In performing its duties the board may do the
following:
(1) If needed for sewage works, condemn, appropriate, lease, rent,
purchase, and hold any real or personal property within the
district or within five (5) miles outside the boundaries of the
district.
(2) Enter upon any lots or lands for the purpose of surveying or
examining them to determine the location of any sewage works or
other structures, roads, levees, or walls connected with or
necessary for the use or operation of the facilities.
(3) Design, order, contract for, construct, reconstruct, and
maintain the sewage works.
(4) Build or have built all roads, levees, walls, other structures, or
lagoons that may be desirable in connection with sewage works
and make improvements to the grounds and premises under its
control, including the erection and operation of a plant for the
removal of sand and gravel from the grounds.
(5) Compel the owners, operators, or lessees of all factories,
shops, works, plants, or other structures to treat, purify, or
eliminate from the sewage and trade waste of the premises any
ingredients that interfere with the successful operation of the
sewage works. It may compel the owners, operators, or lessees of
the premises located on a watercourse to direct an excessive flow
of water into the watercourse.
(6) Review and approve plans for privately constructed plants for
the treatment or elimination of trade waste. This is to insure that
an owner, operator, or lessee of a house, factory, shop, works,
plant, or other structure that may be directly or indirectly
connected with sewers emptying into the sewage works does not
construct a purification plant, machine, or other device for
eliminating or treating the trade waste from those places for the
purpose of eliminating ingredients that would harm the sewage
works until the plans have been submitted to and approved by the
board. After plans have been submitted to the board, it may reject
them in their entirety or order changes to be made that include its
supervision and regulation of the operation. An appeal may be
taken from the decision of the board rejecting the plans submitted
or ordering changes by the owner, operator, or lessee of a
proposed private plant, in the same manner as appeals from the
works board as far as applicable.
(7) Build or have built a plant or plants and all appurtenances for
the treatment of sludge, pressing of sludge, or converting sludge
into marketable fertilizer.
(8) Sell any byproduct from the sewage works, or furnish any
byproduct free for the use of the municipality or for other public
uses, with revenue derived from the sale above the amount
needed for maintenance to be paid into the sanitary district bond
fund, or if no bonds are outstanding, to revert to its general fund.
(9) Compel the owners, lessees, or agents in possession of lots or
land from which sewers discharge sewage or drainage and pollute
a watercourse or body of water or constitute a menace to public
health and welfare to connect the sewers with drains leading
directly or indirectly into sewage works regulating the use and
assessing reasonable charges.
(10) Construct or have constructed regulating devices at the
junction of combined sewers with intercepting sewers to regulate
the discharge into the intercepting and connecting sewers to
prevent the pollution of streams or bodies of water or a menace to
the public health and welfare.
(11) Construct, add to, reconstruct, or maintain an incinerating or
reduction plant or other plants for the conversion, destruction, or
disposal of garbage, filth, ashes, dirt, and rubbish. The board may
operate the plant in connection with sewage works, and sell any
byproducts derived from the garbage, filth, ashes, or rubbish,
including sand and gravel taken from lands under the control of
the board at prices that are determined by the board, or furnish it
free to the municipality or for other public uses, with revenue
derived above the amount needed for maintenance to be paid into
the sanitary district bond fund, or if no bonds are outstanding, to
revert to its general fund.
(12) Take charge of all real property, belonging to the
municipality and under the control of the works board, suitably
located for sewage works if the board demands the works board,
subject to contracts, to relinquish and transfer control of real and
personal property used by the works board for the collection and
removal of garbage and ashes. The transfer of personal property
must be made by resolution adopted by the works board
describing the property, with a copy of the resolution to be
delivered to the board and made a matter of record in the minutes
of the proceedings of the board.
(13) Collect and remove, or contract for the collection and
removal of, all garbage, ashes, dead animals, refuse, and wastes
from domestic premises, and construct or have constructed
stations, including barns, garages, sheds, blacksmith shops,
dumps, incinerators, and all other useful or necessary
improvements for this purpose. This includes the power to collect
and remove soil and other sewage in areas not provided with
sewers, and then to discharge or dispose of it into sewage works.
(14) Enter into contracts in the name of the municipality, with the
approval of the executive as provided by law. However, in the
case of a district described in section 3(b)(2) of this chapter, the
board may enter into contracts in the name of:
(A) a municipality in the district, with the approval of the
executive of the municipality; or
(B) the district, with the approval of the board.
(15) Employ and pay for all engineering, architectural, legal, and
other professional services needed in carrying out this chapter,
including determining the number, prescribing the duties, and
fixing the compensation for all its engineers, chemists, attorneys,
bacteriologists, surveyors, inspectors, clerks, stenographers,
laborers, supervisors, and other employees as provided by law for
other executive departments of the municipality.
(16) Adopt resolutions, rules, and bylaws that are necessary to
carry out this chapter, including repealing or amending them
consistent with this chapter.
(17) Prepare a schedule of reasonable service fees and collect
them from persons who own, lease, or possess or control as
tenants or as agents lots or lands located outside the boundaries
of the district if the lots or lands are benefited by connection into
the sanitary sewer system of the district as described in this
chapter, with the proceeds from sewage connections and
treatment service credited to the general fund of the district for
general use and maintenance purposes. The fees may be fixed,
repealed, or amended, or the service discontinued, by the board
at its discretion.
(18) Sue or be sued in the name of the municipality, with payment
for obligations and of a judgment against the municipality in an
action to be made solely from funds of the department and its
district that may be available for this purpose. In the case of a
district described in section 3(b)(2) of this chapter, the board may
sue or be sued in the name of any municipality in the district or in
the name of the district. If a judgment is entered against a
municipality in the district, payment of obligations and the
judgment shall be made solely from available funds of the
department or the district.
(19) Pay for services rendered or for any other obligations
incurred by the board while executing its powers, or pay any
judgments, including interest and costs, by issuing and selling the
bonds of the district, or obtaining temporary loans or levying
taxes as authorized by this or other statutes for any other purpose.
(20) Lease, rent, purchase, and hold real or personal property
more than five (5) miles outside the boundaries of the district if
the property is needed:
(A) to store sludge;
(B) to convert sludge into marketable fertilizer; or
(C) by the district to conduct activities that are related to
activities described in clause (A) or (B).
[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citations: 19-2-6-1
part; 19-2-6-2 part; 19-2-14-3 part.]
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.98. Amended by
P.L.175-2006, SEC.22.