§ 5-15007 — General powers of county board

In order to effect the protection, reclamation or irrigation of the land and other property in the county, and to protect the quality of the environment and the quality of life from the adverse effects caused by the improper storage, treatment or disposal of waste, and to accomplish all other purposes of the county, the county board is authorized and empowered to clean out, straighten, widen, alter, deepen or change the course or terminus of any ditch, drain, sewer, river, water course, pond, lake, creek or natural stream in the county; to fill up any abandoned or altered ditch, drain, sewer, river, water course, pond, lake, creek or natural stream, and to concentrate, divert or divide the flow of water in the county; to construct and maintain main and lateral ditches, sewers, canals, levees, dikes, dams, sluices, revetments, reservoirs, holding basins, floodways, pumping stations and siphons, and any other works and improvement deemed necessary to construct, preserve, operate or maintain the works or the waste management systems in the county; to construct or enlarge or cause to be constructed or enlarged any and all bridges that may be needed in the county, to construct or elevate roadways and streets; to construct any and all of said works and improvements across, through or over any public highway, canal, railroad right of way, track, grade, fill or cut, in the county; to remove or change the location of any fence, building, railroad, canal, or other improvements in the county; and shall have the right to hold, encumber, control, to acquire by donation, purchase or condemnation, to construct, own, lease, use and sell real and personal property, and any easement, riparian right, railroad right of way, canal, cemetery, sluice, reservoir, holding basin, mill dam, water power, wharf or franchise in the county for right of way, holding basin or for any necessary purpose, or for material to be used in constructing and maintaining said works and improvements, to replat or subdivide land, open new roads, streets and alleys, or change the course of an existing one. The board shall have the power to produce, pump and sell waters so collected and impounded to public or private users and may use such means as are reasonably necessary in connection with such service. The board shall also have the power to produce and sell any product resulting from the storage, treatment and disposal of waste including but not limited to the generation of steam, hot water, and electricity by combustion, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), and any recycled or reused materials withdrawn from a wastestream by the activities of the county.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 86-962.)