61-35-59. Voting on proposed projects

61-35-59. Voting on proposed projects At the hearing, the affected landowners and any county, township, or city to be assessed must be informed when and where votes concerning the proposed project may be filed. Affected landowners and the governing body of any county, township, or city to be assessed have thirty days after the date of the hearing to file their votes with the secretary of the district. Once the deadline for filing votes has been reached, no more votes may be filed and no person may withdraw a vote. Any withdrawal of a vote concerning the proposed project before that time must be in writing. When the votes have been filed and the deadline for filing votes has passed, the board shall immediately determine whether the project is approved. If the board finds that fifty percent or more of the total votes filed are against the proposed project, then the vote constitutes a bar against proceeding further with the project. If the board finds that the number of votes filed against the proposed project is less than fifty percent of the votes filed, the board shall issue an order establishing the proposed project and may proceed, after complying with the requirements of sections 61-35-62 and 61-35-63, to contract or provide for the construction or maintenance of the project in substantially the manner and according to the forms and procedure provided in sections 61-35-88 through 61-35-103. The board may enter into any agreement with any federal or state agency under the terms of which the contract for the project is to be let by the federal agency, the state agency, or a combination thereof. In projects where there is an agreement that a party other than the board will let the contract, the board may dispense with all of the requirements of sections 61-35-88 through 61-35-103. Upon making an order establishing or denying establishment of a project, the board shall publish notice of the order in a newspaper of general circulation in the area in which the affected landowners reside and in the official county newspaper of each county in which the benefited lands are located. Any right of appeal begins to run on the date of publication of the notice.