Michigan Compiled Laws — THE DRAIN CODE OF 1956 (Act 40 of 1956)

Drain code of 1956; short title.

This act shall be known and may be cited as "the drain code of 1956".

Drains; location, establishment, construction, maintenance, and improvements; petition.

Drains including branches may be located, established, constructed and maintained, and existing drains, creeks, rivers and watercourses and their branches, or tributaries whether located, established and constructed by a county drain commissioner or drainage board or by a city, village or township, may be cleaned out,…

Drain; definition.

The word "drain", whenever used in this act, shall include the main stream or trunk and all tributaries or branches of any creek or river, any watercourse or ditch, either open or closed, any covered drain, any sanitary or any combined sanitary and storm sewer or storm sewer or conduit composed of tile, brick, concrete…

“Commissioner,”“drain commissioner,” or “county drain commissioner” defined.

As used in this act, "commissioner", "drain commissioner", or "county drain commissioner" means the elected county drain commissioner or the person or persons designated to perform the duties of the elected county drain commissioner as provided in sections 21 and 21a.

Drainage district; body corporate; powers.

A drainage district is a body corporate with power to contract; to sue and to be sued; to acquire interests in real or personal property by gift, purchase, lease, grant, trade, or any other lawful method, including condemnation pursuant to the uniform condemnation procedures act, 1980 PA 87, MCL 213.51 to 213.75; and t…

Drains; public easements and rights of way; use; release, notice, protest.

All established drains regularly located and established in pursuance of law existing at the time of location and establishment and visibly in existence, which were established as drains, and all drains visibly in existence in written drain easements or rights of way on file in the office of the commissioner, shall be…

Conducting business at public meeting; notice; availability of writings to public.

(1) The business which a board or commission created pursuant to this act, or a body of special commissioners appointed pursuant to this act, may perform shall be conducted at a public meeting of the board, commission, or body of special commissioners held in compliance with Act No. 267 of the Public Acts of 1976, bein…

Drains; location; meetings; jurisdiction of commissioner; exception; payment of bonds or drain orders; deficiency.

Drains may be laid or extended into or along or from any lake or other body of water surrounded wholly or in part by a swamp, marsh or other low lands for the general purpose of drainage contemplated by this act, but not so as to impair the navigation of any navigable river. Any meeting called pursuant to the provision…

Easement; right of way; release of damages; recording.

Any easement, right of way or release of damages obtained in connection with any proposed drain or drains shall, following the expiration of 30 days after the day of review, be recorded in the office of the register of deeds: Provided, That in any drain proceeding in which an injunction or a writ of certiorari has been…

Specification of time; directory or mandatory.

Except as provided in section 8, when a time is specified in this act in which the drain commissioner or a drainage board shall take a specified administrative action or a procedural step, the specification of time shall be considered directory and not mandatory and failure to take the action or step within the time sp…

(1) At the general election to be held in November, 1976, and each fourth year after November, 1976, a county drain commissioner shall be elected in each county having a drain commissioner by the qualified electors of the county. The term of office of a commissioner shall begin on the January 1 following the drain comm…

Powers and duties of drain commissioner performed by designated persons in certain counties.

In a county organized under a charter adopted under Act No. 293 of the Public Acts of 1966, being sections 45.501 to 45.521 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, whose charter prescribes an elected county executive, and which county has a population of more than 2,000,000 at the time the charter is adopted, the powers and dut…

Drain commissioner; establishment of office.

All commissioners holding such office when this act takes effect shall continue to be such commissioners until their respective successors are elected and qualified in accordance with the provisions of the foregoing section. The majority of the board of county commissioners may establish or reestablish the office of co…

Drain commissioner; jurisdiction; drains in more than one county; outlet only in another county.

The commissioner shall have jurisdiction over all drains within his county, including those heretofore established and now in process of construction. Drains extending into more than 1 county, or affecting lands in more than 1 county, shall be established and constructed in accordance with the provisions of this act re…

Deputy commissioners; appointment; revocation; bond; powers and duties.

A commissioner may appoint a deputy or deputies, if the county board of commissioners approves, and may revoke the appointment at pleasure. The appointment shall be made in writing and filed with the clerk of the county. If the commissioner is unable to execute the duties of office, the deputy or deputies shall execute…

Deputy drain commissioner; liability of commissioner and bondsmen; liability of drainage district; public liability or other insurance.

The commissioner and his bondsmen shall be liable for all the acts and defaults of the deputy or deputies when appointed as herein provided. After entry of the order designating drainage districts as provided in section 54 and section 105 of this act, the drainage district as designated shall be responsible for and lia…

Deputy drain commissioner; salary, expenses, reports to drain commissioner.

Each deputy commissioner shall receive such salary or compensation as the board of supervisors shall allow and all traveling expenses actually and necessarily spent by him in the discharge of his duties as prescribed in this act; he shall make a report to the commissioner of all work performed by him on or before the f…

Supplies; blank applications, office, location, hours.

County clerks, or the board of auditors in counties having such boards, shall be authorized, and it shall be their duty to procure, at the expense of their respective counties, the necessary books, blanks and stationery for the use of said commissioners; and each commissioner shall furnish upon request blank applicatio…

County drain commissioner; salary and expenses; itemized and verified expense account.

(1) Each commissioner shall receive an annual salary to be paid as other county officers are paid, the amount of the salary to be fixed by the county board of commissioners before November 1 of each year in the same manner as the salaries of other county officers are fixed. The salary may be increased but shall not be…

Surveys; use of books, equipment, field notes, profiles, blueprints, specifications, estimates, engineers.

The county shall furnish the commissioner with all necessary books and papers for use in the survey, and such office equipment as shall be necessary in making profiles, blueprints and specifications in any drainage district. The surveyor or engineer shall file with the commissioner all field notes, blueprints, profiles…

Drainage district; financial statement, records, prerequisites to tax spread.

It shall be the duty of each commissioner to make and keep a full financial statement of each drainage district. The commissioner shall also make and keep in his office in a book to be provided for that purpose a complete record of each drainage district, which record shall include a copy of the application for laying…

List of drainage districts assessed for maintenance work; annual report and financial statement to county board of commissioners; reports and information required by director of department; liability on bond.

(1) A drain commissioner shall prepare a list of drainage districts that are assessed for maintenance work under section 196. The list shall include the name of the drain and the amount being assessed annually to the drainage district. A drainage district shall be included on a list for the duration of the assessment a…

Drain commissioner; social security; agreement for coverage; appropriation.

The board of supervisors of each county having a drain commissioner may adopt a resolution authorizing the county to enter into an agreement with the secretary of health, education and welfare pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 205 of the Public Acts of 1951, as amended, being sections 38.851 to 38.870 of the Compil…

Salary of commissioner, deputy commissioners, clerks, and employees; payment from general fund; drain maintenance employees; hiring, status, and compensation; reimbursement of county general fund by drain districts; waiver.

(1) The salary of the commissioner, deputy commissioners, and clerks and employees of the drain commissioner's office shall, except as otherwise provided in this act, be paid from the general fund of the county in the same manner and at the same time as other county employees are paid. (2) The drain commissioner may, w…

County drainage districts; application, signers, eligibility, sufficiency; deposit for costs.

Before a commissioner takes any action on any application to locate, establish and construct any drain, there shall first be filed with him an application to lay out and designate a drainage district with reference to a proposed drain therein; such application shall tentatively describe the location and route of such p…