Arkansas Code of 1987 (2023) › Title 14 - LOCAL GOVERNMENT (§§ 14-1-101 — 14-387-706) › Subtitle 7 - WATER AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS (§§ 14-114-101 — 14-126-103) › Chapter 116 - REGIONAL WATER DISTRIBUTION DISTRICT ACT (§§ 14-116-101 — 14-116-801) › Subchapter 5 - IMPROVEMENT OF WATER DISTRICTS (§§ 14-116-501 — 14-116-505) › Section 14-116-502 - Court approval of project improvement plan - Appointment of assessor

(a)
The board of directors of the regional water distribution district shall by petition request court approval of the improvement plan. As part of its petition, the board of directors of a regional water distribution district shall submit a copy of the final survey and report along with such additional information or maps necessary so that the court may understand there from the purpose, utility, feasibility, and need for the improvement plan.
(b)
Upon the filing of the petition by the board of directors of a regional water distribution district, the court clerk shall give notice thereof by certified registered letter to each landowner, at the address contained in the records of the county tax collector, owning property within the proposed improvement project area and by publication for two (2) weeks in a newspaper published and having a general circulation in the water district calling upon all persons owning property within the proposed improvement project area, which shall be described in the notice, to appear at a hearing before the court, on some day to be fixed by the court, to show cause in favor of or against the property improvement plan for the proposed improvement project area.
(c)
(1)
Based upon a review of the petition and attachments, the court, if it determines that the improvement plan is in the best interest of the owners of land within the proposed improvement project area, shall authorize the district to employ an assessor.
(2)
If the court determines that the improvement plan is not in the best interest of the owners of land within the proposed project area, it shall deny the petition.
(d)
(1)
The assessor retained by the district shall take the oath of office as required by Arkansas Constitution, Article 19, § 20, and shall also swear that he or she will well and truly complete his or her duties of assessor.
(2)
The district may from time to time change assessors, but the assessor selected must be approved by the court.
(e)
The assessor shall review the petitions of the landowners to determine if at least a majority of the owners of the benefited lands and the owners of a majority in value of the benefited lands, as shown by the last assessment of real property within a proposed improvement project area, have signed said petitions.
(f)
Upon certification by the assessor that the requirements of subsection (e) of this section have been met, the court shall enter an order approving the improvement plan and establishing the project improvement area.
(g)
The court's findings shall have the force and effect of a judgment, from which an appeal may be taken within thirty (30) days, either by any such owner of land or by the board; but, if no appeal is taken within that time, the order shall be deemed to be conclusive and binding upon all the land within the boundaries of the improvement project area, and upon the landowners.
Acts 1995, No. 838, § 7.