standing bonds may give their assent, in writing, to the effect that they severally consent that the lands mentioned in the petition, or such portion thereof as may be excluded from said district by order of said board, may be excluded from the district; and if said lands, or any portion thereof, be thereafter excluded from the district, the lands so excluded shall be released from the lien of such outstanding bonds. The assent must be acknowledged by the several holders of such bonds. in the same manner and form as is required in case of a conveyance of land, and the acknowledgment shall have the same force and effect as evidence as the acknowledgment of such conveyance. The assent shall be filed with the board, and must be recorded in the minutes of the board; and said minutes, or a copy thereof, certified by the secretary of said board, shall be admissible in evidence, with the same effect as the said assent, and such certified copy thereof may be recorded in the office of the county recorder of the county wherein said lands are situated.

recorded.

SEC. 70. In the event the said board of directors shall Change of boundaries exclude any lands from said district upon petition therefor, shall be it shall be the duty of the board of directors to make an entry in the minutes of the board, describing the boundaries of the district, should the exclusion of said lands from said district change the boundaries of said district, and for that purpose the board may cause a survey to be made of such portions of the district as the board may deem necessary; and a certified copy of the entry in the minutes of the board excluding any land, certified by the president and secretary of the board, shall be filed for record in the recorder's office of each county within which are situated any of the land of the district; but said district, notwithstanding such exclusion, shall be and remain a drainage district as fully to every intent and purpose as it would be had no change been made in the boundaries of the district, or had the lands excluded therefrom never constituted a portion of the district.

office of

become

SEC. 71. If the lands excluded from any district under this When act shall embrace the greater portion of any division or divi- director sions of such district, then the office of director for such divi- may sion or divisions shall become and be vacant at the expiration vacant. of ten days from the final order of the board excluding said. lands; and such vacancy or vacancies shall be filled by appointment by the board of supervisors of the county where the office of such board is situated, from the district at large. A director appointed as above provided, shall hold his office until the next regular election for said district, and until his successor is elected and qualified.

district

sions.

SEC. 72. At least thirty days before the next general elec- Order tion of such district, the board of directors thereof shall make dividing an order dividing said district into three or five divisions, as into divithe case may require, as nearly equal in size as may be practicable, which shall be numbered first, second, third and so on, and one director shall be elected by each division. For the purposes of elections in such district, the said board of direct

Guardians

may sign for ward.

Exclusion

shall not

release

from valid debts of district.

ors must establish a convenient number of election precincts, and define the boundaries thereof, which said precincts may be changed from time to time, as the board of directors may deem necessary.

SEC. 73. A guardian, an executor, or an administrator of an estate, who is appointed as such under the laws of this state, and who as such guardian, executor, or administrator, is entitled to the possession of the lands belonging to the estate which he represents, may on behalf of his ward, or the estate which he represents, upon being thereto properly authorized by the proper court, sign and acknowledge the petition in section 65 of this act mentioned, and may show cause, as herein provided, why the boundaries of the district should not be changed. SEC. 74. Nothing herein provided shall, in any manner, operate to operate to release any of the lands so excluded from the district from any obligation to pay, or any lien thereon, of any valid outstanding bonds or other indebtedness of said district at the time of the filing of said petition for the exclusion of said lands, but upon the contrary, said lands shall be held subject to said lien, and answerable and chargeable for and with the payment and discharge of all of said outstanding obligations at the time of the filing of the petition for the exclusion of said land, as fully as though said petition for such exclusion were never filed and said order of exclusion never made; and for the purpose of discharging such outstanding indebtedness, said lands so excluded shall be deemed and considered as part of said drainage district the same as though said petition for its exclusion had never been filed or said order of exclusion never made; and all provisions which may have been resorted to to compel the payment by said lands of its quota or portion of said outstanding obligations, had said exclusion never been accomplished, may, notwithstanding said exclusion, be resorted to to compel and enforce the payment on the part of said lands of its quota and portion of said outstanding obligations of said drainage district for which it is liable, as herein provided. But said land so excluded shall not be held answerable or chargeable for any obligation of any nature or kind whatever, incurred after the filing with the board of directors of said district of the petition for the exclusion of said lands from the said district; provided, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to any outstanding bonds, the holders of which have assented to the exclusion of such lands from said district, as herein before provided.

Change of boundaries

shall not impair or

ganization.

SEC. 75. The boundaries of any drainage district now organized or hereafter organized under the provisions of this act may be changed in the manner herein prescribed, but such change of the boundaries of the district shall not impair or affect its organization, or its rights in or to property, or any of its rights or privileges of whatsoever kind or nature; nor shall it affect, impair, or discharge any contract, obligation, lien or charge for or upon which it was or might become liable or chargeable, had such change of its boundaries not been made.

include

SEC. 76. The holder or holders of title, or evidence of title, Petition to representing one half or more of any body of lands adjacent to tracts of the boundary of a drainage district, which are contiguous and land. which taken together, constitute one tract of land, may file with the board of directors of said district a petition, in writing, praying that the boundaries of said district may be so changed as to include therein said lands. The petition shall describe the boundaries of said parcel or tract of land, and shall also describe the boundaries of the several parcels owned by the petitioners, if the petitioners be the owners, respectively, of distinct parcels, but such descriptions need not be more particular than they are required to be when such lands are entered by the county assessor in the assessment book. Such petition must contain the assent of the petitioners to the inclusion within said district of the parcels or tracts of land described in the petition, and of which said petition alleges they are, respectively, the owners; and it must be acknowledged in the same manner that conveyances of land are required to be acknowledged.

tion of

SEC. 77. The secretary of the board of directors shall cause Publicaa notice of the filing of such petition to be given and published notice of in the same manner and for the same time that notices of filing petition. special elections for the issue of bonds are required by this act to be published. The notice shall state the filing of such petition and the names of the petitioners, a description of the lands mentioned in said petition, and the prayer of said petition; and it shall notify all persons interested in, or that may be affected by such change of the boundaries of the district, to appear, at the office of said board, at a time named in said notice, and show cause in writing, if any they have, why the change in the boundaries of said district, as proposed in said petition, should not be made. The time to be specified in the notice at which they shall be required to show cause shall be the regular meeting of the board next after the expiration of the time for the publication of the notice. The petitioners shall advance to the secretary sufficient money to pay the estimated costs of all proceedings arising from such petition.

SEC. 78. The board of directors, at the time and place men- Hearing. tioned in the said notice, or at such other time or times to which the hearing of said petition may be adjourned, shall proceed to hear the petition and all the objections thereto, presented in writing by any person showing cause as aforesaid why said proposed change of the boundaries of the district should not be made. The failure by any person interested in said district, or in the matter of the proposed change of its boundaries, to show cause, in writing, as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken as an assent on his part to a change of the boundaries of the district as prayed for in said petition, or to such a change thereof as will include a part of said lands. And the filing of such petition with said board, as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken as an assent on the part of each and all of such petitioners to such a change of said boundaries that they may

Require

ments precedent.

Directors

may grant or deny petition.

Resolution to include.

Election to determine if bound

aries shall be changed

include the whole or any portion of the lands described in said petition.

SEC. 79. The board of directors to whom such petition is presented, may require, as a condition precedent to the granting of the same, that the petitioners shall severally pay to such district such respective sums, as nearly as the same can be estimated (the several amounts to be determined by the board), as said petitioners or their grantors would have been required to pay to such district as assessments, had such lands been included in such district at the time the same was originally formed.

SEC. 80. The board of directors, if they deem it not for the best interests of the district that a change of its boundaries be so made as to include therein the lands mentioned in the petition, shall order that the petition be rejected. But if they deem it for the best interests of the district that the boundaries of said district be changed and if no person interested in said district or the proposed change of its boundaries shows cause, in writing, why the proposed change should not be made, or if, having shown cause, withdraws the same, the board may order that the boundaries of the district be so changed as to include therein the lands mentioned in said petition or some part thereof. The order shall describe the boundaries as changed, and shall also describe the entire boundaries of the district as they will be after the change thereof as aforesaid is made; and for that purpose the board may cause a survey to be made of such portions of such boundary as is deemed necessary.

SEC. 81. If any person interested in said district of the proposed change of its boundaries, shall show cause as aforesaid why such boundaries should not be changed, and shall not withdraw the same, and if the board of directors deem it for the best interests of the district that the boundaries thereof be so changed as to include therein the lands mentioned in the petition, or some part thereof, the board shall adopt a resolution to that effect. The resolution shall describe the exterior boundaries of the lands which the board are of the opinion should be included within the boundaries of the district when changed.

SEC. 82. Upon the adoption of the resolution mentioned in the last preceding section, the board shall order that an election be held within said district, to determine whether the boundaries of the district shall be changed as mentioned in said resolution; and shall fix the time at which such election. shall be held, and cause notice thereof to be given and published. Such notice shall be given and published, and such election shall be held and conducted, the returns thereof shall be made and canvassed, and the result of the election ascertained and declared, and all things pertaining thereto conducted in the manner prescribed by this act in case of a special election to determine whether bonds of a drainage district shall be issued. The ballots cast at said election shall contain the words "For change of boundary" or "Against change of boundary" or words equivalent thereto. The notice of

election shall describe the proposed change of the boundaries in such manner and terms that it can readily be traced.

vail.

SEC. 83. If at such election a majority of all the votes cast Majority at said election shall be against such change of the boundaries vote to preof the district, the board shall order that said petition be denied, and shall proceed no further in that matter. But if a majority of such votes be in favor of such change of the boundaries of the district, the board shall thereupon order that the boundaries be changed in accordance with said resolution adopted by the board. The said order shall describe the entire boundaries of said district, and for that purpose the board may cause a survey of such portions thereof to be made as the board may deem necessary.

to be

SEC. 84. Upon a change of the boundaries of a district Change being made, a copy of the order of the board of directors order- recorded. ing such change, certified by the president and secretary of the board, shall be filed for record in the recorder's office of each county within which are situated any of the lands of the district, and thereupon the district shall be and remain a drainage district, as fully, and to every intent and purpose, as if the lands which are included in the district by the change of the boundaries, as aforesaid, had been included therein at the original organization of the district.

SEC. 85. Upon the filing of the copies of the order, as in Evidence. the last preceding section mentioned, the secretary shall record in the minutes of the board the petition aforesaid; and the said minutes, or a certified copy thereof, shall be admissible in evidence with the same effect as the petition.

may sign

for ward.

SEC. 86. A guardian, an executor or an administrator of an Guardian estate, who is appointed as such under the laws of this state, petition and who, as such guardian, executor or administrator, is entitled to the possession of the lands belonging to the estate which he represents, may, on behalf of his ward, or the estate which he represents, upon being thereunto authorized by the proper court, sign and acknowledge the petition in section 76 of this act mentioned and may show cause why the boundaries of the district should not be changed.

dividing

SEC. 87. In case of the inclusion of any land within any Order redistrict by proceedings under this act, the board of directors district. must, at least thirty days prior to the next succeeding general election, make an order redividing such district, into three or five divisions, as the case may require, as nearly equal in size as may be practicable, which shall be numbered first, second, third and so on, and one elector shall thereafter be elected by each division. For the purpose of elections, the board of directors must establish a convenient number of election precincts in said districts, and define the boundaries thereof, which said precincts may be changed from time to time as the board may deem necessary.

reduce

SEC. 88. Whenever the board of directors of a drainage Election to district heretofore organized, or hereafter organized under the bonde inprovisions of this act, shall determine that the authorized debtedness bonded indebtedness of such drainage district is greater than