2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 32 - SPECIAL DISTRICTS (§§ 32-1-101 — 32-22-117) › WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICTS (§§ 32-4-101 — 32-4-547) › Article 4 - WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICTS (§§ 32-4-101 — 32-4-547) › Part 5 - METROPOLITAN SEWAGE DISPOSAL DISTRICTS (§§ 32-4-501 — 32-4-547) › Section 32-4-502 - Definitions

As used in this part 5, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)
"Acquisition" or "acquire" means the purchase, construction, reconstruction, lease, gift, transfer, assignment, option to purchase, grant from the federal government, from any public body, or from any person, endowment, bequest, devise, installation, condemnation, other contract, or other acquirement, or any combination thereof, of facilities, other property, any project, or an interest therein authorized in this part 5.
(2)
"Board of directors" or "board" means the board of directors of a metropolitan sewage disposal district.
(3)
"Clerk" means that official of a municipality or a district who performs duties ordinarily performed by a city clerk, town clerk, or a secretary of a corporation.
(4)
"Compensating reservoir" means the structures, facilities, and appurtenances for the impounding, transportation, and release of water for the replenishment or replacement in periods of drought or at other necessary times of all or a part of waters in or bordering the state diverted into any sewer, sewer system, intercepting sewer, or sewage disposal system appertaining to a district.
(5)
"Condemnation" or "condemn" means the acquisition by the exercise of the power of eminent domain of property for any facilities, other property, project, or an interest therein, authorized in this part 5. A district may exercise in the state the power of eminent domain, either within or without the district, and in the manner provided by law for the condemnation of private property for public use may take any property necessary to carry out any of the objects or purposes hereof, whether such property is already devoted to the same use by any municipality or other public body or otherwise, and may condemn any existing works or improvements used in the district. The power of eminent domain vested in the board shall include the power to condemn, in the name of the district, either the fee simple or any lesser estate or interest in any real property which the board by resolution determines is necessary for carrying out the purposes of this part 5. A district shall not abandon any condemnation proceedings subsequent to the date upon which it has taken possession of the property being acquired. In the event the construction of any sewage disposal system or project authorized in this part 5, or any part thereof, makes necessary the removal and relocation of any public utilities, whether on private or public right-of-way, the district shall reimburse the owner of such public utility facility for the expense of such removal and relocation, including the cost of any necessary land or rights in land.
(6)
"Cost" or "cost of any project", or words of similar import mean in addition to the usual connotations thereof, the cost of acquisition or improvement and equipment of all or any part of a sewage disposal system and of all or any property, rights, easements, privileges, agreements, and franchises deemed by the district to be necessary or useful and convenient therefor or in connection therewith, including interest or discount on bonds, cost of issuance of bonds, engineering and inspection costs, and legal expenses, cost of financial, professional, and other estimates and advice, contingencies, any administrative, operating, and other expenses of the district prior to and during such acquisition or improvement and equipment, and additionally during a period of not exceeding one year after the completion thereof, as may be estimated and determined by the board in any resolution authorizing the issuance of any securities or other instrument appertaining thereto or in any contract with any municipality, or otherwise, and all such other expenses as may be necessary or incident to the financing, acquisition, improvement, equipment, and completion of said sewage disposal system or part thereof and the placing of the same in operation, and also such provision or reserves for working capital, operation, maintenance, or replacement expenses or for payment or security of principal of or interest on any securities during or after such acquisition or improvement and equipment as the district may determine, and also reimbursements to the district or any municipality or person of any moneys theretofore expended for the purposes of the district or to any municipality or other public body or the federal government of any moneys theretofore expended for or in connection with sanitation facilities.
(7)
"Disposal" or "dispose" means the sale, destruction, razing, loan, lease, gift, grant, transfer, assignment, mortgage, option to sell, other contract, or other disposition, or any combination thereof, of facilities, other property, any project, or an interest therein authorized in this part 5.
(8)
"District" means a metropolitan sewage disposal district formed under the provisions of this part 5 or as changed from time to time. A district formed under this part 5 shall not be considered a political subdivision for the purposes of section
8-3-104 (12)
, C.R.S.
(9)
"Engineer" means any engineer regularly employed by the district or any competent engineer or firm or association of engineers employed by the district in connection with any facility, property, project, or power authorized in this part 5.
(10)
"Equipment" or "equip" means the furnishing of all necessary or desirable, related or appurtenant, machinery and other facilities, or any combination thereof, appertaining to any property, project, or interest therein authorized in this part 5.
(11)
"Executive" means the chief executive elected official of a municipality as defined in subsection (19) of this section by whatever name he may be designated.
(12)
"Federal government" means the United States, or any agency, instrumentality, or corporation thereof.
(13)
"Governing body" means the city council of a city or of a city and county, the board of trustees of an incorporated town, the board of directors of a sanitation district or of a water and sanitation district, or the governing body of any other municipality by law authorized to impose the obligations contemplated by this part 5, regardless of how the governing body may be designated.
(14)
"Herein", "hereby", "hereunder", "hereof", "hereto", "hereinabove", "hereinbefore", and "hereinafter" refer to this metropolitan sewage disposal district law and not solely to the particular portion thereof in which such word is used.
(15)
"Improvement" or "improve" means the extension, betterment, alteration, reconstruction, replacement, repair, or other improvement, or any combination thereof, of facilities, other property, any project, or an interest therein authorized in this part 5.
(16)
"Industrial wastes" means liquid or other wastes resulting from any process of industry, manufacture, trade, or business or from the development of any natural resource.
(17)
"Intercepting sewer" is considered as only such sewer and appurtenances thereto as may be necessary to intercept and transport the outfalls from the sewer systems of the municipalities included within the boundaries of the district.
(18)
"Metropolitan sewage disposal district" means a district organized under this part 5 either as originally organized or as changed from time to time.
(19)
"Municipality" means a city, a city and county, an incorporated town, a sanitation district, or a water and sanitation district, and any other political subdivision or public entity created under the laws of the state of Colorado having specific boundaries within which it is authorized to provide sewer service for the area within its boundaries, other than a metropolitan sewage disposal district.
(20)
"Ordinance" means the formal action taken by a "governing body", as defined in subsection (13) of this section, whether it is in the form of an ordinance, resolution, or other form.
(21)
"Person" means any individual, association, corporation, or the federal government, or any public body other than a municipality, and excluding a district.
(22)
"Pollution" or "pollute" means the condition of water resulting from the introduction therein of substances of a kind and in quantities rendering it detrimental or immediately or potentially dangerous to the public health, or unfit for public or commercial use.
(23)
"Project" means any public structure, facility, or undertaking or sewage disposal system which a district is authorized in this part 5 to acquire, improve, equip, maintain, and operate. A project may consist of all kinds of personal and real property. Any project of a district shall appertain to a sewage disposal system as defined in subsection (31) of this section and authorized by this part 5.
(24)
"Property" means real property and personal property.
(25)
"Public body" means the state of Colorado, or any agency, instrumentality, or corporation thereof, or any county, municipality, or other city or town, or other type of quasi-municipal district, or any other political subdivision of the state, excluding a metropolitan sewage disposal district and excluding the federal government.
(26)
"Publication" means three consecutive weekly publications in at least one newspaper having general circulation in the district. It shall not be necessary that an advertisement be made on the same day of the week in each of the three weeks, but not less than fourteen days, excluding the day of first publication but including the day of the last publication, shall intervene between the first publication and the last publication, and publication shall be complete on the date of the last publication.
(27)
"Real property" means:
(a)
Land, including land under water;
(b)
Buildings, structures, fixtures, and improvements on land;
(c)
Any property appurtenant to or used in connection with land;
(d)
Water and water rights appertaining to any project;
(e)
Every estate, interest, privilege, easement, franchise, and right in land, legal or equitable, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, rights-of-way, terms for years, and liens, charges or encumbrances by way of judgment, mortgage, or otherwise, and the indebtedness secured by such liens.
(28)
"Securities" means any bonds, interim receipts or certificates, warrants, debentures, notes, or other obligations of a district or any public body appertaining to any project, or interest therein, authorized in this part 5, or otherwise.
(29)
"Service charges" are the rents, rates, fees, tolls, or other charges for direct or indirect connection with, or the use or services of, a sewage disposal system or sewer system, as more specifically provided in section
32-4-522
and elsewhere in this part 5.
(30)
"Sewage" means the water-carried wastes created in and carried, or to be carried, away from residences, hotels, apartments, schools, hospitals, industrial establishments, or any other public or private building, together with such surface or groundwater and industrial wastes as are present.
(31)
"Sewage disposal system" includes any one or all or any combination of the following: Any sewage treatment plant, sewage treatment works, sewage disposal facilities, connections and outfalls, intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, force mains, conduits, pipelines, water lines, pumping and ventilating plants or stations, compensating reservoirs, other plants, structures, facilities, equipment, and appurtenances useful or convenient for the interception, transportation, treatment, purification, or disposal of sewage, liquid wastes, solid wastes, night soil, and industrial wastes, and all necessary lands, interest in lands, easements, and water rights.
(31.5)
"Sewer connection" means any physical connection to a sewage disposal system or sewer system, whether direct or indirect, of a residence building, dwelling, dwelling unit, or other building, including individual units of multiple unit dwellings such as condominiums, townhouses, multiplexes, and apartment buildings.
(32)
"Sewer system" means a system provided by a municipality to provide sewer service to its inhabitants to the point of its connection with a sewage disposal system as defined in subsection (31) of this section which intercepts, receives, transports, treats, and disposes of the outfalls from such sewer systems.
(32.5)
"Single-family equivalent" means the capacity of sewer service or water service required for a single-family household. For a multiple unit dwelling, each single-family household within such a dwelling shall be considered as having one single-family equivalent.
(33)
"State" means the state of Colorado, or any agency, instrumentality, or corporation thereof.
(34)
"Taxation" or "tax" means general ad valorem taxes.
(35)
"Taxpaying elector" and "eligible elector" of a district have the meanings, respectively, as specified in section
32-1-103
; except that, to qualify as a taxpaying elector or as an eligible elector for the purposes of this part 5, a person must also be a resident of a municipality, as defined in subsection (19) of this section.
L. 60: p. 162, § 12. CRS 53: § 89-15-2. L. 62: pp. 180, 182, §§ 1, 2. C.R.S. 1963: § 89-15-2. L. 70: p. 286, § 84. L. 81: (31.5) and (32.5) added, p. 1637, § 1, effective May 18; (35) amended, p. 1624, § 24, effective July 1. L. 92: (35) amended, p. 894, § 137, effective 1/1/1993.