reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
AR Code § 14-125-305 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 3 - Board of Directors|§ 14-125-305. Employees — Legal services

 (a) The directors may employ technical experts, whose qualifications shall be approved by the commission, and such other employees as they may require, and shall determine their qualifications, duties, and compensations.  (b) The directors may call upon the commission's attorney or the Attorney General for such legal services as they may require.
AR Code § 14-125-306 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 3 - Board of Directors|§ 14-125-306. Furnishing information to commission

 The directors shall furnish to the commission, upon request, copies of such rules, regulations, orders, contracts, forms, and other documents as they shall adopt or employ and such other information concerning their activities as it may require in the performance of its duties under this chapter.
AR Code § 14-125-307 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 3 - Board of Directors|§ 14-125-307. Assistance from counties and municipalities

 (a) The directors may invite the legislative body of any municipality or county located within or near the territory comprised within the district to designate a representative to advise and consult with the directors of the district on all questions of program and policy which may affect the property, water supply, or other interests of the municipality or county.  (b) Since the protection, preservation, conservation, and proper utilization of renewable natural resources are necessary in order to protect the public health and welfare, the county judge of any county served by a conservation district may assist the directors of the district in carrying out the purposes of this chapter. To that end he may use the equipment and employees of the county to do the conservation work as may be requested by the directors and may make a reasonable charge therefor.  (c) In the event the county court finds that the benefits accruing to the county by reason of the program of a conservation district justify the action, it may make donations to the district of money, services, or the use of equipment.  (d) The directors of those districts desiring county assistance shall make application therefor to the county judge and in such form as he may prescribe.  (e) The quorum courts of the respective counties of the state are authorized and empowered to appropriate annually an amount as may be deemed necessary for such purposes.
AR Code § 14-125-308 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 3 - Board of Directors|§ 14-125-308. Cooperation between districts

 The directors of any two (2) or more districts organized under the provisions of this chapter may cooperate with one another in the exercise of any or all powers conferred in this chapter.
AR Code § 14-125-309 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 3 - Board of Directors|§ 14-125-309. Construction

 (a) The board of directors shall have control of the construction of the works provided for in the improvement plan.  (b) It may advertise in local or state papers or papers published in other states for proposals for doing any work by contract. No work exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) shall be let without public advertisement. The board may accept or reject any proposals.  (c) If the improvement plan is undertaken in cooperation with the United States, the board may enter into an agreement providing for the construction of the works of improvement and awarding of contracts therefor, to be by, and under the control and supervision of, the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof. In that event the advertisement, award, and carrying out of the contracts shall be in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to such federal agency.  (d) All contractors shall be required to give bond for the faithful performance of such contracts as may be awarded them for construction of the works provided for in the improvement plan, with good and sufficient sureties, in an amount to be fixed by the board. The board shall not remit or excuse the penalty or forfeiture of the bond or the breaches thereof.  (e) The board may:  (1) Appoint all necessary agents for carrying on the work and fix their pay;  (2) Buy all necessary materials and implements and sell any material or implements as may be on hand and which may not be necessary for the completion of the improvements; and  (3) Make all such contracts in the prosecution of the work as may best subserve the public interest.    (f) It shall be the duty of the board to have the amount of work done by any contractor estimated, from time to time as may be desirable, by the engineer selected by the board. The board shall draw its warrants in favor of the contractor for not more than ninety percent (90%) of the amount of work so reported, reserving the remainder until it has been ascertained that the work has been completed according to contract and is free from liens.
AR Code § 14-125-310 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 3 - Board of Directors|§ 14-125-310. Surety bonds, records of proceedings, and audits

 The directors shall provide for:   (1) The execution of surety bonds for all employees and officers who shall be entrusted with funds or property;  (2) The keeping of a full and accurate record of all proceedings and of all resolutions, regulations, and orders issued or adopted; and  (3) An annual audit of the accounts of receipts and disbursements.
AR Code § 14-125-311 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 3 - Board of Directors|§ 14-125-311. Record and report of financial transactions

 (a) The board of directors shall keep a complete record of all financial transactions relating to the carrying out of the approved plan for works of improvement in a project area.  (b)  (1) On or before March 1 of each year, the board shall file with the clerk of the court a sworn statement covering the preceding year ending December 31 of the financial condition of the district with respect to the approved plan in a project area.  (2) In project areas with revenues, from whatever source derived, in excess of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per year, the pertinent books, records, and last annual report of the district with respect to the approved plan shall be examined at least once a year by a certified public accountant.  (3) The accountant shall file a report of the examination with the clerk of the court within thirty (30) days after completing such examination.  (4) The accountant shall recommend the form and method for keeping books and records and for making the reports of the district with respect to the approved plan.  (5) The expense of the examination shall be paid as a part of the expenses of carrying out the approved plan.
AR Code § 14-125-312 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 3 - Board of Directors|§ 14-125-312. Health insurance for conservation district employees

 Conservation district employees are deemed to be state employees for the purpose of participating in group health insurance programs.
AR Code § 14-125-401 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-401. In general

 Any district or districts organized under the provisions of this chapter may be divided, or combined with any other district or districts, or divided and combined with any other district or districts in the manner set out in §§ 14-125-402 — 14-125-409.
AR Code § 14-125-402 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-402. Petition requesting division or combination

 (a) At least twenty-five (25) landowners of each district affected by the proposed division or combination shall sign and file with the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission a petition requesting that the district or districts, as the case may be, and the operations thereof, be divided or combined, or divided and combined, in the manner requested.  (b) The commission shall prescribe the form for the petitions, which shall be as nearly as may be in the form described in this chapter for petitions to organize a district.  (c) The commission may conduct the public meetings and public hearings upon the petition as may be necessary to assist it in the consideration thereof.  (d) The commission may define in more detail the boundaries outlined in the petitions for the districts proposed to result from the division or combination.
AR Code § 14-125-403 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-403. Conduct of referendum

 (a) Within sixty (60) days after a petition has been filed with the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission pursuant to § 14-125-402, the commission shall give due notice of the holding of a referendum, shall supervise and conduct the referendum, and shall issue appropriate rules governing the conduct thereof.  (b) Each owner of land lying within the district or districts to be affected shall be entitled to vote, and only such landowners shall be entitled to vote.  (c) The commission shall make provisions on the referendum for each landowner to vote:  (1) On whether or not he or she approves of the proposed division, if any, of the district in which his or her land is located; and  (2) On whether or not he or she approves of the proposed new district in which his or her land will be located under the proposed combination, if any.    (d) No informalities in the conduct of the referendum or in any matters relating thereto shall invalidate the referendum or the result thereof if notice shall have been given substantially as provided in this section and the referendum shall have been fairly conducted.
AR Code § 14-125-404 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-404. Results of referendum — Commission determination

 (a) The commission shall publish the results of the referendum and shall thereafter consider and determine whether the division or combination requested in the petition is administratively practicable and feasible.  (b) If the commission shall determine that the division or combination of the district or districts is not administratively practicable and feasible, it shall record the determinations and deny the petition. If the commission shall determine that the division or combination is administratively feasible and practicable, it shall record the determinations and proceed with the division or combination of the district or districts in the manner hereafter provided.  (c) In making the determinations, the commission shall give due regard and weight to:  (1) The attitudes of the owners of lands lying within the defined boundaries of the districts to be affected;  (2) The number of landowners eligible to vote in the referendum who shall have voted;  (3) The proportion of the votes cast in the referendum in favor of the division or combination of the district or districts to the total number of votes cast;  (4) The approximate wealth and income of the land owners of the proposed new district or districts;  (5) The probable expense of carrying on erosion-control operations within the district or districts; and  (6) Such other economic and social factors as may be relevant to the combination, having due regard to the legislative determinations set forth in §§ 14-125-102 — 14-125-104.    (d) However, no district or districts may be divided or combined if a majority of land owners voting vote against either the particular division or combination which is submitted to their vote as hereinabove provided.
AR Code § 14-125-405 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-405. Directors — Certification of commission determination

 (a) If the commission shall determine that the proposed division or combination is practicable and feasible in its entirety, it shall appoint for each district to result from the proposed division or combination two (2) directors to act with three (3) directors to be elected in accordance with, and subject to, the terms and conditions set forth in §§ 14-125-301 and 14-125-302, except that the nominating petitions shall be filed within thirty (30) days of the determination of the commission and notice thereof to the eligible voters, as the governing body of each such district.  (b) Any existing director shall be eligible to be appointed or elected as a new director.  (c) The commission shall then certify to the new directors, and to the directors of each existing district which is to be divided or combined, hereinafter sometimes called “old directors”, the determination of the commission as to the administrative practicability and feasibility of the division or combination, the boundaries of the proposed district, the names, addresses, and positions of the directors appointed or elected for each new district, and such other data as it deems appropriate.  (d) Thereupon, the old directors of each district to be divided, if any, shall decide the proportion and manner of division of its property, assets, and rights, exclusive, however, of any executory contracts, among the new districts into which the old district is to be divided, taking into consideration the nature and source of the property, assets, and rights, the comparative sizes of the new divisions, the number of landowners of each division, and general considerations of fairness in making the allocation.  (e) The directors shall notify the commission and the new directors, who are to receive any of the property, rights, and assets, of their decision; and the property, assets, and rights shall then be divided and transferred accordingly.  (f) If no division of a district is to be made, the directors shall simply transfer the assets, property, and rights of the district to the new directors of the combined district of which it will comprise a part.  (g) If the directors of a district to be divided are unable to agree on the division of the property, assets, and rights to be made, within sixty (60) days after the certification of determination from the commission, they shall notify the commission. After a hearing of the directors and any other persons within the district who may be, in the commission's judgment, reasonably entitled to be heard, the commission shall decide and determine finally the proportions and manner of the division and shall certify its decision to the directors, who shall proceed forthwith to divide the property, assets, and rights accordingly.
AR Code § 14-125-406 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-406. Application for completion

 (a) Upon receiving the property, assets, and rights to which they shall be entitled under the division or combination decided upon in the above manner, the directors of each resulting district shall file an application, duly verified, with the Secretary of State, for the completion of the division or combination, which application shall set forth, and such application need contain no detail other than the mere recitals that:  (1) A petition for the division or combination of the district was filed with the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and that the proceedings specified in this chapter were taken pursuant to petition;  (2) The application is being filed in order to complete the division or combination of the old district or districts as governmental subdivisions and public bodies, corporate and politic, under this chapter;  (3) They have been appointed and elected, respectively, as directors; and  (4) The application shall also set forth with respect to the resulting district or districts the matters required in § 14-125-206.    (b) The application shall:  (1) Be executed and sworn to as provided in § 14-125-206; and  (2) Be accompanied by a statement by the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission, which shall certify, and such a statement need contain no detail other than the mere recitals, that:  (A) A petition was filed, notice given, and a referendum held on the question of dividing or combining the named districts;  (B) The commission did duly determine that the division or combination was administratively practicable and feasible; and  (C) The division or combination of the property, assets, and rights was decided upon and carried out in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.    (3) The statement shall set forth the boundaries of the district as they have been described in the petition or further defined by the commission.
AR Code § 14-125-407 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-407. Processing applications — Certification of resulting districts

 The Secretary of State shall examine the applications, shall receive and file them, and shall record them in the book for the recording of applications for the organization of districts. The old districts shall cease to exist as districts, and the resulting districts shall constitute governmental subdivisions of this state and public bodies corporate and politic. The secretary shall issue to the directors of each resulting district a certificate, under the seal of the state, of the due constitution by division or combination, as the case may be, of the district and shall record the certificate with the application and statement.
AR Code § 14-125-408 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-408. Effect of prior district regulations, contracts, etc. — Commission responsibility

 (a) Upon the issuance of the certificate of due constitution of each such district under the provisions of this chapter, all ordinances and regulations theretofore adopted and in force within the former districts shall be of no further force and effect.  (b) All contracts, agreements, and easements entered into, to which an old district or the old directors thereof, are parties, shall remain in force and effect for the period provided in the contracts.  (c) The Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission shall be substituted for the district or directors as a party to such contracts.  (d) The commission shall be entitled to all benefits and subject to all liabilities under the contracts and shall have the same right and liability to perform, to require performance, to sue and be sued, and to modify or terminate the contracts by mutual consent or otherwise, as the supervisors of the former district would have had.  (e) The commission may designate and direct any of the new districts to act as its agent to carry out any contract or duty, or enforce any right, or perform any other work which accrues to it under this subchapter on account of the division or combination of an old district.
AR Code § 14-125-409 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-409. District powers and restrictions

 The district constituted by the division or combination, and the directors thereof, shall have the same powers and be subject to the same restrictions as districts organized under §§ 14-125-201 — 14-125-209 and the directors thereof.
AR Code § 14-125-410 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 4 - Division or Combination of Districts|§ 14-125-410. Change of district name

 (a) The name of any soil and water conservation district may be changed with the approval of the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission upon:  (1) The adoption of a resolution by a majority of the board of directors of the district; and  (2) The filing of a certified copy of the resolution with the Secretary of State.    (b) The Secretary of State shall, if he finds that the name is not identical or so nearly similar to the name of another soil and water conservation district as to lead to confusion or uncertainty, file the resolution and issue a new certificate to the district showing the new name.
AR Code § 14-125-501 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 5 - Land-Use Regulations|§ 14-125-501. Authority to formulate regulations — Meetings and hearings

 (a) The directors of any district may formulate regulations governing the use of lands within the district in the interest of conserving soil and soil resources and preventing and controlling soil erosion.  (b) The directors may conduct public meetings and public hearings upon tentative regulations as may be necessary to assist them in this work.
AR Code § 14-125-502 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 14 - Local Government|Subtitle 7 - Water and Soil Improvement Districts|Chapter 125 - Conservation Districts Law|Subchapter 5 - Land-Use Regulations|§ 14-125-502. Contents of regulations — Uniformity

 (a) The regulations to be adopted by the directors under the provisions of this subchapter may include:  (1) Provisions requiring the carrying out of necessary engineering operations, including the construction of terraces, terrace outlets, check dams, dikes, ponds, ditches, and other necessary structures;  (2) Provisions requiring observance of particular methods of cultivation including contour cultivating, contour furrowing, lister furrowing, sowing, planting, strip cropping, seeding, and planting of lands with water-conserving and erosion-preventing plants, trees, and grasses, forestation, and reforestation;  (3) Provisions requiring the retirement from cultivation of highly erosive areas or of areas on which erosion may not be adequately controlled if cultivation is carried on;  (4) Provisions for such other means, measures, operations, and programs as may assist conservation of soil resources and prevent or control soil erosion in the district, having due regard for the legislative findings set forth in §§ 14-125-102 — 14-125-104.    (b) The regulations shall be uniform throughout the territory comprised within the district except that the directors may classify the lands within the district with reference to such factors as soil type, degree of slope, degree of erosion threatened or existing, cropping and tillage practices in use, and other relevant factors and may provide regulations varying with the type or class of land affected but uniform as to all lands within each class or type.