§ 41-7-303 — Organization as board; officers; powers and duties generally; contracts and cooperation with United States generally

The commissioners appointed as aforesaid, and their successors
in office, shall, from the entry of such order of confirmation,
constitute the corporate authority of said irrigation district,
and shall exercise the functions conferred on them by law. They
shall organize as a board, elect a president from their number
and appoint a secretary-treasurer who may or may not be a member
of the board. The board shall have power, and it shall be their
duty, to adopt bylaws, manage and conduct the affairs and
business of the district, make and execute all necessary
contracts, employ such agents, attorneys, officers and employees
as may be required, and prescribe their duties, establish
equitable rules and regulations for the distribution and use of
water to and upon the lands of the district; provided, always,
that such rules shall not be in conflict with or contrary to any
statute of this state relative to such matters; and generally to
perform all such acts as shall be necessary to fully carry out
the purposes of this article [chapter]. Said board shall have
the power in addition to the means to supply water to said
district proposed by the petition submitted for the formation of
said district, to construct, acquire or purchase any and all
canals, ditches, reservoirs, reservoir sites, water rights,
rights of way, or other property necessary for the use of the
district. In case of the purchase of any property by such
district the bonds of the district hereinafter provided for may
be used at their par value in payment without previous offer of
such bonds for sale. For the purpose of acquiring control over
government land within the district and complying with the
provisions of the act of congress of August 11, 1916, the board
shall have authority to make such investigation, and based
thereon, such representation and assurances to the secretary of
the interior as may be requisite; and the board may contract
with the United States for the construction, operation and
maintenance of the necessary works for the delivery and
distribution of water therefrom under the provisions of the
federal reclamation act, and all acts amendatory thereof and
supplementary thereto and the rules and regulations established
thereunder, or for the assumption, as principal or guarantor of
the indebtedness to the United States on account of district
lands. The board may contract with the United States for a water
supply under any act of congress providing for or permitting
such contract and in case any contract has been or may
thereafter be made with the United States as herein provided,
bonds of the district may be deposited with the United States at
ninety percent (90%) of their par value, to the amount to be
paid by the district to the United States under any such
contract, the interest on said bonds, if bearing interest, to be
provided for by assessment and levy as in case of other bonds of
the district and regularly paid to the United States to be
applied as provided in such contract; and if bonds of the
district are not so deposited it shall be the duty of the board
to include as part of any levy or assessment provided for
herein, an amount sufficient to meet each year all payments
accruing under the terms of any such contract; and the board may
accept on behalf of the district, appointment of the district as
a fiscal agent of the United States, or authorization of the
district by the United States to make collection of moneys for
or on behalf of the United States, in connection with any
federal reclamation project, whereupon the district shall be
authorized to so act and to assume the duties and liabilities
incident to such action, and the said board shall have full
power to do any and all things required by the federal statutes
now or hereafter enacted in connection therewith, and all things
required by the rules and regulations now or that may hereafter
be established by any department of the federal government in
regard thereto. The board shall have the power to buy, develop,
sell and distribute electrical energy as an incident to the
ownership, control and operation of the irrigation works of the
district or the cooperative works of the district and the United
States and to use, sell and distribute the same. The said rules
and regulations shall be printed in convenient form as soon as
the same are adopted, for the distribution in the district;
provided, however, that the commissioners of the district shall
not contract with the United States for the construction,
operation or maintenance of the necessary works for the delivery
and distribution of water to district lands, or for the drainage
of district lands, under the provisions of the federal
reclamation act and any act or acts amendatory thereof or
supplementary thereto, or the rules and regulations established
thereunder, or for the assumption as principal or guarantor, of
indebtedness to the United States on account of district lands,
or for a water supply or drainage incident to irrigation under
any act of congress providing for or permitting such contract,
or for acceptance by the district of appointment or
authorization as fiscal agent of the United States to make
collections of moneys for or on behalf of the United States in
connection with any federal reclamation project, until there has
been an election duly held at which a majority of the qualified
electors present and voting have voted in favor of making any
such contract.