(1) The directors,
having duly qualified, shall organize as a board, elect a president from their number,
and appoint a secretary. The board has power and it is its duty to adopt a seal,
manage and conduct the affairs and business of the district, make and execute all
necessary contracts, employ such agents, attorneys, officers, and employees as
may be required and prescribe their duties, and establish equitable rules and
regulations for the distribution and use of water among the owners of said land. The
board shall generally perform all such acts as shall be necessary to fully carry out
the purposes of this article.
(2) Said board may also enter into any obligation or contract with the United
States for the construction or operation and maintenance of the necessary works
for the delivery and distribution of water therefrom, or for drainage of district lands,
or for the assumption, as principal or guarantor, of indebtedness to the United
States on account of district lands, or for the temporary rental of water under the
provisions of the federal reclamation act and all acts amendatory thereof or
supplementary thereto or any other federal laws which do not conflict with the
constitution and laws of the state of Colorado and the rules and regulations
established thereunder, or the board may contract with the United States for a
water supply under any act of congress providing for or permitting such contract
and may convey to the United States as partial or full consideration therefor water
rights or other property of the district. In case contract has been made with the
United States, bonds of the district may be deposited with the United States at
ninety-five percent of their par value, to the amount to be paid by the district to the
United States under any such contract, the interest on said bonds, if bearing
interest, to be provided for by assessment and levy, as in the case of other bonds of
the district, and regularly paid to the United States to be applied as provided in
such contract, and, if bonds of the district are not so deposited, it is the duty of the
board of directors to include, as part of any levy or assessment now provided for by
law, an amount sufficient to meet each year all payments accruing under the terms
of any such contract. Districts cooperating with the United States may rent or lease
water to private lands, entrymen, or municipalities in the neighborhood of the
district in pursuance of contract with the United States and under terms and
conditions not inconsistent with the laws of Colorado.
(3) Such board has the power, in addition to the means to supply water to
said district proposed by the petition submitted for the formation of said district, to
construct, acquire, purchase, or condemn any canals, ditches, reservoirs, reservoir
sites, water, water rights, rights-of-way, or other property necessary for the use of
the district or to acquire by condemnation, or otherwise, the right to enlarge any
ditch, canal, or reservoir already constructed or partly constructed. In case of the
purchase of any property by said district, when it shall be proposed by the board of
directors to purchase a system of irrigation already constructed, or partially
constructed, and to enlarge and complete the same adequate to the needs of the
district, the board in such case may embody in one contract the matter of the
purchase, the enlargement, and the completion of such irrigation system without
inviting bids for such construction and completion; and, in case of the purchase of
such property by said district, the bonds of the district provided for in section 37-41-117 may be used at their par value in payment without previous offer of such
bonds for sale.
(4) (a) A contract involving a consideration exceeding four hundred thousand
dollars but not exceeding six hundred fifty thousand dollars is not binding unless
the contract has been authorized and ratified in writing by not less than one-third of
the legal electors of the district according to the number of votes cast at the last
district election.
(b) A contract in excess of six hundred fifty thousand dollars is not binding
until the contract has been authorized and ratified at an election in the manner
provided for the issue of bonds.
(5) Where the compensation to be paid by the district to the owner of any
property which the board of directors of an irrigation district is authorized to take
by proceedings in eminent domain has been finally determined to be in excess of
twenty-five thousand dollars, sufficient time shall be given by the courts for the
submission to and determination by the electors of the district, at a regularly called
election in the district, of the question of whether the district shall pay said
compensation or shall abandon such condemnation proceedings. If the electors
shall authorize the payment of such compensation, the necessary additional time
shall be given the district to pay such compensation, either by levy and collection of
assessments against the lands of the district, or by the issue and sale of bonds of
the district, or by both such methods as may be determined at a district election.
Where the compensation to be paid shall be more than ten thousand dollars and
less than twenty-five thousand dollars, the district board may elect to pay such
compensation or abandon such condemnation proceedings upon authorization in
writing by not less than one-third of the legal electors of said district according to
the number of votes cast at the last district election.
(6) The rules and regulations shall be printed in convenient form, as soon as
the same are adopted, for distribution in the district. All waters distributed shall be
apportioned to each landowner pro rata to the lands assessed under this article
within such district. But all water which has been acquired by the district by virtue
of the laws of Colorado may be distributed and apportioned according to the terms
of any contract entered into between the district and the United States, until the
obligation due the United States is paid or the obligation to pay is discharged in any
manner. Nothing in this article shall be deemed or construed to grant or relinquish
to the United States any of the sovereign rights of the state of Colorado in and to
the waters within its borders, or its exclusive authority over and jurisdiction and
control of said waters, and the diversion, appropriation, and use thereof nor in any
manner change the methods of appropriation thereof.
(7) The board of directors has power to lease or rent the use of water, or
contract for the delivery thereof, to occupants of other lands within or without the
said district at such prices and on such terms as it deems best, but the rental shall
not be less than one and one-half times the amount of the district tax for which said
land would be liable if held as a freehold. No vested prescriptive right to the use of
such water shall attach to said land by virtue of such lease or such rental; except
that any landowner in said district, with the consent of the board of directors, may
assign the right to the whole or any portion of the water so apportioned to him for
any one year where practicable to any other bona fide landowner, to be used in said
district for use on his land for said year, but such owner shall have paid all amounts
due on assessments upon all such lands.
(8) The board of directors further has power to lease or rent the use of water,
or to contract for the delivery thereof, to settlers upon or occupants of the public
domain, whose entries shall not have been subordinated to the district through
compliance with the act of congress approved August 11, 1916, on the terms as
provided in this section; except that, in such case, the board of directors has the
further power to make a contract on behalf of the district with such settler or
occupant to the effect that such settler or occupant, upon receiving full title to his
lands and upon the payment of his proportionate share of the bond assessments as
provided in section 37-41-136, shall include his lands within said district and, upon
such inclusion, shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of a member of said
district. Before the execution of such contract the board of directors shall cause
notice of such contract to be given substantially as provided in section 37-41-134,
with such changes in the form of the notice as may be necessary, and a hearing
upon said contract and all objections thereto shall be had as provided in section 37-41-135. If upon said hearing the board of directors deems it not for the best
interests of the district to execute said contract, it by order shall refuse to execute
said contract; but, if it deems it for the best interests of the district that said
contract be executed, the board may execute said contract, and, in such case, said
contract shall be valid and binding upon all parties thereto; and, when the said
settler or occupant shall have complied with said contract and obtained title to his
lands, upon proof of such compliance and obtaining of title, and without any further
notice or hearing upon the matter, the board shall enter an order of inclusion of said
lands as provided in section 37-41-137, but, if within thirty days from the execution
of said contract a majority of the qualified electors of the district protest in writing
to said board against the execution of said contract, the contract shall be held for
naught and shall not be binding upon any party thereto.
(9) (a) The board of directors may enter into any obligation or contract to
borrow money, which the irrigation district may use to issue loans to landowners:
(I) To make improvements to private water delivery systems; or
(II) For other types of projects that improve:
(A) Water conservation or efficiencies on landowner property; or
(B) Landowner delivery or drainage systems.
(b) An obligation or contract to borrow money described in subsection (9)(a)
of this section is not subject to the requirements of subsection (4) of this section.
(c) The board of directors shall not assess district land in order to raise
money to issue loans pursuant to this subsection (9). However, the board of
directors, in its discretion, may use other sources of money for the purpose of
issuing loans as described in this subsection (9).
(d) In case of default in the payment of any installment of principal or
interest when due, the county treasurer may assess upon the eligible real property
a tax lien for the payment of the whole of the unpaid installment of principal and
interest; except that the county treasurer shall not assess a tax lien for the entire
value of the landowner's portion of the irrigation loan issued by the water district.
(e) The board of directors may adopt rules concerning the issuance of loans
to landowners pursuant to this subsection (9).