§2808. Powers of board

            In order to accomplish the purposes for which the district is created, the board of commissioners may:

            (1) Purchase, hold, sell and convey land and personal property and execute such contracts as it may deem necessary or convenient to enable it properly to carry out the purposes for which it is created.

            (2) Acquire servitudes, rights of way and flowage rights, by purchase, by expropriation, and by assignment.

            (3) Control and protect against flooding in the district and assist in conserving oil and water and in developing the water resources of the district; provided, however, nothing shall be done to interfere with districts previously organized under Louisiana law.

            (4) Cooperate with the Department of Public Works and other state agencies in the maintenance or improvements, and the construction of any works or improvements for the control, retention, diversion or utilization of water; retard runoff of water and soil erosion, construct any ditch, channel improvement, dike, dam, or levee, and repair, improve and maintain any of said improvements or structure.

            (5) Acquire personal property by gift or purchase; and employ and hire a secretary and such other personnel as may be necessary in the operation of the business of the district, and fix their compensation; and the commission is further authorized to employ engineers, attorneys and other professional personnel as the need becomes necessary and fix their compensation.

            (6) Levy taxes, issue bonds and incur indebtedness within the limitations prescribed by the constitution of the state of Louisiana, and in the manner prescribed thereby.

            (7) Cooperate and contract with persons, firms, associations, partnerships and private corporations, and cities of this state, or other public corporations and with any other local, state and governmental agencies for the sale or use of any waters impounded hereby.

            (8) Select a domicile and home office for the district.

            (9) Do and perform any and all things necessary or incident to the fulfillment of the purposes for which this district is created, including all acts necessary to construct, lease, acquire in any manner, maintain, and operate dikes, dams, reservoirs, storage basins, locks, levees, flumes, conduits, spillways or other structures necessary, suitable or convenient to the purposes of the district.

            (10) The Board of Commissioners of the Franklin Parish Watershed District shall have power:

            (a) To appropriate money and provide for the current expenses of the district.

            (b) To make all police regulations necessary for the preservation of good order and peace of the district, and to prevent injury to, destruction of or interference with public or private property.

            (c) To secure the general health of the district, to prevent, remove and abate nuisances; to prohibit the construction of privy vaults and cesspools, and to regulate or suppress those already constructed; to compel and regulate the connection of all property with the sewers and drains; to establish and regulate health and sanitary regulations, with the concurrent approval of the Board of Health, or to regulate them and to prescribe and enforce regulations for cleanliness and sanitary regulations with regard to construction within the said district, and to compel and regulate the removal of garbage and filth within the limits of the district.

            (d) To grant franchises to telephone, telegraph and electric power companies for the purpose of supplying such service to construction in or the facilities of the district, owned or leased by the district.

            (e) To grant franchises for the purpose of laying gas, water, sewer, electric light or other utilities supplying the inhabitants or any person or corporation with gas, water, sewerage, light, when such construction is located within one mile of the high water line of the said reservoir.

            (f) REPEALED BY ACTS 1993, NO. 830, §2.

            (g) To appoint, hire, designate and empower wardens, rangers, patrols and such other personnel as may be deemed necessary by the commission for the enforcement of such regulations as may be promulgated and adopted by the said commission, as approved by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.

            (11) To raise funds by taxes or otherwise to be expended by and under the direction of the said commission.

            (12) To incur debt and issue negotiable bonds for the construction of works of public improvement and flood control and protection and for such other public purposes as it may deem necessary and proper to effect the purposes of the district; and to that effect, the board of commissioners is authorized to call any special elections necessary to levy taxes, incur debt, and to issue and sell negotiable bonds, all in conformity with the constitution and laws of the State of Louisiana.

            (13) With respect to the improvement and maintaining of the watershed district the Franklin Parish Watershed District shall have the advice of the State Department of Public Works, and it shall be the duty of the department to make such surveys, inspections and investigations, render such reports, estimates and recommendations and furnish such plans and specifications as the board of commissioners of the district may request from time to time.

            (14) Whenever any work is to be let under the provisions of this Part, the contract for which will exceed the value of two thousand dollars, the board of commissioners shall proceed to provide, through the State Department of Public Works, proper specifications for the performing of said work, which specifications shall receive the approval of the board of commissioners of the district. After the adoption of said specifications thus approved, the board of commissioners shall advertise for bids to do the work according to the plans and specifications prepared by the State Department of Public Works, which advertisement shall appear once a week for the full term of thirty days in a newspaper in Franklin Parish, and may appear in any other newspaper or newspapers, in the discretion of the board of commissioners. Such advertisement shall state the place where the bids will be received, the time and place where the bids will be opened, and a general outline of the work to be performed. Every bid shall be accompanied by a certified check of the bidder in an amount equal to five percentum of the amount of the bid, which checks shall be forfeited to the board of commissioners of the district if the bidder to whom such contract is awarded fails to enter into the contract required within ten days after notice to do so from the board of commissioners awarding the work. The checks of all unsuccessful bidders shall be returned after the contract is awarded. All bids submitted shall be addressed to the Board of Commissioners of the Franklin Parish Watershed District and shall be publicly opened and read at the time stated in the advertisement.

            The Board of Commissioners may reject any and all bids, if, in its opinion, it is to the best interest of the district to do so, but whenever a contract is awarded, unless for cause which in its discretion may be deemed sufficient, it shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. The bidder to whom such contract is awarded shall be required to furnish bond of a surety company authorized to do business in Louisiana, or other good and solvent surety, in a sum equal to one-half of the amount of the contract awarded, conditioned that such work shall be performed in accordance with the plans and specifications of the State Department of Public Works and the terms of the contract, and containing such other stipulations and provisions as may be required by the board of commissioners. The awarding of the contract to a successful bidder shall be binding upon both, even though for some cause there should be no signing of the actual contract.

            (15) The special taxes imposed for the purpose of providing for the payment of principal and interest on the bonds as aforesaid, shall be levied, assessed and collected each year on the property taxed, under the same terms and conditions and at the same time as state and parish taxes. Such taxes shall bear the same liens upon the property as state, parish, municipal and other special taxes, and the property shall be sold for delinquent taxes in the same manner as properties sold for delinquent state, parish, municipal and other taxes.

            (16) The provisions of the constitution and all laws regulating the collection of taxes, the creation of tax liens, mortgages, tax penalties and sales, shall apply to and regulate the collection of special taxes for the purpose enumerated in this Part.

            Where the taxes have been levied by the governing authority of the Franklin Parish Watershed District, the sheriff and ex-officio tax collector for Franklin Parish or of Catahoula or Richland Parishes, as the case may be, shall make monthly statements to the treasurer of the parish in which the tax is levied and shall receive from him a receipt for the amount of special taxes paid over, in the same manner as the tax collectors are required to settle with the comptroller of the state, and he shall receive from the parish treasurer the same quietus for a full settlement of taxes due and exigible in a given year and account for delinquencies or deductions in the same manner as though accounting to the comptroller of the state for the state taxes. The sheriffs and ex-officio tax collectors shall retain no commission thereon. Upon the failure of any tax collector to comply with the provisions of this Paragraph, the governing authority of the Franklin Parish Watershed District shall proceed against him and the sureties on his official bond for the collection of whatever amount may be due the said Franklin Parish Watershed District.

            (17) For the purpose of providing funds to carry out the objects and purposes for which the Franklin Parish Watershed District is created, its board of commissioners may call special elections for the purpose of submitting to the property taxpayers throughout the Franklin Parish Watershed District, as hereinabove defined, eligible to vote at such election, a proposition to levy annually a special tax not to exceed one mill on the dollar upon all the taxable property within the district, to run for a period of not more than ten years. The expense of any election so held shall be borne by the police juries of the parishes of Franklin, Catahoula and Richland in the proportion that the percentage of taxes collectible by each bears to the total taxes collectible throughout the district.

            (18) In the resolution calling the election, the rate, object and purpose for which the tax is to be levied and the number of years it is to run must be stated. After the resolution is passed by the board of commissioners of the said district, notice of the election shall be given, embracing substantially all things that are required to be set forth in the resolution, and setting forth further that the authorities ordering the election will, in open session to be held at an hour and place named in the notice, proceed to open the ballot boxes, examine and count the ballots in number and amount, and declare the results of the election. This notice shall be advertised for thirty days in a newspaper published in the district, and the insertion of the advertisements once a week for five weeks in such newspapers shall constitute sufficient notice. Thirty days must intervene from the day on which the advertisement is first inserted and the day on which the election takes place.

            (19) Only property taxpayers, qualified as electors under the constitution and laws of the state, shall be entitled to vote at such elections. The qualifications of the taxpayers as voters shall be those of age, residents and registered as voters.

            (20) The Board of Commissioners of the Franklin Parish Watershed District shall designate the polling places, provide the ballot boxes, ballots, evaluations of property and compile statements of the voters in number and amount and fix the compensation of election officers. They shall appoint for each polling place three commissioners and one clerk of election all of whom shall be persons qualified to vote at such election. The police juries of the parishes shall pay all of the expenses of such election as provided in Paragraph (17) of this Section.

            (21) The registrars of voters in the parishes shall furnish to the election commissioners appointed to hold the election a list of taxpayers entitled to vote, together with the valuation of each taxpayer's property, as shown by the assessment roll filed prior to the election. When any taxpayer's name and valuation of property is omitted from such list or erroneously entered thereon, the commissioners of election may receive affidavits of such taxpayer entitled to vote and the assessed valuation of his property, which affidavit shall be attached to his taxpayer's ballot. No defect or irregularity in or omission from the list of voters furnished by the registrar of voters shall affect the validity of the election, unless it is established that voters deprived of right to vote were sufficient in number and amount to have changed the result of the election.

            (22) The question to be submitted to the voters at special elections hereunder and the ballot to be used thereat shall be substantially in the following form:

            Shall the Franklin Parish Watershed District of Louisiana impose, levy and collect annually for the term of _____ years, beginning with the year 20 ___, a tax not exceeding one mill on the dollar upon all the taxable property within the district for the purpose of providing funds for carrying out the objects and purposes for which it is created? Taxable valuation $____________.

_____________________________

Signature of Voter

NOTICE TO VOTERS

            To vote in favor of the proposition submitted upon this ballot place an (X) in the square after the word "yes"; to vote against, place a similar mark after the word "no".

            (23) If any commissioner or clerk of election is unable, fails, or neglects to attend or serve at the polling place designated and at the hour fixed for opening the polls or within one hour thereafter, the commissioners present shall appoint, or in the absence of all commissioners, the voters present shall elect, the necessary number of commissioners and clerks, who shall have the same powers, compensation and duties as other commissioners and clerks and shall serve in the place and stead of the delinquent absentee appointees. Commissioners and clerks of elections, before opening the polls, shall be sworn to perform all duties incumbent upon them as such, the oaths to be taken before any officer authorized to administer oaths or by the clerk, and each commissioner of election before any other commissioner. Commissioners and clerks may administer any affidavit provided for in this Part.

            (24) Each voter's name shall be written on his ballot. The commissioners of election shall receive the ballot of each voter, check his name on the list of voters furnished by the registrar as having voted, enter number of his name on the list of taxpayers voting, and immediately deposit his ballot in the ballot box, reserving to each voter the right to so fold his ballot that it shall not be known at the time whether he voted for or against the proposition submitted.

            (25) The polls shall be opened on the date appointed at 7 o'clock a.m. and remain open until and not later than 7 o'clock p.m. No election shall be vitiated by failure to open the polls at the time prescribed or by closing them before the time prescribed, unless on a contest it could be established that voters were there by the time to vote sufficient in number and amount to have changed the result of the election.

            (26) Immediately after the closing of the polls the commissioners shall, in the presence of the bystanders, open the ballot box, count the ballots found therein, check the same with the list of voters kept, proceed to count the votes in number and amount, keep in duplicate tally sheets showing the votes in number in favor of or against the proposition submitted and showing the valuation of property in favor of and against the same, make in duplication compiled statements of the vote in number and amount, both in favor of and against the proposition. After swearing to the correctness of the numbered list of voters, the duplicate tally sheets, and duplicate compiled statements, they shall deposit the ballots, registrar's list of voters, the numbered list of taxpayers voting, one duplicate tally sheet and one duplicate compiled statement in the ballot box, immediately seal the said ballot box and within seventy-two hours after the closing of the polls, deliver said sealed ballot box with its contents to the Board of Commissioners of the Franklin Parish Watershed District, at its domicile, and shall within the said period, deliver the duplicate tally sheet and the duplicate compiled statement to the Clerk of the District Court of Franklin Parish, who shall file the same in his office. If the election commissioners, on counting the ballots, find they do not correspond with the list of voters, they shall, before examining and counting the ballots, examine the same for the purpose of finding the discrepancy, and if it should be found that any ballots have been duplicated, the same shall be destroyed, and if it be found that the name of a voter has been omitted from the list of persons voting, the same shall be added to the list.

            (27) On the day and at the hour and place named in the notice of election, the Board of Commissioners of the Franklin Parish Watershed District shall, in public session, open the ballot boxes, examine and count the ballots in number and amount, examine and canvass the returns and declare the results of such election. The results shall be promulgated by the proclamation published in one issue of a newspaper published in Franklin Parish. The board of commissioners shall keep a proces verbal of the manner in which the ballot boxes were opened, the returns canvassed and the result of the election ascertained, and shall forward a copy thereof to the secretary of state, who shall record the same; and copies to the Clerks of the District Courts of the parishes of Franklin, Catahoula and Richland who shall record same in the mortgage records of said parishes, retaining the original proces verbal in the archives of the said district and in the clerk's office in Franklin Parish. The secretary of the Board of Commissioners of the Franklin Parish Watershed District shall preserve for a term of three months from the date of the promulgation of the election, the ballots and other returns thereof.

            (28) During the thirty days next following the publication of the proclamation declaring the results of any election, if the same be in favor of the tax, any taxpayer within the district may contest the legality of the election by appropriate action. Thereafter, no one may contest the regularity, formality or legality of the election or the validity of the tax levied or authorized to be levied, but the same shall be absolutely incontestable for any cause whatever and no court may hear or determine any such question, and the board of commissioners of the district shall not be permitted to question this authority to levy the tax.

            (29) If a majority in number and amount of the qualified taxpayers voting at the election vote in favor of the proposition to levy the tax, the board of commissioners of the district may, by resolution, proceed to levy such tax from year to year, for the term for which the same has been voted. The board shall not be required to levy the full one mill tax, but their failure to levy the tax in any one year shall not permit them to exceed the one mill tax for any subsequent year.

            (30) The copy of the resolution levying the tax, certified by the secretary of the board of commissioners of the said district, shall be transmitted to the tax assessor of each of the parishes within the district on or before June 1st of the year in which the tax is to be assessed and collected, and it shall be the duty of the assessors of the parishes within the district to assess the tax and extend the same upon the tax rolls of said parishes. The tax shall be collected by the sheriffs and ex-officio tax collectors of the parishes in the same manner as taxes levied by the state. The tax collectors shall make settlement for taxes so collected with the state comptroller and state treasurer for the account of the Franklin Parish Watershed District, and the funds so derived shall be withdrawn upon the warrant of the secretary of the Board of Commissioners of the Franklin Parish Watershed District; countersigned by the president of the said commission. Taxes assessed shall constitute the same liens upon the property assessed, shall bear the same penalties and collection thereof shall be enforced in the same manner and at the same time as state and parish taxes.

            Added by Acts 1966, No. 101, §8; Acts 1993, No. 830, §2.