Sec. 10. 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.