2023 Tennessee Code › Title 43 - AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE (§§ 43-1-101 — 43-40-105) › Chapter 14 - SOIL CONSERVATION (§§ 43-14-101 — 43-14-308) › Part 2 - SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICTS LAW (§§ 43-14-201 — 43-14-219) › Section 43-14-218 - Petition for termination of district - Referendum - Determination of whether continued operation is administratively practicable and feasible - Certificate of dissolution

(a)
Beginning five (5) years after a district's certificate of organization is issued, a district, upon unanimously adopting a motion to dissolve the district, may file a petition with the commission requesting that the district and its operations be terminated. The commission may conduct public meetings and hearings regarding the petition. Within sixty (60) days after the commission receives a petition to terminate a district, the commission shall give notice of, issue appropriate rules regarding, and supervise a referendum regarding the petition. Only landowners of the district are eligible to vote in the referendum. No informalities in the conduct of the referendum or in any matter relating thereto invalidates the referendum or the result thereof, if notice thereof has been given substantially as provided in this subsection (a) and the referendum has been fairly conducted.
(b)
The commission shall publish the results of the referendum and determine whether the continued operation of the district is administratively practicable and feasible. If the commission determines that the continued operation of the district is administratively practicable and feasible, it shall record this determination and deny the petition, after which no such petition regarding that district may be filed or considered for five (5) years. If the commission determines that the continued operation of the district is not administratively practicable and feasible, it shall record this determination and shall certify the determination to the supervisors of the district. In making this determination, the commission shall give due regard and weight to the attitudes of the landowners and land occupiers of lands lying within the defined boundaries, the number of landowners eligible to vote in the referendum who have voted, the proportion of the votes cast in the referendum in favor of the termination of the district to the total number of votes cast, and any other economic and social factors relevant to such determination; provided, that the commission shall not determine that the operation of the proposed district within the defined boundaries is administratively practicable and feasible if a majority of the votes cast in the referendum upon the proposition of termination of the district were cast in favor of the termination of the district.
(c)
Upon receipt from the commission of a certification that the commission has determined that the continued operation of the district is not administratively practicable and feasible, the supervisors shall immediately terminate the affairs of the district. The supervisors shall dispose of all property belonging to the district at public auction and shall pay the proceeds to the department of agriculture for use in supporting the costs of soil and water conservation in the district territory. The supervisors shall then file a verified application with the secretary of state for the discontinuance of the district, and transmit with the application the certificate of the commission determining that the continued operation of the district is not administratively practicable and feasible. The application must recite that the district's property has been disposed of and the proceeds paid to the department of agriculture and set forth a full accounting of such property and proceeds. The secretary of state shall issue to the supervisors a certificate of dissolution and record the certificate in an appropriate book of record in the secretary of state's office.
(d)
Upon issuance of a certificate of dissolution by the secretary of state, all ordinances and rules previously adopted and in force within the districts are of no further force and effect. All contracts to which the district or its supervisors are parties must be terminated in writing as provided in the contract.
Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 203, s 2, eff. 4/22/2021.
Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 966, s 1, eff. 4/27/2016.
Acts 1939, ch. 197, § 8; C. Supp 1950, § 552.8 (Williams, § 552.38); Acts 1955, ch. 132, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 43-1518; Acts 1992, ch. 693, § 15; 2004, ch. 517, § 6; 2007 , ch. 295, §§ 2, 3.