358.5 Hearing of petition and order.

1. The board of supervisors to whom the petition is addressed shall preside at the hearing provided for in section 358.4 and shall continue the hearing in session, with adjournments from day to day, if necessary, until completed, without being required to give any further notice of the hearing. Proof of the residences and qualifications of the petitioners as eligible electors shall be made by affidavit or otherwise as the board may direct. The board may consider the boundaries of a proposed sanitary district, whether they shall be as described in the petition or otherwise, and for that purpose may alter and amend the petition and limit or change the boundaries of the proposed district as stated in the petition. The board shall adjust the boundaries of a proposed district as needed to exclude land that has no reasonable likelihood of benefit from inclusion in the proposed district. The boundaries of a proposed district shall not be changed to incorporate property not included in the original petition and published notice until the owner of the property is given notice of inclusion as on the original hearing. All persons in the proposed district shall have an opportunity to be heard regarding the location and boundaries of the proposed district and to make suggestions regarding the location and boundaries. The board of supervisors, after hearing the statements, evidence and suggestions made and offered at the hearing, shall enter an order fixing and determining the limits and boundaries of the proposed district and directing that an election be held for the purpose of submitting to the registered voters residing within the boundaries of the proposed district the question of organization and establishment of the proposed sanitary district as determined by the board of supervisors. The order shall fix a date for the election not more than sixty days after the date of the order.

2. A majority of the landowners, owning in the aggregate more than seventy percent of the total land in the proposed district, may file a written remonstrance against the proposed district at or before the time fixed for the hearing on the proposed district with the county auditor. If the remonstrance is filed, the board of supervisors shall discontinue all further proceedings on the proposed district and charge the costs incurred to date relating to the establishment of the proposed district.

[C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §358.5]

84 Acts, ch 1051, §2; 95 Acts, ch 67, §53; 98 Acts, ch 1139, §1; 2018 Acts, ch 1041, §88

Referred to in §358.8

Section amended