Colorado § 37-21-114 - Construction of system - contracts.

§ 37-21-114. Construction of system - contracts.

(1) The board of directors may cause surveys to be made for ditches for drainage works and rights-of-way for said district; may cause drainage or irrigation ditches, work, rights-of-way, and other property necessary for said district to be laid out, constructed, purchased, and acquired by condemnation or otherwise; and may appropriate, divert, and use waters for beneficial purposes, including any water gathered in or discharged by the works of any such district, under the same rules as to ownership, title, appropriation, priority, and adjudication of priorities as are applicable to individuals. The district shall file applications for water rights, changes of water rights, and plans for augmentation as provided in section 37-92-302.

(2) The board of directors has no power to make any contract or authorize any expenditure involving more than fifty thousand dollars unless such contract or expenditure is authorized, approved, and ratified in writing by owners of land in said drainage district equal in number to a majority of the votes cast at the last district election; and no contract or expenditure involving more than one hundred thousand dollars shall be made or be binding unless the question of making said contract or expenditure has been submitted and said expenditure authorized at an election in said district. The board of directors shall not violate the spending limitations specified in section 29-1-301, C.R.S.

(3) The board of directors has the power and authority, without advertising for bids as required by section 37-24-101, to enter into contracts either with the state of Colorado or with the United States, or both, jointly, for any and all surveys, plans, and specifications for a proposed drainage ditch, system, or works and also for the construction in whole or in part of such drainage ditch, system, or works. Such contracts shall provide for the payment by such drainage district to the state of Colorado or the United States, or both, as the case may be, of the actual cost of making such surveys, plans, and specifications and the actual cost of construction of such drainage ditch, system, or works, by such amounts as shall be agreed upon in such contracts. Any such contracts shall not become effective and binding upon any such drainage district until the question of making such contracts is submitted to and authorized at an election of the qualified electors of said district.

Source: L. 11: p. 316, § 23. L. 15: p. 294, § 1. C.L. § 2130. L. 23: p. 279, § 1. CSA: C. 57, § 24. CRS 53: § 47-2-3. L. 55: p. 292, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 47-2-3. L. 73: p. 1403, § 35. L. 88: (2) amended, p. 1225, § 2, effective March 17.

ANNOTATION

Payments and taxes for construction work not authorized more than statutory limit are void. Directors of a drainage district, after advertising for bids pursuant to § 37-24-101, entered into a contract for the construction of a drainage system which was signed by a majority of the landowners in the district. The work was not completed under the contract and the district board authorized the expenditure of more than statutory limit. In these circumstances district warrants issued in payment for the construction work are void, as is also a tax levy and sale based upon the involved expenditure. Swedlund v. Denver Joint Stock Land Bank, 108 Colo. 400, 118 P.2d 460 (1941).

Courts will correct an abuse committed by directors of a drainage district under the guise of discretionary powers. Olney Springs Drainage Dist. v. Auckland, 83 Colo. 510, 267 P. 605 (1928).

Directors of a drainage district who attempt to act beyond the scope of their official powers held properly restrained by injunction. Olney Springs Drainage Dist. v. Auckland, 83 Colo. 510, 267 P. 605 (1928).