Montana Title 85. Water Use § 85-7-1901. Board plan for acquisition and construction

(1) For the purpose of purchasing or constructing the necessary irrigation canals or works or acquiring the necessary property and rights for canals or works and otherwise carrying out the provisions of this chapter, the board of commissioners of any irrigation district shall, as soon as practicable after the district has been organized, formulate a general plan for the purchase, construction, and acquisition of the property. The board shall cause surveys, examinations, and plans to be made that demonstrate the practicability of the plans, as well as of procuring water from other and different sources and the amount of land that can be irrigated under the plan, and shall furnish the proper basis for an estimate of the cost of carrying out the plan and the value of any canal, works, property, or system of irrigation proposed to be purchased.

(2) All surveys, examinations, maps, plans, and estimates must be made by or under the direction and supervision of an irrigation engineer of well-known standing and competency, and all necessary surveys, examinations, maps, plans, and estimates must be certified to by the engineer. When the surveys, examinations, maps, plans, and estimates are completed, the engineer shall submit them with all proper field notes to and file them with the board of commissioners, accompanied by the engineer's report and recommendation. This report must include a discussion of the plans submitted by the engineer to the board, of the question of water supply, of the sufficiency of the works proposed to accomplish the desired results, of the practicability of the proposed system from an engineering standpoint, and of the probability of being acquired or constructed within the estimate of the cost stated and a general discussion and recommendation in regard to the engineering and financial features of the whole matter that in the judgment of the engineer is desirable for the information of the people of the district. The report must be accompanied by a map when a map is necessary for a proper explanation or understanding of the report and recommendation.

(3) Upon receiving the report, the board of commissioners shall proceed to determine the amount of money necessary to be raised for the purchase or construction of the proposed property, canals, or irrigation works and system and within 10 days after arriving at that determination shall cause the secretary of the board to notify all persons or corporations holding title or evidence of title to lands within the district, determined as provided in 85-7-101 and 85-7-102, of the filing of the report and their determination on the report. The notices must be given through the United States mail by letter addressed to the person or corporation at the last-known post-office address of each person or corporation. A certificate of the secretary of the board as to the fact of mailing the notice, affixed to a copy of the notice and recorded in the record book of the board of commissioners, is sufficient and conclusive evidence of mailing.