2009 Kansas Code
Chapter 2 AGRICULTURE
Article 19 CONSERVATION DISTRICTS
2-1904. State conservation commission; members; terms; records; seal; powers and duties; rules and regulations; compensation and expenses; employees; office and supplies.

2-1904

Chapter 2.--AGRICULTURE Article 19.--CONSERVATION DISTRICTS

      2-1904.   State conservation commission; members; terms; records; seal; powers and duties; rules and regulations; compensation and expenses; employees; office and supplies. (a) There is hereby established, to serve as an agency of the state and to perform the functions conferred upon it in this act, the state conservation commission. The state conservation commission shall succeed to all the powers, duties and property of the state soil conservation committee. The commission shall consist of nine members as follows:

      (1)   The director of the cooperative extension service and the director of the state agricultural experiment station located at Manhattan, Kansas, or such persons' designees shall serve, ex officio, as members of the commission.

      (2)   The commission shall request the secretary of agriculture of United States of America to appoint one person and the secretary of the Kansas department of agriculture to appoint one person, each of whom shall be residents of the state of Kansas to serve as members of the commission. These members shall hold office for four years and until a successor is appointed and qualifies, with terms commencing on the second Monday in January beginning in 1973.

      (3)   Five members of the state commission shall be elected by the conservation district supervisors at a time and place to be designated by the state conservation commission. The method of electing such members to be conducted as follows: The state is to be divided into five separate areas. Area No. I to include the following counties: Cheyenne, Rawlins, Decatur, Norton, Phillips, Smith, Osborne, Rooks, Graham, Sheridan, Thomas, Sherman, Wallace, Logan, Gove, Trego, Ellis and Russell. Area No. II to include: Greeley, Wichita, Scott, Lane, Ness, Rush, Pawnee, Hodgeman, Finney, Kearny, Hamilton, Edwards, Ford, Gray, Haskell, Grant, Stanton, Morton, Stevens, Seward, Meade, Clark, Comanche and Kiowa. Area No. III to include: Jewell, Republic, Mitchell, Cloud, Lincoln, Ottawa, Ellsworth, Saline, Rice, McPherson, Reno, Harvey, Kingman, Sedgwick, Sumner, Harper, Barber, Pratt, Barton and Stafford. Area No. IV to include: Washington, Marshall, Nemaha, Brown, Doniphan, Clay, Riley, Pottawatomie, Jackson, Atchison, Jefferson, Leavenworth, Wyandotte, Johnson, Douglas, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Geary, Dickinson, Morris, Osage, Franklin and Miami. Area No. V to include: Marion, Chase, Lyon, Coffey, Anderson, Linn, Bourbon, Allen, Woodson, Greenwood, Butler, Elk, Wilson, Neosho, Crawford, Cowley, Chautauqua, Montgomery, Labette and Cherokee. Areas II and IV will elect in even number years and Areas I, III and V shall elect in odd number years for two year terms. The elected commission members from Areas I, III and V shall take office on January 1, of the even number years. The remaining two elected members of the state commission from Areas II and IV shall take office on January 1, of the odd number years. The method of election is to be by area caucus of the district supervisors of each of the five separate areas of Kansas. The commission shall give each district notice of the time and place of such annual election meeting by letter if a member is to be elected to the commission from that area that year. The selection of a successor to fill an unexpired term shall be by appointment by the commission. The successor who is appointed to fill the unexpired term shall be a resident of the same area as that of the predecessor.

      (b)   The commission shall keep a record of its official actions, shall adopt a seal which seal shall be judicially noticed, and may perform such acts, hold such public hearings and adopt rules and regulations necessary for the execution of its functions under this act.

      (c)   The state conservation commission may employ an administrative officer and such technical experts as it may require and shall determine their qualifications and duties. Such officer and experts shall be in the unclassified service of the Kansas civil service act and shall receive annual salaries fixed by the commission and approved by the state finance council. All other agents and employees, permanent or temporary, required by the state conservation commission, shall be within the classified service of the Kansas civil service act. The commission may call upon the attorney general of the state for such legal services as it may require. It shall have authority to delegate to its chairperson, to one or more of its members or to one or more agents or employees, such powers and duties as it deems proper. It shall be supplied with suitable office accommodations at the state capital, and shall be furnished with the necessary supplies and equipment. Upon request of the commission, for the purpose of carrying out any of its functions, the supervising officer of any state agency or of any state institution of learning, insofar as may be possible under available appropriations and having due regard to the needs of the agency to which the request is directed, shall assign or detail to the commission members of the staff or personnel of such agency or institution of learning and make such special reports, surveys or studies as the commission may request.

      (d)   The commission shall designate its chairperson and, from time to time, may change such designation. A majority of the commission shall constitute a quorum, and the concurrence of a majority in any matter within their duties shall be required for its determination. Members of the state conservation commission attending meetings of such commission or attending a subcommittee meeting thereof authorized by such commission shall be paid compensation, subsistence allowances, mileage and other expenses as provided in K.S.A. 75-3223, and amendments thereto. The commission shall provide for keeping of a full and accurate record of all proceedings and of all resolutions, regulations and orders issued or adopted.

      (e)   In addition to the duties and powers hereinafter conferred upon the state conservation commission, it shall have the following duties and powers:

      (1)   To offer such assistance as may be appropriate to the supervisors of conservation districts, organized as provided hereinafter, in the carrying out of any of their powers and programs;

      (2)   to keep the supervisors of each of the several districts organized under the provisions of this act informed of the activities and experience of all other districts organized hereunder and to facilitate an interchange of advice and experience between such districts and cooperation between them;

      (3)   to coordinate the programs of the several conservation districts organized hereunder;

      (4)   to secure the cooperation and assistance of the United States and any of its agencies and of agencies of this state, in the work of such districts and to contract with or to accept donations, grants, gifts and contributions in money, services or otherwise from the United States or any of its agencies or from the state or any of its agencies in order to carry out the purposes of this act;

      (5)   to disseminate information throughout the state concerning the activities and programs of the conservation districts organized hereunder and to encourage the formation of such districts in areas where their organization is desirable;

      (6)   to cooperate with and give assistance to watershed districts and other special purpose districts in the state of Kansas for the purpose of cooperating with the United States through the secretary of agriculture in the furtherance of conservation pursuant to the provisions of the watershed protection and flood prevention act, as amended;

      (7)   to cooperate in and carry out, in accordance with state policies, activities and programs to conserve and develop the water resources of the state and maintain and improve the quality of such water resources;

      (8)   to enlist the cooperation and collaboration of state, federal, regional, interstate, local, public and private agencies with the conservation districts; and

      (9)   to facilitate arrangements under which conservation districts may serve county governing bodies and other agencies as their local operating agencies in the administration of any activity concerned with the conservation of natural resources.

      History:   L. 1937, ch. 5, § 4; L. 1951, ch. 11, § 1; L. 1959, ch. 5, § 1; L. 1972, ch. 5, § 3; L. 1974, ch. 348, § 3; L. 1979, ch. 6, § 2; L. 1989, ch. 5, § 1; L. 1992, ch. 116, § 23; L. 2001, ch. 86, § 3; April 12.