2016 Mississippi Code
Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control
Chapter 35 - Flood Control
Article 5 - Urban Flood Control
§ 51-35-309. Proceedings after petition filed

After the filing of the petition, the chancellor shall enter an order fixing the date, either in term time or in vacation, place, and time for a hearing of the cause on the original petition, exhibits, and any answers or other pleadings filed. The chancery clerk shall give notice of such hearing to all persons interested by posting notices thereof at the door of the courthouse of the county or counties in which the district is situated and in at least ten public places in said proposed district, and also by publishing said notice at least once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in each of the counties and municipalities proposed to be included in such flood and drainage control district. If there is no newspaper published in any such county or municipality, then it shall be sufficient to publish said notice in a newspaper having a general circulation in such county and municipality. Such notice shall be addressed to the property owners, qualified electors of said proposed district, and all other persons interested, shall state when and in what court said petition was and is filed, shall state the general area included in such district, and shall command all such persons to appear before the chancery court, or the chancellor in vacation, of the county in which said petition was filed and, upon the date fixed by the chancellor, to show cause, if any they can, why the proposed flood and drainage control district should not be organized and established as prayed for in said petition. The date for such hearing shall not be less than five days nor more than forty days after the last publication of such notice. For the purposes of the publication or notice hereinabove mentioned and for the purposes of describing the lands to be included in the district, it shall be sufficient in describing the said lands as all or parts of townships, all or parts of sections, and all or parts of lands lying within the corporate limits of any city, town, or village, and it shall be sufficient to describe the regions and lands proposed to be included in such flood and drainage control district in general terms with a generally accurate description of such regions and lands.

If the court or chancellor finds that the notice or publication was not given as provided in this article, it shall not thereby lose jurisdiction, but the court or chancellor shall order due publication or notice to be given and shall continue the hearing until such publication or notice shall be properly given; and the court or chancellor shall thereupon proceed as though publication or notice had been properly given in the first instance.

Upon the entry of said order fixing the date for said hearing, the chancery clerk of said court shall issue a citation to any county or municipality not joining in said petition and in which may lie any part of the proposed district to show cause, if any they can, why the proposed district should not be created as prayed for in said petition, which said citation shall be forthwith served by the sheriff according to law.