Upon its qualification, the board of directors of a sanitary district shall prepare a plan for the improvement for which the district was created. The plan shall include such maps, profiles, plans, and other data and descriptions as are necessary to set forth properly the location and character of the work, and of the property benefited or taken or damaged, with estimates of cost. In the case of a district organized wholly or partly for the reduction of populations of biting arthropods, the plan is sufficient if it includes a description, in general terms, of the methods of reducing such populations to be utilized, and it shall not be necessary to indicate in the plan the particular parcels of land in the district where the physical structures, devices, or improvements incident to the reduction of such populations are to be constructed or where the labor incident to the reduction of biting arthropod populations will be employed.

In the preparation of the plan, the board may recognize the necessity of future extensions and enlargements that may result from enlargements of the area of the district, in order that the district improvements may be designed to meet properly the increased demands. The plan for a water supply for domestic, municipal, and public use shall be prepared with recognition of an equitable apportionment of the available supply to each political subdivision within the district. If the purposes for which the district was established include both improved sanitation and improved water supply a plan shall be prepared for each purpose.

If the board finds that any former survey made by any other district or in any other manner is useful for the purposes of the district, the board may take over the data secured by such survey, or such other proceedings as is useful to it, and may pay therefor an amount equal to the value of such data to the district.

Upon the completion of the plan, the board shall submit it to the environmental protection agency for approval. In deciding whether to approve or reject the plan, the agency shall consider, among other factors, the protection of the public health, and compliance with air and water quality standards and regulations and solid waste disposal requirements. If the agency rejects the plan, the board shall proceed as in the first instance under this section to prepare another plan. If the agency refers the plan to the board for amendment, the board shall prepare and submit an amended plan to the agency. If the agency approves the plan, a copy of the action of the agency shall be filed with the secretary of the district and by him incorporated into the records of the district.

Upon the approval of the plan by the agency, the board shall cause notice by publication to be given in each county of the district of the completion of the plan, and shall permit the inspection of the plan at its office by all persons interested. The notice shall fix the time and place for the hearing of all objections to the plan which shall be not less than twenty nor more than thirty days after the last publication of the notice. All objections to the plan shall be in writing and filed with the secretary at his office not more than ten days after the last publication of the notice. After the hearing before the board, the board shall adopt the plan as the official plan of the district. If any persons object to the official plan, so adopted, then those persons may, within ten days from the adoption of the official plan, file their objections in writing, specifying the features of the plan to which they object, in the original case establishing the district in the office of the clerk of the court, who shall fix a day for the hearing of the objections before the court which shall be not less than twenty nor more than thirty days after the time fixed for filing objections, at which time the judges, sitting as a court as provided in section 6115.08 of the Revised Code for the organization of the district, shall meet at the courthouse of the county where the original case is pending and hear the objections and adopt, reject, or refer back the plan to the board. A majority of the judges shall control. If the court rejects the plan, the board shall proceed as in the first instance under this section to prepare another plan. If the court refers the plan to the board for amendment, then the court shall continue the hearing to a day certain without publication of notice. If the court approves the plan as the official plan of the district, a certified copy of the journal of the court shall be filed with the secretary, and by him incorporated into the records of the district.

The official plan may be altered in detail until the assessment roll is filed, and of all the alterations the board of appraisers of the sanitary district shall take notice. After the assessment roll has been filed in court, no alterations of the official plan shall be made except as provided in section 6115.40 of the Revised Code.

The board of directors of a sanitary district shall have full power and authority to devise, prepare for, execute, maintain, and operate all works or improvements necessary or desirable to complete, maintain, operate, and protect the official plan. It may secure and use men and equipment under the supervision of the chief engineer or other agents, or it may let contracts for such works, either as a whole or in parts.

Effective Date: 10-09-1981 .