to release the lands in such sub-districts from the payment of any assessment or levy made prior to such division nor from any assessment or tax levy which may thereafter be made for the completion, maintenance or repair of the main work, or for the payment of the principal and interest on any indebtedness incurred by the main district, nor shall it give such sub-district any claim on the funds of the main district for its local use: Provided, further, that when sub-districts are organized under this Act, which have one or more lateral drains or proposed drains, which are independent of each other, except as to the main sub-district ditch or outlet, and which do now or will drain separate areas within said sub-district, the commissioners may, as provided for in this section, divide such sub-districts into as many minor sub-districts as there are separate areas within such sub-districts to be drained, for the purpose of making assessments of benefits for the local or minute drainage to be done in such minor sub-districts: And, provided, further, that the formation of such minor sub-districts as herein provided for shall not operate to release the lands in such minor subdistricts from the payment of any assessment or levy made prior to such division, nor from any assessment or tax levy which thereafter may be made, for the completion, maintenance or repair of the main outlets or ditches in sub-districts or in main districts, or for the payment of the principal and interest of any indebtedness incurred by the sub-district. or main district nor shall it give such minor sub-district any claim upon the funds of the sub-district or the main district for its local use. Sub-districts which contain not less than five sections of land, upon the filing of a petition signed by a majority of the landowners of said sub-district with the county clerk in favor of the election of a board. of commissioners for said sub-district, shall proceed at the next succeeding annual election of drainage commissioners to elect such a drainage board. The notices of the election of such sub-district commissioners, the time of holding and making returns of the same, and the term of office, shall be the same as provided in this Act for the election of commissioners in original or main districts, and the compensation of such commissioners, shall be the same as is provided for main district commissioners. It shall be the duty of the main district commissioners to control all matters pertaining to main district drainage and sub-districts not having independent commissioners. Sub-district commissioners, as provided for in this Act, shall have charge of and control over all matters pertaining to drainage within their respective sub-districts and of drainage within their respective minor sub-districts, as provided for in this Act, except such work as belongs exclusively to the main districts. and classification and assessments made within such sub-districts and such minor sub-districts on account of the main work. The matter of securing right of way, ascertaining damages, review of classification and assessments and appeals therefrom, making repairs, additional work. and additional assessments in sub-districts, and minor sub-districts shall be controlled by the provisions of this Act applicable to the main district.

$52. Should the court find against the petitioners, it shall enter an order to that effect, and the petition shall thereupon be dismissed at the cost of the petitioners; should the court find in favor of the petitioners, it shall enter an order to that effect, and it shall thereupon be the duty of the court to appoint three drainage commissioners for said district, who shall at once proceed to the examination of the lands in said proposed district; said commissioners shall go upon the lands included in said proposed district, and personally examine the same; they shall have power to employ a competent civil engineer if, in their opinion, the services of an engineer be necessary, who shall make such surveys and estimates as said commissioners may direct, and shall, if required by the commissioners, make and return to them a map, or plat, of his survey, and a full report of all estimates required of him. Said commissioners shall make out and file with the clerk of the court a full report of their acts and doings as such commissioners, together with all maps, plats, surveys and estimates made or caused to be made by them or the engineer employed by them, and may put into said report any recommendation they may deem advisable, which report shall be signed by the commissioners or the majority thereof and filed as aforesaid, on or before the time fixed by the court for the hearing to complete the organization of said district or such further time as the court may give for filing of the same. It shall be the duty of the court at the time of the appointment of said commissioners to fix the time for the hearing of said commissioners' report as aforesaid, and to complete the organization of said district, and no further notice thereof shall be required, and said commissioners shall then appear before said court and file their report, with all maps, plats, surveys and estimates if the same have not been previously filed in said court. The time fixed by the court for such hearing shall not be more than thirty days subsequent to the date of the appointment of said commissioners. At the time fixed for the said hearing, if the commissioners have not completed their estimates, or for other cause have their report completed, the court may continue the hearing to such further time as will enable the commissioners to complete their work and file their report and other papers as herein required. At the time fixed by the court for the hearing on the report of the commissioners, and to complete the organization of said district, or at the time to which such hearing was continued, any owner of land in said proposed district may appear in person or by attorney and persons under guardianship, by their guardians, and the court shall appoint a guardian ad litem, as in other civil proceedings and any party may file objections in writing, or file an alternative plan of improvement and be heard upon said objections, and said report or alternative plan of improvement; and the court shall hear any competent testimony of witnesses then introduced; and if it shall appear to the court that the lands included in the proposed district will be benefited for agricultural and sanitary purposes, the court shall so find and enter an order declaring such district organized, unless the court shall find from the evidence introduced on such hearing that the cost of the proposed work, or any modification thereof that may be approved by the court,

after such hearing, will exceed the benefits to be derived therefrom. In which case the court shall so find and enter an order to that effect; and dismiss the petition: Provided, however, if the owners of lands lying in said district, who own in the aggregate more than one-half of the land lying therein, still desire the formation of said district and such. desire shall be evidenced by a failure to withdraw their signatures from the petition, the court shall enter an order declaring said district organized, and the clerk shall enter the same of record, and the district shall thereupon be deemed fully organized and shall be known and designated as "The.......... ..special drainage

district, in the county (or counties) of.

and State of Illinois." The commissioners shall be the corporate authorities thereof, and shall be a body politic and corporate, with like powers as herein conferred upon other drainage commissioners either by this Act or other laws of this State; may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, with their corporate name and capacity, which shall be: "The Commissioners of the..... Special

Drainage District in the county (or counties) of.

and State of Illinois."

$60. The commissioners shall without delay make out and file in the office of the clerk of said district a classification of the lands and premises in said drainage district, which classification shall be prepared and filed and notice thereof giving as hereinbefore provided in the case of drainage districts located within a single town.

73. The commissioners provided for in this Act shall receive three dollars per day for the time actually employed in the discharge of the duties of their office. They shall make out their account under oath, and in all districts except special drainage districts, their accounts shall be audited and allowed by the board of auditors of the town in which the district was organized and in special drainage districts their account shall be presented to and allowed by the judge of the court in which the district was organized; and the amount allowed by the board of auditors, or court, as the case may be, shall be paid out of the funds of the district for which the services were rendered. The clerk of the commissioners shall receive the same fees as is allowed for like services in matters connected with his office. The treasurer shall receive for his services such sum of money as may be fixed by the commissioners, not to exceed two per cent of moneys collected by him, and not to exceed one per cent on moneys paid him by other collectors or treasurers, and in no case shall the treasurer receive to exceed five hundred dollars for his services in any one year for any one district. All fees and allowances shall be paid out of the funds of the district for which the services were or may be rendered.

74. Neither the drainage district nor the commissioners thereof shall be liable for the building, enlarging or replacing of any farm or highway bridge across the open drains of the district, nor for the maintenance thereof; but the cost thereof, when occasioned by the work of the drainage district, shall be taken into consideration in determining the amount of damage to be allowed to the land owner or commissioner

of highways, as the case may be, and shall be agreed upon or ascertained at the same time and in the same manner as other damages arising from the construction of such work as hereinbefore provided in this Act.

$79. If any special assessment or any part thereof, for the construction or repair of any work in any drainage district heretofore or hereafter organized under this Act, whether the same is made prior to the taking effect of this amendment or hereafter made, has been or shall hereafter be annulled or be held not legally made by any court of competent jurisdiction, on account of the failure to give proper notice or the failure of any officer to perform any of his statutory duties, or on account of any other matters not affecting the merits of the assessment, a new assessment may be made and returned therefor, and the proceedings therefor shall be the same as hereinbefore provided for the prior assessment, and all parties interested shall have like rights and like powers in relation to any such subsequent assessment as are hereby given in relation to prior assessment, and if only a part of the said special assessment shall be so annulled, or be held not legally made, then in making the reassessment it will not be necessary to proceed in any way against the lands in reference to which the assessment has not been set aside, but the proceedings shall only be had with reference to the lands in reference to which the assessment has been annulled or held not legally made as aforesaid. No such special assessment shall be held void because levied to pay for work already done or contracted for, if it appears that such work was done in good faith under a contract duly let and executed in substantial compliance with the plans providing for the same. The fact that the prior assessment may have been held invalid by the court for the reason that the meetings of the drainage commissioners in reference thereto were held outside of the drainage district, or that lands or drains of another drainage district were included in such district, or that the same was held insufficient for any other reason, shall not be a bar to a subsequent assessment to pay for the work done and for which such prior assessment was ordered to be made. The fact that the drainage commissioners have already made or attempted to make a subsequent assessment to pay for the said work done in contemplation of such prior assessment set aside, annulled or held invalid. by the court, shall, also, not be construed to prevent the application of this section.

$ 80. The word "ditch" when used in this Act, shall be held to include any drain or watercourse, and when the word "ditch" is used in the petition for any drainage district it shall be held to mean and include any side, lateral, spur or branch ditch or drain, whether opened, covered, or tiled, and any natural water-course into which such drains or ditches may enter for the purpose of outlet, whether such watercourse is situated in or outside of the district. And to secure complete drainage of the lands within any drainage district, the commissioners are hereby vested with full power to widen, straighten, deepen, or enlarge any such watercourse, and when it is necessary, to straighten such natural watercourses by cutting a new channel upon other lands, the value of such lands to be occupied by such new channel and damages,

if any, made by such work may be ascertained and paid in the manner that is now or may hereafter be provided by any law provided for the exercise of the right of eminent domain in force in this State. This section shall apply to any and all drainage districts that have been heretofore or may hereafter be organized under this Act.

$81. Where, under the law there is only one commissioner of highway, the sole commissioner of highways in each town in the several counties under township organization in this State shall be the drainage commissioner in and for all drainage districts in their respective towns, organized under this law, and shall be known by the corporate name of "Drainage Commissioner of Drainage District No..

County of.....

.of the Town ... and State

of.... of Illinois," and by that name shall be a body politic and may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, contract and be contracted with, and shall have all of the powers provided by this Act for commissioners of highways and all of the provisions of this Act referring to "Commissioners of Highways" or "Commissioners" shall apply to, and all of the powers given them shall be held and exercised by the said sole commissioner of highways, when acting as such drainage commissioner. In the case of a union drainage district, where there is only one commissioner of highways in each of the two townships in which the lands in the said drainage district lie, that the sole commissioners of highways of the said. two townships shall exercise the powers and authorities given by this Act to the commissioners of highways to be selected by the town clerk under this Act, and that the sole commissioner of highways of the township in which the majority of the lands of said union drainage district lie, shall, in all matters, where there is any disagreement between the two commissioners of highways acting as drainage commissioners, have two votes.

§ 2. Section 15b of an Act entitled: "An Act to provide for drainage for agricultural and sanitary purposes, and to repeal certain Acts therein named," approved June 27, 1885, in force July 1, 1885, as amended, is repealed.

APPROVED June 28, 1919.

COMMISSIONERS-ELECTION.

1. Amends section 15a, Act of 1885.

§ 15a. Effect of organization of drainage districts -election-officers oath-vacancy.

(HOUSE BILL No. 301. APPROVED JUNE 28, 1919.)

AN ACT to amend section 15a of an Act entitled, "An Act to provide for drainage for agricultural and sanitary purposes, and to repeal certain Acts therein named," approved June 27, 1885, in force July 1, 1885, as amended.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: Section 15a of an Act entitled, "An Act to provide for drainage for agricultural and sanitary purposes, and to repeal certain Acts therein named," approved June 27, 1885, in force July 1, 1885, as amended, is amended to read as follows: