§ 38:2558 — Powers of board

§2558. Powers of board
In order to accomplish the purposes for which the district is created, the board of
commissioners may:
(1) Purchase, hold, sell and convey land and personal property and execute such
contracts as it may deem necessary or convenient to enable it properly to carry out the
purposes for which it is created.
(2) Acquire servitudes, rights of way and flowage rights, by purchase or by
expropriation.
(3) Assist in conserving soil and water and in developing the water resources of the
district; provided, however, nothing shall be done to interfere with districts previously
organized under Louisiana law.
(4) Under the supervision of the Louisiana state department of public works, contract
for the construction of proposed works and improvements.
(5) Cooperate with the department of public works in its construction of any drainage
works or improvements, and the construction of any works or improvements for the control,
retention, diversion or utilization of water; retard runoff of water and soil erosion, construct
any ditch, channel improvement, dike, dam, or levee, and repair, improve and maintain any
of said improvements or structures.
(6) Acquire personal property by gift or purchase.
(7) Levy taxes, issue bonds and incur indebtedness within the limitations prescribed
by the constitution of the state of Louisiana, and in the manner prescribed thereby.
(8) Cooperate and contract with persons, firms, associations, partnerships and private
corporations, and cities of this state, or other public corporations and with any other local,
state and governmental agencies for the sale or use of any waters impounded hereby.
(9) Select a domicile and home office for the district.
(10) Do and perform any and all things necessary or incident to the fulfillment of the
purposes for which this district is created, including all acts necessary to construct, lease,
acquire in any manner, maintain, and operate dikes, dams, reservoirs, storage basins, locks,
levees, flumes, conduits, spillways or other structures necessary, suitable or convenient to
the purposes of the district.
(11) The board of commissioners of the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District
shall have the care, management, and control of the lake or reservoir formed by the damming
of Bayou D'Arbonne and its property and finances. They shall have power:
(a) To appropriate money and provide for the current expenses of the said district.
(b) To make all police regulations necessary for the preservation of good order and
the peace of the district; and to prevent injury to, destruction of, or interference with public
or private property.
(c) To secure the general health of the district; to prevent, remove and abate
nuisances; to prohibit the construction of privy vaults and cesspools, and to regulate or
suppress those already constructed; to compel and regulate the connection of all property
with the sewers and drains; to establish and regulate health and sanitary regulations with the
concurrent approval of the Board of Health or to regulate them and to prescribe and enforce
regulations for cleanliness and sanitary regulations with regard to construction within the said
district; to compel and regulate the removal of garbage and filth within the said limits of the
district.
(d) To grant franchises to telephone, telegraph and electric power companies for the
purpose of supplying such service to construction within one mile of the high water line of
the said reservoir.
(e) To grant franchises for the purpose of laying gas, water, sewer, electric light or
other utilities supplying the inhabitants or any person or corporation with gas, water, sewage,
light, when such construction is located within one mile of the high water line of the said
reservoir. For the granting of any such franchise, the board of commissioners of the Bayou
D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District shall be authorized and permitted to levy and collect
from such supplier of electric current, gas, water, butane, or any other utility, a sum not to
exceed 5% of the gross realized by the said utility in furnishing such services to any person,
corporation, partnership or association of individuals when such construction is located
within one mile of and above the high water mark of the said reservoir. This applies only to
construction begun after August 1, 1962. Such funds accruing to the commission as
aforesaid shall be used for the sole and only purpose of the improvement of the said facility.
(f) To prohibit the operation of any motor vessel in an area that is inundated from
Lake D'Arbonne when it is above flood stage and when the operation of such motor vessel
causes or may cause inundations of dwellings, camps, business establishments, or similar
structures.
(g) To appoint, designate, and empower wardens, rangers, patrols, and such other
personnel as may be deemed necessary by the commission for the enforcement of such
regulations as may be promulgated and adopted by the said commission.
(12) The board of commissioners of the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District
of this state may raise funds by taxes or otherwise to be expended by and under the direction
of the department of public works of the state of Louisiana.
(13) The said watershed district as defined hereinabove, through its governing
authority is authorized to incur debt and issue negotiable bonds for the construction of works
of public improvement and for such other public purposes as may be necessary and proper
to effect the purpose of this said water conservation district; and to that effect, they are
authorized to call any special elections that are necessary to levy taxes, incur debt, and to
issue and sell negotiable bonds, all in conformity of the constitution and laws of the state of
Louisiana.
(14) The Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District shall have, with respect to the
improvement and maintaining of the said watershed district, the advice of the department of
public works, and it shall be the duty of the department to make such surveys, inspections,
and investigations, render such report, estimate and recommendations and furnish such plans
and specifications as the board of commissioners of the said district may request from time
to time.
(15) Whenever any work is to be let under the provisions of this Part, the work shall
be let in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 38:2211 et seq.
(16) The special taxes imposed for the purpose of providing for the payment of
principal and interest on the bonds as aforesaid, shall each year be levied, assessed and
collected on the property taxed, under the same terms and conditions and at the same time
as state and parish taxes; the said taxes shall bear the same liens upon the property as state,
parish, municipal and other special taxes; the property shall be sold for delinquent taxes in
the same manner as properties sold for delinquent state, parish, municipal and other taxes.
(17) The provisions of the constitution and all laws regulating the collection of taxes,
the creation of tax liens, mortgages, tax penalties and sales, shall apply to and regulate the
collection of special taxes for the purposes enumerated in this Part.
Where the taxes have been levied by the governing authority of the said Bayou
D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District, the sheriff and ex-officio tax collector for the parish in
which the property is located shall make monthly statements with the parish treasurer and
receive from him a receipt for the amount of special taxes paid over, in the same manner as
the tax collectors are required to settle with the auditor of the state, and he shall receive from
the parish treasurer the same quietus for a full settlement of taxes due and exigible in a given
year and account for the delinquence or deductions in the same manner as though accounting
to the auditor of the state for the state taxes. The sheriff and ex-officio tax collector shall
retain no commission thereon. Upon the failure of the tax collector to comply with the
provisions of this section, the governing authorities of the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed
District shall proceed against him and the sureties on his official bond, for the collection for
whatever amount may be due the said Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District.
(18) For the purpose of providing funds to carry out the objects and purposes for
which the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District is created, through its board of
commissioners, may call special elections for the purpose of submitting to the property
taxpayers throughout the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District as hereinabove defined
to vote at such election, a proposition to levy annually a special tax not to exceed 1 mill on
the dollar upon all the taxable property within the district, to run for a period of not more
than 10 years. The expense of any election so held shall be borne by the police jury of each
parish within which the said district is located as above defined.
(19) In the resolution calling an election, the rate, object and purpose for which the
tax is to be levied and the number of years it is to run must be stated. After the resolution
is passed by the board of commissioners of the said district, notice of the election shall be
given, embracing substantially all things that are required to be set forth in the resolution, and
setting forth further, that the authorities ordering the election will, in open session to be held
at an hour and place named in the notice, proceed to open the ballot boxes, examine and
count the ballots in number and amount, and declare the results of the election. This notice
shall be advertised for thirty days in a daily newspaper published in the district, and the
insertion of the advertisements once a week for five weeks in such newspapers shall
constitute sufficient notice. Thirty days must intervene from the day on which the
advertisement is first inserted and the day on which the election takes place.
(20) Only property taxpayers, qualified as electors under the constitution and laws
of the state shall be entitled to vote at such elections; the qualifications of the taxpayers as
voters shall be those of age, residents and registered as voters.
(21) The board of commissioners of the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District
shall designate the polling places, provide the ballot boxes, ballots, evaluations of property
and compile statement of the voters in number and amount and fix the compensation of
election officers. They shall appoint for each polling place three commissioners and one
clerk of election all of whom shall be persons qualified to vote at such election. The police
jury of the respective parish within which such portion of the district is situated shall pay all
of the expenses of such election.
(22) The registrar of voters in each parish within which the district is situated shall
furnish to the election commissioners appointed to hold the election a list of taxpayers
entitled to vote, together with valuation of each taxpayer's property as shown by the
assessment roll and filed prior to the election. When any taxpayer's name and valuation of
property is omitted from such list or erroneously entered thereon, the commissioners of
election may receive affidavits of such taxpayer entitled to vote and the assessed valuation
of his property, which affidavit shall be attached to his taxpayer's ballot. No defect or
irregularity in or omission from the list of voters furnished by the registrar of voters shall
affect the validity of the election, unless it is established that voters deprived of right to vote
were sufficient in number and amount to have changed the result of the election.
(23) The questions submitted to the voters at special elections shall hereunder and
the ballot to be used hereat shall be substantially of the following form:
Shall the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake District of Louisiana impose, levy and collect
annually for the term of ______ years, beginning with the year 19 ___, a tax not exceeding
one mill on the dollar upon all the taxable property within the district for the purpose of
providing funds for carrying out the objects and purposes for which it is created? Taxable
valuation $_______________.
_____________________________
Signature of Voter
To vote in favor of the proposition submitted upon this ballot place an (X) in the
square after the word "yes"; to vote against it, place a similar mark after the word "no".
(24) If any commission or clerk of election is unable, fails, or neglects to attend
or serve at the polling place designated and at the hour fixed for opening the polls or
within one hour thereafter, the commissioners present shall appoint, or in the absence of
all commissioners, the voters present shall elect, the necessary number of commissioners
and clerks, who shall have the same powers, compensation and duties as other
commissioners and clerks and shall serve in the place and stead of the delinquent
absentee appointees. Commissioners and clerks of elections, before opening the polls,
shall be sworn to perform all duties encumbent upon them as such, the oaths to be taken
before any officer authorized to administer oaths or by the clerk, and each commissioner
of election before any other commissioner. Commissioners and clerks may administer
any affidavit provided for in this Part.
(25) Each voter's name shall be written on his ballot. The commissioners of
election shall receive the ballot of each voter, check his name on the list of voters
furnished by the registrar as having voted, enter number of his name on the list of
taxpayers voting, and immediately deposit his ballot in the ballot box, reserving to each
voter the right to so fold his ballot that it shall not be known at the time whether he voted
for or against the proposition submitted.
(26) The polls shall be opened on the date appointed at 7 o'clock a.m. and remain
open until, and not later than, 7 o'clock p.m. No election shall be vitiated by the failure
to open the polls at the time prescribed or by closing them before the time prescribed,
unless on a contest it could be established that voters were there by the time to vote
sufficient in number and amount to have changed the result of the election.
(27) Immediately after the closing of the polls the commissioners shall, in the
presence of the bystanders, open the ballot box, count the ballots found therein, check the
same with the list of voters kept, proceed to count the votes in number and amount, keep
in duplicate tally sheets showing the votes in number in favor or against the proposition
submitted and showing the valuation of property in favor of and against the same, make
in duplicate compiled statements of the vote in number and amount, both in favor of and
against the proposition. After swearing to the correctness of the numbered list of voters
the duplicate tally sheets and duplicate compiled statements, they shall deposit the
ballots, registrar's list of voters, the numbered list of taxpayers voting, one duplicate tally
sheet and one duplicate compiled statement in the ballot box, immediately seal the said
ballot box and within 72 hours after the closing of the polls, deliver said sealed ballot box
with its contents to the board of commissioners of the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake District,
at its domicile, and shall within the said period, deliver the duplicate tally sheet and the
duplicate compiled statement to the clerk of the district court of the parish in which the
said ballots represented thereby were cast, who shall file the same in his office. If the
election commissioners on counting the ballots find they do not correspond with the list
of voters, they shall, before examining and counting the ballots, examine the same for the
purpose of finding the discrepancy, and if it should be found that any ballots have been
duplicated, the same shall be destroyed, or if it be found that the name of a voter has been
omitted from the list of persons voted, the same shall be added to the list.
(28) On the day and at the hour and place named in the notice of election, the
board of commissioners of the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District shall, in public
session, open the ballot boxes, examine and count the ballots in number and amount,
examine and canvass the returns and declare the results of such election. The results
shall be promulgated by the proclamation published in one issue of a daily newspaper
published in both parishes in which the said district is located. The board of
commissioners shall keep a proces verbal of the manner in which the ballot boxes were
opened, the returns canvassed and the result of the election ascertained, and shall forward
a copy thereof to the secretary of state, who shall record the same; a copy to the clerk of
the district court of each parish within the district who shall record the same in the
mortgage records of his parish, retaining the original proces verbal in the archives of the
said district and in the clerk's office of each parish located in the district. The secretary
of the board of commissioners of the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed District shall
preserve a term of three months from the date of the promulgation of the election, the
ballots and other returns thereof.
(29) During the 30 days next following the publication of the proclamation
declaring the results of any election, if the same be in favor of the tax, any taxpayer
within the district may contest the legality of the election by appropriate action.
Thereafter, no one may contest the regularity, formality or legality of the election or the
validity of the tax levied or authorized to be levied, but the same shall be absolutely
incontestable for any cause whatever and no court may hear or determine any such
question, and the board of commissioners of the district shall not be permitted to question
this authority to levy the tax.
(30) If a majority in number and amount of the qualified taxpayers voting at the
election vote in favor of the proposition to levy the tax, the board of commissioners of
the district may, by resolution, proceed to levy such tax from year to year, for the term
for which the same has been voted. The board shall not be required to levy the full one
mill tax, but their failure to levy the tax in any one year shall not permit them to exceed
the one mill tax for any subsequent year.
(31) The copy of the resolution levying the tax, certified by the secretary of the
board of commissioners of the said district, shall be transmitted to the tax assessor of
each parish within the district on or before June 1 of the year in which the tax is to be
assessed and collected, and it shall be the duty of each assessor to assess the tax and
extend the same upon the tax rolls of his parish. The tax shall be collected by the sheriff
and ex-officio tax collector of each parish in the same manner as taxes levied by the state.
The several tax collectors shall make settlements for taxes so collected with the state
auditor and state treasurer for the account of the respective Bayou D'Arbonne Lake
Watershed District, and the funds so derived shall be withdrawn upon the warrant of the
secretary of the board of commissioners of the Bayou D'Arbonne Lake Watershed
District, countersigned by the president of the said commission. Taxes assessed shall
constitute the same liens upon the property assessed; shall bear the same penalties; and
collection thereof shall be enforced in the same manner and at the same time as state and
parish taxes.

Legislative History

Acts 1956, No. 9, §8. Amended by Acts 1962, No. 194, §2; Acts 1993, No. 830, §2; Acts 1995, No. 711, §1; Acts 2022, No. 108, §2.