe such land by appropriate
number as lots
or blocks or parts of lots or blocks.
Whenever a petition is presented to the
board of county commissioners
pursuant to this section, the board of county commissioners
shall fix a
time for the hearing of such petition. Notice of such hearing
shall be
published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in
the county
in which the land described in the petition is located at least
10 days
before the date fixed for the hearing.
(c) Following such hearing, if the
board finds the petition is in con-
formity to the requirements of this section and that the
allegations thereof
are true, the board shall make a finding and decision to that
effect, and
shall declare the land described in the petition to be annexed
to and in-
cluded within the original drainage district. No territory
within any city
located in a county having an assessed tangible valuation of
more than
$150,000,000 shall be included within any drainage district
without the
approval of the governing body of such city.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 24-639 is hereby
amended to read as follows: 24-639.
Every (a) A district organized under the
provisions of this act K.S.A. 24-
601 et seq., and amendments thereto, shall be a body
politic and corporate,
and shall be known by the corporate name of
``drainage district number
________ of ________ county,'' and shall have power and
authority
to take and hold real and personal property necessary for
its use, to make
contracts, to sue and to be sued, have and use a corporate
seal, and
exercise any and all other powers, as a corporation
necessary to carry out
the purposes of this act.
(b) The board of supervisors of the
drainage district shall have the
power to:
(1) Adopt a seal;
(2) enter into contracts;
(3) hold real and personal
property;
(4) sue and be sued;
(5) determine and fix the district
boundaries;
(6) remove all obstructions from the
channel of the watercourse;
(7) commence and maintain suits
against any and all persons or cor-
porations unlawfully maintaining dams or other obstructions in
the chan-
nel of the watercourse to compel the removal of the
same;
(8) exercise the power of eminent
domain as to all lands necessary to
the construction of cutoffs, spillways and auxiliary channels in
accordance
with K.S.A. 26-501 through 26-516, and amendments
thereto;
(9) require that all bridges across
the watercourses shall be of suffi-
cient length or that they shall be provided with sufficient
trestle work to
permit the unobstructed flow of the waters at flood
time;
(10) construct cutoffs, spillways and
auxiliary channels across rail-
roads and highways, to compel the adequate bridging of the same
and to
compel the raising of the grades of the railroads and
highways;
(11) levy an annual tax not to exceed
five mills on the assessed value
of all tangible taxable property located within the district to
constitute a
general fund to meet the incidental expenses of the district.
The board
shall not levy a tax pursuant to this subsection for more than
four years
unless the board adopts a resolution declaring it necessary to
continue
such levy. Such resolution shall be published at least once each
week for
three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation
within the
district. If within 30 days after the last publication of such
resolution, a
petition protesting such levy, signed by qualified electors of
the district
equal in number to not less than 10% of the electors voting at
the last
election for the board of supervisors, is filed with the county
clerk of the
county in which the greatest portion of such district is
located, no levy
shall be made unless the question of continuing such levy is
submitted to
and approved by a majority of the electors of the district
voting at an
election called and held thereon. If no petition protesting the
levy is filed
within the prescribed time, the drainage district may continue
to levy
such tax for four more years;
(12) issue bonds and provide for the
payment of the same; and
(13) perform any other acts not
inconsistent with the provisions of
K.S.A. 24-601 et seq., and amendments
thereto.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be
construed as exempting the drain-
age district from the requirements of K.S.A. 24-126 and
82a-301 et seq.,
and amendments thereto.
New Sec. 3. (a) The board of
supervisors and the owners of land
which is located outside a drainage district organized pursuant to
K.S.A.
24-601 et seq., and amendments thereto, may enter agreements
allowing
water from such land to drain into the drainage system of the
district. All
moneys received under such agreements shall be used for drainage
dis-
trict purposes.
(b) If the owner of any land which is
located outside of any drainage
district constructs any ditch or drain so that the water on such
land will
be drained into the drainage system of any drainage district or
into any
natural depression, draw or watercourse, or any artificial ditch,
tile, or
drain that drains into such drainage system, without first having
entered
into written agreement with the board of supervisors of such
drainage
district, the owner shall be deemed to have made voluntary
application
to be included in such drainage district and receive the benefits
thereof.
If by the natural grade and formation of such land, the surface or
flood
water, or both, therefrom are drained into any ditch, tile, drain,
natural
depression, draw or watercourse in such drainage system of such
drainage
district, the owner of such land shall be deemed to receive the
benefits
of such drainage system. The board of supervisors of such drainage
district
may bring an action in the county where such land or drainage
district is
located, stating the name of such owner, description of the land
and of
the ditch, drain or natural grade or formation leading into the
system of
such drainage district to recover payment for the benefit received
and to
include such land within the drainage district.
Any judgment so rendered may be filed in the
office of the clerk of
the district court of the county and become a lien on such land in
like
manner as other judgments. If any such land which drains or is
drained
into the drainage system of any other drainage district is located
within a
drainage district organized under any law of the state of Kansas,
the drain-
age district in which such land so drained is located may be named
the
defendant instead of the owner of the land. In such case, the
drainage
district prosecuting such proceedings shall have the option of
prosecuting
the same in the district court in which such drainage district or
the major
portion thereof is located. If such proceedings are so prosecuted
in the
district court the proceedings shall be governed by the code of
civil pro-
cedure. The district court may assess against the drainage district
receiv-
ing the benefits of the drainage of its land into the system of
another
district an annual payment commensurate with such benefits. All
money
collected under this subsection shall be used for drainage district
pur-
poses.
Sec. 4. K.S.A. 24-611 and 24-639 are hereby
repealed.
Sec. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force
from and after its
publication in the statute book.
Approved April 3, 2001.
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