44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2000
RELATING TO PROCUREMENT; AMENDING SECTION 73-21-16 NMSA 1978 (BEING LAWS 1943, CHAPTER 80, SECTION 14, AS AMENDED) TO CHANGE THE REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLICATION OF NOTICE FOR CERTAIN BIDS BY WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT BOARDS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 73-21-16 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1943, Chapter 80, Section 14, as amended) is amended to read:
"73-21-16. GENERAL POWERS.--For and on behalf of the
district, the board [shall have] has the following powers:
A. to have perpetual existence;
B. to have and use a corporate seal;
C. to sue and be sued and be a party to suits, actions and proceedings;
D. except as otherwise provided in the Water and
Sanitation District Act, to enter into contracts and
agreements affecting the affairs of the district, including
contracts with the United States and any of its agencies or
instrumentalities. Except in cases in which a district will
receive aid from a governmental agency, a notice shall be
published for bids on all construction contracts for work or
material [or both] involving an expense of [five thousand
dollars ($5,000)] ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more. The
district may reject any and all bids, and if it appears that
the district can perform the work or secure material for less
than the lowest bid, it may proceed to do so;
E. to borrow money and incur indebtedness and
evidence the indebtedness by certificates, notes or debentures
and to issue bonds in accordance with the provisions of [that]
the Water and Sanitation District Act;
F. to acquire, dispose of and encumber real and personal property, water rights, water and sewer works and plants and any interest in them, including leases and easements;
G. to refund any bonded indebtedness or revenue
bonds of the district without an election in accordance with
the provisions of [that] the Water and Sanitation District
Act;
H. to [have the management] manage, control and
[supervision of] supervise all the business and affairs of the
district and the construction, installation, operation and
maintenance of district improvements;
I. to hire and retain agents, employees, engineers and attorneys;
J. to have and exercise the power of eminent
domain and dominant eminent domain and, in the manner provided
by law for the condemnation of private property for public
use, to take [any] property necessary to the exercise of the
powers granted in [that] the Water and Sanitation District
Act, both within and without the district;
K. to construct and maintain works and establish
and maintain facilities across or along [any] a public street
or highway and in, upon or over [any] vacant public lands
[which public lands] that are [now or may become] the property
of the state and to construct works and establish and maintain
facilities across [any stream of water or watercourse] streams
or watercourses; provided, however, that the district shall
promptly restore [any such] an affected street or highway to
its former state of usefulness [as nearly as may be] and shall
not use the street or highway in [such] a manner [as to] that
completely or unnecessarily [impair] impairs its usefulness;
L. to fix [and from time to time to], increase or
decrease water and sewer rates, tolls or charges for services
or facilities furnished or made available by the district,
including [without limiting the generality of the foregoing]
standby charges for both water and sewers, and to pledge that
revenue for the payment of any indebtedness of the district.
Until paid, all rates, tolls or charges constitute a perpetual
lien on [and against] the property served, and [any such] the
lien may be foreclosed in the same manner as provided by the
laws of New Mexico for the foreclosure of real estate
mortgages. The board shall shut off or discontinue service
for delinquencies in the payment of the rates, tolls or
charges or in the payment of taxes levied pursuant to the
Water and Sanitation District Act. [and] The board shall
prescribe and enforce rules [and regulations] for the
connection with and the disconnection from [properties of] the
works and facilities of the district. For health and sanitary
purposes, the board shall have the power to compel the owners
of inhabited property within a sanitation district to connect
their property [with] to the sewer system of the district, and
[upon a failure so to connect] if an owner fails to do so
within sixty days after written notice by the board, the board
may cause the connection to be made and a lien to be filed
against the property for the expense incurred in making the
connection; provided, however, that no owner shall be
compelled to connect his property with [such] a sewer system
unless a service line is brought by the district to a point
within four hundred feet of his dwelling place;
M. to adopt and amend bylaws not in conflict with the constitution and laws of the state for carrying on the business, objects and affairs of the board and of the district; and
N. to [have and] exercise all rights and powers
necessary or incidental to or implied from the specific powers
granted in this section [Such specific powers shall not be
considered as a limitation upon] and, additionally, any power
necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes and intent
of [that] the Water and Sanitation District Act."
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