43-14-223 - Discontinuance of districts Petition Notice Hearing Referendum Determination by committee Termination of affairs Certificate of dissolution.
43-14-223. Discontinuance of districts Petition Notice Hearing Referendum Determination by committee Termination of affairs Certificate of dissolution.
(a) At any time after five (5) years after the organization of a district under this part, any twenty-five (25) owners of land, lying within the boundaries of the district, may file a petition with the state soil conservation committee praying that the operations of the district be terminated and the existence of the district discontinued. The committee may conduct such public meetings and public hearings upon the petition as may be necessary to assist it in the consideration thereof. Within sixty (60) days after such a petition has been received by the committee, it shall give due notice of the holding of a referendum, and shall supervise a referendum, and issue appropriate regulations governing the conduct of the referendum. All owners of land lying within the boundaries of the district shall be eligible to vote in the referendum. Only such landowners shall be eligible to vote. No informalities in the conduct of the referendum or in any matters relating to the referendum shall invalidate the referendum or the results of the referendum, if notice has been given substantially as provided in this subsection (a) and the referendum has been fairly conducted.
(b) The committee shall publish the results of the referendum and shall thereafter consider and determine whether the continued operation of the district within the defined boundaries is administratively practicable and feasible. If the committee determines that the continued operation of the district is administratively practicable and feasible, it shall record this determination and deny the petition. If the committee determines that the continued operation of the district is not administratively practicable and feasible, it shall record this determination and shall certify the determination to the supervisors of the district. In making this determination, the committee shall give due regard and weight to the attitudes of the owners and occupiers of lands lying within the district, the number of landowners eligible to vote in the referendum who have voted, the proportion of the votes cast in the referendum in favor of the discontinuance of the district to the total number of votes cast, the approximate wealth and income of the landowners and occupiers of the district, the probable expense of carrying on erosion control operations within the district, and such other economic and social factors as may be relevant to such determination; provided, that the committee shall not have authority to determine that the continued operation of the district is administratively practicable and feasible, unless at least a majority of the votes cast in the referendum have been cast in favor of the continuance of the district.
(c) Upon receipt from the committee of a certification that the committee has determined that the continued operation of the district is not administratively practicable and feasible, pursuant to this section, the supervisors shall forthwith proceed to terminate the affairs of the district. The supervisors shall dispose of all property belonging to the district at public auction and shall pay over the proceeds of such sale to be covered into the state treasury. The supervisors shall thereupon file an application, duly verified, with the secretary of state for the discontinuance of the district, and shall transmit with the application the certificate of the committee, setting forth the determination of the committee that the continued operation of the district is not administratively practicable and feasible. The application shall recite that the property of the district has been disposed of and the proceeds paid over, as in this section provided, and shall set forth a full accounting of the properties and proceeds of the sale. The secretary of state shall issue to the supervisors a certificate of dissolution and shall record the certificate in an appropriate book of record in the secretary of state's office.
(d) Upon issuance of a certificate of dissolution under this section, all ordinances and regulations previously adopted and in force within the districts shall be of no further force and effect. All contracts previously entered into, to which the district or supervisors are parties, shall remain in force and effect for the period provided in the contracts. The committee shall be substituted for the district or supervisors as party to the contracts. The committee shall be entitled to all benefits and subject to all liabilities under the contracts and shall have the same right and liability to perform, to require performance, to sue and be sued thereon, and to modify or terminate the contracts by mutual consent or otherwise, as the supervisors of the district would have had. The dissolution shall not affect the lien of any judgment entered under § 43-14-221, nor the pendency of any action instituted under that section, and the committee shall succeed to all the rights and obligations of the district or supervisors as to such liens and actions.
(e) The committee shall not entertain petitions for the discontinuance of any district nor conduct referenda upon such petitions nor make determinations pursuant to such petitions in accordance with this part, more often than once in five (5) years.
[Acts 1939, ch. 197, § 13; C. Supp. 1950, § 552.13 (Williams, § 552.43); T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 43-1523.]