1.
a.The board of trustees of any sanitary district organized under this chapter shall have
power to provide for the disposal of the sewage thereof, including the sewage and drainage of
any city or village within the boundaries of such district; to acquire, lay out, locate, establish,
construct, maintain, and operate one or more drains, conduits, treatment plants, disposal
plants, pumping plants, works, ditches, channels, and outlets of such capacity and character
as may be required for the treatment, carrying off, and disposal of the sewage and industrial
wastes and other drainage incidental thereto of such district; to lay out, establish, construct,
maintain, and operate all such adjuncts, additions, auxiliary improvements, and works as
may be necessary or proper for accomplishment of t
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1. a. The board of trustees of any sanitary district organized under this chapter shall have
power to provide for the disposal of the sewage thereof, including the sewage and drainage of
any city or village within the boundaries of such district; to acquire, lay out, locate, establish,
construct, maintain, and operate one or more drains, conduits, treatment plants, disposal
plants, pumping plants, works, ditches, channels, and outlets of such capacity and character
as may be required for the treatment, carrying off, and disposal of the sewage and industrial
wastes and other drainage incidental thereto of such district; to lay out, establish, construct,
maintain, and operate all such adjuncts, additions, auxiliary improvements, and works as
may be necessary or proper for accomplishment of the purposes intended, and to procure
supplies of water for operating, diluting, and flushing purposes; to maintain, repair, change,
enlarge, and add to such facilities, improvements, and works as may be necessary or proper
to meet the future requirements for the purposes aforesaid; and, when necessary for such
purposes, any such facilities, improvements, and works and the maintenance and operation
thereof may extend beyond the limits of such district, and the rights and powers of said board
of trustees in respect thereto shall be the same as if located within said district, provided, no
taxes shall be levied upon any property outside of such district; and provided further, that
the district shall be liable for all damages sustained beyond its limits in consequence of any
work or improvement authorized hereunder.
b. The board of trustees, however, may upon such petition of property owners
representing at least twenty-five percent of the valuation of property not included within
the district as constituted which seeks benefit from the operation of such sanitary district,
include such property and the area involved within the limits of such sanitary district, and
such added areas shall be subject to the same taxation as other portions of the district.
c. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to authorize or empower such
board of trustees to operate a system of waterworks for the purpose of furnishing water to
the inhabitants of the district, or to construct, maintain, or operate local municipal sewerage
facilities, or to deprive municipalities within the district of their powers to construct and
operate sewers for local purposes within their limits.
d. Theboardoftrusteesofsuchsanitarydistrictmay,however,uponpetitionofthecouncil
or governing body of any incorporated city within the sanitary district, contract with such
city to undertake the operation of local municipal sewage facilities as part of the functioning
of the sanitary district and make an agreement with such municipality for the levying of
additional sewer or sewage disposal taxes, which taxes shall be levied by the municipality as
now provided by law.
2. a. The board of trustees may require connection to the sanitary sewer system
established, maintained, or operated by the district from any adjacent property within the
district, and require the installation of sanitary toilets or other sanitary sewage facilities and
removal of other toilet and other sewage facilities on the property. However, the board of
trustees shall not regulate, restrict the use, or require the connection of a private sewage
disposal facility previously approved by the county board of health pursuant to section
455B.172 without the prior approval of that board of health.
b. If the property owner does not perform an action required under paragraph “a” within
a reasonable time after notice and hearing, the board of trustees may perform the required
actionandassessthecostsoftheactionagainstthepropertyforcollectioninthesamemanner
as a property tax. The notice shall state the nature of the action and the time within which
the action is required to be performed by the property owner, state the date, time, and place
where the property owner will be heard by the board of trustees for the purpose of stating
why the intended action should not be required, and shall be given by certified mail to the
property owner as shown on the records of the county auditor not less than four nor more
than twenty days before the date of the hearing.
c. However, in the event of an emergency when the delay of notice and hearing might
cause serious loss or injury to persons or property within the district, the board of trustees
may perform any action which may be required under this section without prior notice and
hearing, and assess the cost as provided in this section, following notice to the property
owner and hearing in the time and manner provided in paragraph “b”. In that event the
board of trustees shall, by resolution, make a finding of the necessity to institute emergency
proceedings under this section, and shall procure a certificate from a competent licensed
professional engineer or licensed architect certifying that emergency action is necessary.
3. If any amount assessed against property pursuant to this section will exceed five
hundred dollars, the board of trustees may permit the assessment to be paid in up to
ten annual installments, in the manner and with the same interest rates as provided for
assessments against benefited property under chapter 384, subchapter IV.
4. An assessment levied pursuant to this section, including all interest and penalties, is a
lien against the property with respect to which action was taken from the date of filing the
schedule of assessments until the assessment is paid. Assessments have equal precedence
with ordinary taxes and are not divested by judicial sale.
5. The procedures for making and levying an assessment pursuant to this section and for
an appeal of the assessment are the same procedures as provided in sections 384.59 through
384.67 and sections 384.72 through 384.75, except that any notice required in those sections
to be published in a newspaper may be sent by certified mail to the owner of the property
to be assessed as shown on the records of the county auditor in lieu of the publication. The
references in those sections to the city council are applicable to the board of trustees.