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14. To supply w ater under contract, agreement, or in other legal m anner to the U nited States of America, or any departm ent thereof, the State of Nevada, Clark County, and any city, town, corporation, individual, association, or partnership situated within Clark County,;Nevada, for an appropriate charge, consideration, or exchange made therefor, when such supply is available or can be developed as an incident of or in connection w ith the prim ary functions and operations of the district. 15, To have the right to provide from revenues or other available funds an adequate depreciation fund for the replacement of parts of the works and properties of the district. (As amended, Chap. 307, Nevada Statutes, 1951.) Section 2. A proposal for the establishm ent of the Las Vegas valley w ater district may be instituted by a petition signed by at least five percent of the owners of real property within the proposed district as evidenced by the county assessor’s tax roll. The petition shall indicate the purposes, boundaries, divisions, and other pertinent information, and pray th at the district be organized under the provisions of this act. Such petition shall first be presented to the board of county commissioners of Clark County, accompanied with a good and sufficient bond, to be approved by the said board of county commissioners in double the am ount of the probable cost of organizing such district, conditioned th at the bondsmen will pay all said costs in case said organization shall not be affected. Notice of intention to present such petition shall be published for at least tw o weeks before the time the same is to be presented, in some newspaper printed and published in Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada. Section 3. W hen such petition is presented, and it shall appear th at the notice of the presentation of said petition has been given and th at said petition has been signed by the requisite num ber of petitioners as required by this act, the commissioners shall hold a hearing on said petition, and may adjourn such hearing from tim e to tim e not exceeding three weeks in all. In the hearing of any such petition the board of county commissioners shall disregard any informalities therein, and in case it deny the same or dismiss it for any reasons on account of the provisions of this act not having been complied with, which are the only reasons upon which it shall have the right to refuse or dismiss the same, it shall state its reasons in w riting therefor in detail, which shall be entered upon its records, and in case the reasons are not well founded, a w rit of mandamus shall, upon proper application therefor, issue out of the district court of the county compelling it to act in compliance w ith this act, which w rit shall be heard within tw enty days from the date of issuance, such tim e to be excluded from the tim e given the county commissioners to act upon the petition. Upon the completion of the hearing the county commissioners shall forthw ith make an order denying or granting the prayer of said petition, and if the same is granted shall, in said order, define and establish the boundaries and designate the name of such proposed district and divide the same into seven divisions, as prescribed in the petition, as nearly equal in size as may be practicable. Thereupon the said commissioners shall by further order duly entered upon their record call an election of the qualified electors of said proposed district to determine w hether such district shall be organized under the provisions of this act, and by such order shall submit the names of one or more persons from each of the divisions of said district to be voted for as directors of the district. One director shall be elected from each division by the qualified electors of the w ater district and shall be a qualified elector and property owner of the division from which he is elected. Each division shall constitute an election precinct for the purposes of this act; provided, th at after the organization of the district the directors may divide a division into two or more precincts and fix the polling places th ere in ; and provided further, th at the directors, by affirmative vote of all of their num ber or of all of their num ber save one, may reduce the num ber of election precincts to one or more within the district, establish the boundaries thereof, and fix the polling place or places therein. T he board of county commissioners shall give notice of such election, which shall be published for two weeks prior to such election in a newspaper within the county w here the petition is filed. Such notice shall require the electors to cast ballots which shall contain the words “W ater D istrict—Yes,” or “W ater D istrict—No,” or words equivalent thereto, and the names of persons to be voted for as directors. For the purpose of this election the board shall establish a polling place in each election precinct aforesaid, and shall also appoint three qualified electors to act as inspectors of election in each election precinct, and also appoint for each precinct two clerks of election. The record of the board of county commissioners of the proceedings had and taken by it under the provisions of this act shall be, in the absence of fraud, conclusive evidence of the m atters and things therein recited. 3 Section 4. Except as in this act otherwise provided, alb such elections shall be conducted as near as may be practicable in accordance w ith the general election laws of this state, including the right to vote by absent voter’s ballot. The board of county commissioners shall meet on the second M onday succeeding such election and proceed to canvass the votes cast thereat, and if upon such canvass it appears that a m ajority of the electors voted “W ater D istrict—-Yes” the board, by an order entered upon its minutes, shall declare such territory duly organized as a w ater district under the name and style theretofore designated, and shall declare the persons receiving, respectively, the highest num ber of votes for directors to be duly elected, and shall cause a copy of such order and a plat of said district, each duly certified by the clerk of the board of county com­missioners, to be immediately filed for record in the office of the county recorder of Clark County, and certified copies thereof shall also be filed with the county clerk of Clark County, and thereafter the organization of the district shall be complete. Section 5. The regular elections of suph w ater district shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first M onday in April of the second calendar year after the completion of the organization thereof, and on the same day biennially thereafter, biennially after the first regular election therein. The directors elected at the organization election shall be selected by lot so th at three directors shall hold office until their successors are elected at the next regular election and qualify, and four directors shall hold office until their successors are elected at the second regular election after organization and qualify, and at the regular election biennially thereafter directors shall be elected, to replace the directors whose terms expire, for terms of four years, or until their successors are elected and qualify. Directors so elected shall have the qualifications prescribed in this act for directors elected at the time of organization. Nominations for the office of directors shall be made by filing a declaration w ith the secretary within fifty days before the date of election and not later than tw enty days before such election. Candidates shall pay twenty-five dollars filing fee with such declaration. In the event there shall be no contests for office, and no m atters or propositions to be voted upon at any such election, then such election shall not be held, and the duly qualified candidates shall be deemed elected as of the date said election would otherwise have been held, and the board of directors m ust declare on its records said candidates to have been elected. Section 6. Not less than fifteen nor more than tw enty days before any election held under this act subsequent to the organization of the district, the secretary shall cause notice specifying the polling places and tim e of holding the election to be posted in three public places in each election precinct and in the office of the board of directors. Prior to the time for posting the notice the board of directors shall appoint three qualified electors to act as inspectors of election in each election precinct, and shall also appoint two clerks of election for each precinct. If the board of directors fail to appoint a board of election or the members appointed do not attend the opening of the polls on the m orning of election, the electors of the precinct present at that hour may appoint the board or supply the place of absent members thereof. The board of directors shall, in its order appointing the board of election, designate the hour and the place in each precinct where the election shall be held. The secretary shall be ex officio district registrar of the district, and may, at least four weeks before any election, appoint a deputy registrar in each election precinct, whose duty it shall be to register all electors within his precinct applying for registration, and for this purpose he or she shall have authority to demand of the elector all information, and to administer all oaths required by this act. Such registrar and deputy registrar shall be governed in the performance of their duties by the general election laws of this state as far as they are applicable, and shall be at their places of registration to receive applications for registration from 9 o’clock a. m. until 9 o’clock p. m. on each of three W ednesdays next preceding the date of election. The registrars shall require registrants to take the following oath in substance: I am, or have declared my intention to become, a citizen of the United States, am over the age of twenty-one years, and am, or properly represent, under the law in pursuance of which this election is to be held, the bona fide holder of title or evidence of title of real property within the boundaries of the Las Vegas valley w ater district, and such holding is for all purposes and not simply for this election or m atters connected therew ith.” No election for any purpose except for organization shall be held in such w ater district w ithout such registration, and only electors duly registered shall be entitled to vote thereat, provided, however, th at if an elector has voted at the last preceding district election, whether special or general, and is still eligible, he shall not be required to reregister in order to vote at the next succeeding election, but before he shall be perm itted to vote at such election, if he shall not have reregistered therefor, he shall be required to take and subscribe the registration oath before the board of election, on a form provided by the district as evidence of his continued eligibility. 4