SEC. 51-35-109. Petition.
Whenever a majority of the members of the board of supervisors of the county in which the lands to be included in such proposed flood control district lie, if such lands be situated wholly in one county, or whenever a majority of the members of each of the boards of supervisors representing those districts in each of the counties which are included in whole or in part as parts of the proposed flood control district, if such lands are situated in two or more counties, shall petition the chancery court of the county in which the proposed district is located or the chancery court of the county in which the greatest number of acres of lands to be included in the proposed district are located, if the land to be included in the proposed district are located in two or more counties, to organize and establish a flood control district, and shall set forth in the petition:
(a) The fact that the United States of America has signified its purpose and intention to provide funds therefor and to construct such flood control improvements, and that the chief engineer of the War Department of the United States has submitted a report recommending the construction of such flood control improvements and has recommended a plan for the control of floods in such district;
(b) The necessity for the construction of such flood control improvements;
(c) That the proposed work and improvements will be conducive to the public safety, interest, and welfare, describing generally the purposes of the contemplated works and improvements, and describing generally the lands and regions to be included in the proposed district and to be protected from overflow of flood waters by the proposed improvements; and
(d) The name of the proposed district; it shall be the duty of the chancery court or the chancellor in vacation to enter an order upon the minutes of said court appointing an engineer, who may or may not be recommended by the petitioners, for the purpose of making a study of the feasibility of the proposed plan and submitting the same to the court, and for the purpose of ascertaining a reasonably accurate description of the lands which should be included in the proposed flood control district. It shall not be necessary that the petitioners in such petition shall include the names of the owners of the lands proposed to be included in such flood control district; and such lands may be described in said petition in general terms, as all or parts of townships, all or parts of sections, and as all or parts of lands lying within the corporate limits of any city, town, or village. Such description of lands need not include a metes and bounds description of each tract, or a description by legal subdivisions; but it shall be sufficient to describe the regions and lands proposed to be included in such flood control district in general terms, with a generally accurate description of such regions and lands. The territory to be included in such proposed flood control district need not be contiguous, provided it is so situated that the public interest, safety, or welfare will be promoted by the organization of the district. The territory to be included in such proposed flood control district, however, shall include only such lands as will be protected from overflow by the construction of the proposed flood control improvements.
No petition with the requisite number of signatures shall be declared void on account of alleged defects, but the court or chancellor in vacation may, at any time, permit the petition to be amended in form and substance to conform to the facts by correcting any errors in the description of the territory to be embraced, or in any other particular. Several duplicate copies of the same petition for the organization and establishment of the same district may be filed and shall be regarded as one petition.
SOURCES: Codes, 1942, Secs. 4771, 4780; Laws, 1936, ch. 188, Secs. 3, 10.
1997 Amendment
SECTION 9. Sections 51-35-101, 51-35-103, 51-35-105, 51-35-107, 51-35-109, 51-35-111, 51-35-113, 51-35-115, 51-35-117, 51-35-119, 51-35-121, 51-35-123 and 51-35-125, Mississippi Code of 1972, which create the 1936 Flood Control Law of Mississippi, define certain terms, authorize the creation of flood control districts and establish the jurisdiction of the chancery court to create a district, authorize the board of supervisors of a county to petition for inclusion in a district, provide for the bond and powers and duties of the engineer appointed by the chancellor, provide for notice of hearing on a petition, conduct of the hearing and appeals of the order of the chancellor, and provide for the powers and duties of the district, name of the district and designation of a place for a district office, are repealed.
SOURCE: 1997 Laws, Chapter 403, Sec. 9, SB2937, Effective July 1, 1997.