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.