§ 41-3-723 — Hearing procedure generally

(a) Immediately after the filing of such petition, the
court wherein such petition is filed or a judge thereof in
vacation, shall by order fix a place and time, not less than
sixty (60) days nor more than ninety (90) days after the
petition is filed, for hearing thereon and thereupon the clerk
of said court shall cause notice by publication to be made of
the pendency of the petition and of the time and place of
hearing thereon; the clerk of said court shall also forthwith
cause a copy of said notice to be mailed by U.S. registered mail
to the board of county commissioners of each of the several
counties having territory within the proposed district. At the
same time, and in the same manner, the clerk of said court
aforesaid shall forward to the state engineer, at his office in
the capital, a copy of the notice of hearing, and a certified
copy of such petition.
(b) The district court in and for the county in which the
petition for the organization of a water conservancy district
has been filed, shall thereafter for all purposes of this act,
except as hereinafter otherwise provided, maintain and have
original and exclusive jurisdiction, coextensive with the
boundaries of said water conservancy district, and of land and
other property proposed to be included in said district or
affected by said district without regard to the usual limits of
its jurisdiction.
(c) The state engineer, in his official capacity, upon the
filing of the petition for the organization of a water
conservancy district, shall become an interested party in all
court proceedings thereafter involving the validity, or
invalidity, of such petition, and he shall have the right to
participate as a party in all such proceedings either in person,
by counsel, or both. Not later than ten (10) days prior to the
date fixed by the court for the hearing on the pending petition,
the state engineer shall file a formal answer in the
proceedings, with copies of his answer to the attorneys
representing the sponsors of the petition, in which said answer
the state engineer shall indicate his approval, or disapproval,
of said petition, or any part or parts thereof. If the state
engineer disapproves the petition or any part or parts thereof,
he shall set forth in detail in his answer his reasons for the
disapproval. No replication, or other pleading, by the sponsors
of the petition, to the answer of the state engineer, shall be
permitted; but such sponsors at the hearing on the petition will
be permitted to offer whatever material testimony or evidence
they desire to present to the court with respect to the answer
of the state engineer. The district judge who has jurisdiction
over the proceedings may, in his discretion, request, or
subpoena, the state engineer to appear as a witness in support
of the answer filed by the state engineer.
(d) No judge of such court wherein such petition is filed
shall be disqualified to perform any duty imposed by this act by
reason of ownership of property within any water conservancy
district or proposed water conservancy district, or by reason of
ownership of any property that may be benefited, taxed or
assessed therein.