Article 4. District Powers of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 5. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 4.

A county sanitation district may sue and be sued by its own name.

A county sanitation district may employ such sanitation experts, surveyors, counsel, and other persons as are needed to carry into effect any powers of the district.

By resolution, the board may change the name of the district. The change of name shall be effective upon recording a certified copy in the office of the county recorder of the county or counties in which the district is situated.

The district may acquire by gift, purchase, condemnation, or otherwise, in the name of the district, and own, control, manage, and dispose of any interest in real or personal property necessary or convenient for the construction, maintenance, and operation of a sewerage system and sewage disposal or treatment plant, or a refuse transfer or disposal system, or both. As used in this article "refuse" shall include all of the following: (a) animal, fruit and vegetable refuse; (b) offal; (c) leaves and cuttings, trimmings from trees, shrubs and grass; (d) inorganic refuse and rubbish; (e) garbage; (f) anything thrown away as worthless.

A district may acquire, construct, and complete within or without the district, sewage collection, treatment and disposal works, including sewage treatment plants, outfalls, intercepting, collecting and lateral sewers, pipes, pumps, machinery, easements, rights-of-way, and other works, property or structures necessary or convenient for sewage collection, treatment, and disposal. No sewerage system shall be constructed, maintained, or operated in any city not in the district except by consent granted by an affirmative vote by a majority of the full membership of the governing body of the city; provided, however, that the district may construct, operate, and maintain intercepting, trunk and outfall sewerlines, other than ocean outfall lines and other terminal outfall lines, together with pumps and like machinery necessary for sewage transportation, in a city pursuant to Section 4759.1. For the purposes of this section, the term "terminal outfall lines" means any outfall sewerlines that discharge within the city any effluent from a sewer treatment plant or any sewage. It may also acquire lands and acquire and construct refuse transfer or disposal facilities, or both, within or without the district, and it may maintain and operate within the district boundaries a system for transfer or disposal of refuse, or both; provided, however, that the system shall not include "refuse collection" which is defined as the house-to-house pickup of refuse or any part thereof. A district shall not acquire land for, or establish and operate, a refuse transfer or disposal facility within either a city or the unincorporated area of a county until the city council, if the facility is proposed to be located in the city, or the board of supervisors of the county, if it is proposed to be located in the unincorporated area of the county, has by resolution, consented to the use of the proposed site for that purpose. If 90 percent or more of the total area of the district is unincorporated territory and the land proposed to be acquired for a refuse transfer or disposal facility is located in the unincorporated territory of the county, the board of supervisors, before adopting any resolution consenting to the use of land for that purpose, shall hold a public hearing upon the question of the adoption of the resolution. Notice of the hearing shall be given by publication in the area pursuant to Section 6066 of the Government Code, not more than 30 nor less than 10 days prior to the hearing. If at any time before the hearing, there is filed with the board of supervisors a written objection to the use of the proposed site for a refuse transfer or disposal facility, signed by 2 percent or more of the registered voters of the district, the board shall submit the matter of the proposed use to the voters of the district at an election. The proposition shall be submitted to the voters in the manner and under the procedure prescribed in Article 5 (commencing with Section 4780) of Chapter 3 of this part for submission of the proposition of incurring a bonded indebtedness. If a majority of the votes cast in an election are in favor of the proposed use, the board shall adopt the resolution consenting thereto, but if a majority of the votes cast are against the proposed use, the board shall dismiss the proceedings, and no resolution consenting to the use of any of such land shall be adopted by the board for at least one year from the date of the election.

A district board desiring to construct, maintain and operate a refuse transfer or disposal system, or both, within or without the district in addition to its sewage collection, treatment and disposal system shall adopt a resolution of its intention to do so. The resolution shall contain the following:
  (a) A statement of the intention to construct, maintain and operate a refuse transfer or disposal system, or both;
  (b) A statement that in the absence of any exclusion as provided in Section 4741.2, the boundaries of the proposed refuse transfer or disposal system, or both, shall coincide with the existing district boundaries;
  (c) The name of the county sanitation district proposing to construct, maintain and operate said system;
  (d) Instructions to the secretary of the district board to deliver within 10 days after the passage of said resolution of intention a certified copy thereof to the governing body of each political subdivision having representation on said district board;
  (e) A statement that any political subdivision having representation on the district board may be excluded from said system and relieved of all liability in connection therewith upon complying with the provisions of Section 4741.2.

That portion of a political subdivision lying within a district and having representation on the district board of directors, shall be excluded from the proposed refuse transfer or disposal system, or both, and shall not be liable for any cost incurred by said district in acquiring, constructing, operating and maintaining such system; provided, that the governing body of said political subdivision within 90 days after passage of the resolution of intention by the district to form such system, delivers to said district a certified copy of its resolution requesting exclusion from the proposed refuse transfer or disposal system, or both.

At the expiration of not less than 90 days after adoption of the resolution of intention to construct, maintain and operate a refuse transfer or disposal system, or both, the district board may, in its discretion, adopt a resolution declaring the system formed or may rescind its resolution of intention to form said system and declare all prior proceedings in connection therewith void. Any existing refuse collection and disposal system of a district shall be dissolved without further action by the board upon the adoption by the same district board of a resolution declaring a refuse transfer or disposal system, or both, formed.

The board of directors of a county sanitation district shall be the same for all district purposes, activities, and objectives, whether for collection, treatment and disposal of sewage or the acquisition and operation of a refuse transfer or disposal system, or both, and no director shall be excluded from the board of directors because the political subdivision which he represents on the board has excluded itself from the said refuse transfer or disposal system, or both.

When a refuse transfer or disposal system, or both, is established by a district pursuant to the provisions of this article, the district shall comply with the provisions of Sections 54900 to 54903, inclusive, of the Government Code, by furnishing a statement and map or plat to each assessor whose roll is used for the levy as provided in Section 4815 of this code and to the State Board of Equalization, showing the boundaries of said refuse transfer or disposal system or both.

The provisions of Sections 4741.1 through 4741.5 shall not apply to any district whose resolution of intention pursuant to Section 4710 discloses that the district was formed for the purposes of constructing, maintaining and operating both sewage collection and disposal systems and refuse collection and disposal systems. Also nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to preclude any district from using its sewerage system to dispose of ground garbage or other acceptable material which is ground into the form of slurry.

Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this chapter, or of Article 4 (commencing with Section 5470) to the contrary, a district may fix and collect a fee or charge in connection with its refuse transfer or disposal system only pursuant to the provisions of Section 5471, and for these purposes "sanitation or sewerage system" includes a refuse transfer or disposal system. Any entity which collects such a fee or charge for a district pursuant to the provisions of Section 5471 may deduct the administrative costs of these collections from the revenue produced from such fee or charge. The revenues of these charges shall not be used for acquisition, construction, maintenance, or operation of any refuse transfer or disposal system, whether by the district, jointly, by contract, or otherwise, unless the system is either a facility for the conversion of solid waste into energy, synthetic fuels, or reusable materials or is open for use by all persons in the district. For the purposes of this section, "person" includes an individual, company, public or private corporation, or public entity.

It may join with any other district, city or other governmental agency in the purchase, ownership, use, construction, maintenance, or operation of a sewerage system or sewage disposal or treatment plant, or a refuse transfer or disposal system, or both, either within or without the district, or so join for any combination of these purposes, but no sewage disposal or treatment plan shall be constructed or maintained in any city not in the district, except by consent granted by the unanimous vote of the governing body of the city.

It may contract with any district, city, governmental agency, or person, for the handling, treatment or disposal by the district of refuse, sewage, or industrial wastes originating within the district or county or within areas outside of the district or county when, in the judgment of the district board, it is for the best interest of the district to do so, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon; provided, that the contract shall be for such term as agreed upon, but in no event for a term in excess of 50 years, or for such time as in the judgment of the district board the district shall have the capacity for handling, treatment or disposal of such refuse, sewage, or industrial wastes.

Whenever a person installs sewers or other facilities for sewers and the district board determines that it is necessary that such sewers or other facilities be constructed so that they can be or will be used for the benefit of property other than that of the person making the installation and such sewers or other facilities are dedicated to the public or become the property of the district, the district board may by contract agree to reimburse such person for such sewers or other facilities. Such contract may provide that the district may collect from any person using such sewer or other facility for the benefit of property not owned by the person making the installation a reasonable fee or charge.

Any county sanitation district and any county may enter into a contract agreeing to pay and apportion between them the costs of locating, removing, repairing, or relocating any facilities owned or to be owned by either party on the roads or other property of the other in such proportion and upon such terms as the governing boards of the parties shall determine to be equitable.

It may make provision for street-cleaning and streetsweeping services upon the roads and streets within the boundaries of the district. It may contract with any district, city, governmental agency or person for the operation of a street-cleaning and streetsweeping service upon the roads and streets within the boundaries of the district, when, in the judgment of the district board, it is for the best interest of the district to do so, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon.

It may sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of any property of the district or any interest therein whenever it is no longer required for the purposes of the district, or when its use may be permitted without interfering with its use by the district.

It may sell, or otherwise dispose of, any water, sewage effluent, fertilizer, or other by-product resulting from the operation of a sewerage system, sewage disposal plant, refuse disposal plant or process, or treatment plant, and construct, maintain, and operate such pipe lines and other works as may be necessary for that purpose.

It may construct, maintain, and operate such pipe lines or other works as may be necessary to conserve and put to beneficial use any water or sewage effluent recovered from the operation of the sewerage system, plant, or works, by sale or disposition for agricultural or industrial purposes, or by discharging or spreading the water or sewage effluent in such a manner as to percolate into the underground gravels and replenish the natural water resources.

It may issue bonds.

If funds are needed to meet current expenses of maintenance and operation, a district may incur indebtedness by the issuance of negotiable promissory notes pursuant to this section, without an election. The notes shall be general obligations of the district payable in the same manner as bonds of the district, shall mature not later than two years from the date thereof, and shall bear interest at a rate not to exceed 7 percent per annum, payable as provided therein. The aggregate amount of the notes outstanding at any one time shall not exceed an amount equal to seven cents ($0.07) on each one hundred dollars ($100) of the assessed valuation of the taxable real property within the district as shown on the last equalized assessment roll of the county. If such assessed valuation is not obtainable, the county auditor's estimate of the assessed valuation of the taxable real property within the district for the fiscal year in which the indebtedness is to be incurred shall be used. All such notes shall be issued after the adoption of a resolution by a four-fifths vote of the district board setting forth the following:
  (a) The necessity for such borrowing.
  (b) The assessed valuation of the taxable real property within the district, or the auditor's estimate thereof.
  (c) The amount of funds to be borrowed.
  (d) The date, maturity, denomination, and form of such notes. The notes shall be signed by the chairman of the district board and countersigned by the county treasurer and the seal of the district board shall be affixed. The district board shall cause the board of supervisors to levy and collect taxes to pay the interest on and the principal of the notes as the same comes due and, if the maturity of the notes begins more than one year after the date thereof, to constitute a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof at maturity. Before selling such notes, the district board shall give notice inviting sealed bids in such manner as the board may prescribe. If satisfactory bids are received, the notes offered for sale shall be awarded to the highest responsible bidder. If no bids are received, or if the district board determines that the bids received are not satisfactory as to price or responsibility of the bidders, the district board may reject all bids received, if any, and either readvertise or sell the notes at private sale.

(a) If the district board determines by resolution that funds are needed to meet current expenses of maintenance and repair of damage caused by disaster, a district may borrow and repay county funds not to exceed 85 percent of the district's anticipated revenue for the fiscal year in which they are borrowed or for the next ensuing fiscal year. In levying taxes as authorized by this article the district may raise sufficient revenues to repay such loans.
  (b) The district may also borrow funds from another sanitation district and may lend available district funds to another sanitation district, subject to the same terms and conditions as apply to loans of county funds.
  (c) At no time shall a district borrow funds pursuant to this section in an amount exceeding 85 percent of the district's anticipated revenue for the fiscal year in which the funds are borrowed or for the next ensuing fiscal year.
  (d) As used in this section, "disaster" includes any fire, earthquake, landslide, mudslide, flood, or tidal wave.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the funds, when borrowed by a sanitation district pursuant to Section 4746.2, shall forthwith increase the appropriations of the district for which they are needed. The board of supervisors may specify the date and manner in which the funds shall be repaid. In no case shall repayment of the loan be deferred longer than 10 calendar years.

The district shall pay interest to the county on all funds borrowed pursuant to Section 4746.2 at the same rate that the county applies to funds of the district on deposit with the county.

It may cause to be levied and collected taxes upon all the taxable real property in the district sufficient to meet the obligations evidenced by its bonds, to maintain the works of the district, and to defray all other expenses incidental to the exercise of the district powers.

The district board shall, by resolution, employ one or more sanitation engineers to make a survey of the problems of the district concerning sanitation especially with reference to the matters of sewage collection, treatment, and disposal, and refuse transfer or disposal, or both, the resolution shall direct the engineer or engineers to prepare and file with the district board of the district a report setting forth:
  (a) A general description of existing facilities for sewage collection, treatment, and disposal, or a general description of existing facilities for refuse transfer or disposal, or both.
  (b) A general description of the work proposed to be done to carry out the objects of the district.
  (c) A general plan and general specifications of the work.
  (d) A general description of the property proposed to be acquired or damaged in carrying out the work.
  (e) A map showing the boundaries of the district and in general the location of the work proposed to be done, property taken or damaged, and any other information useful to an understanding of the proposed work.
  (f) An estimate of the cost of the proposed work.

The engineer or engineers may, subject to the direction of the district board, employ such surveyors and others as may be necessary to prepare the report. The district board at any time may remove any or all engineers or other persons employed, and may fill all vacancies.

When the engineers' report is filed the district board shall examine it and may thereupon (a) reject it and direct that a new report be prepared; (b) direct that changes be made in it; or (c) if it complies with the provisions of this chapter and is satisfactory to the board it shall fix a time and place for hearing objections to the report and to doing all or any part of the work referred to in the report.

Notice of the hearing shall be given by the district board by publishing the notice for at least five times in a daily, or twice in a weekly, newspaper circulated in the district, as the district board may direct. At the time and place so fixed, or at the time and place to which the hearing may be from time to time continued, the board shall hear all objections.

At the conclusion of the hearing the district board shall either order the report changed to conform to some or all the objections made or shall approve and adopt the report as made. If changes in the report are ordered a further hearing shall be had upon it as amended and further hearings shall be had until the district board approves and adopts the report.

The district board may, thereafter, have such portions of the report as are adapted to publication, or a resume, published for free public distribution.

The engineers employed by the district board to make the report required by this chapter, or other engineers, shall be directed by the district board to superintend the doing of the work recommended to be done in the report as approved and adopted.

Any work recommended to be done in the report approved and adopted by the district board shall be done in conformity with the general plans and specifications contained in the report unless the district board, by a four-fifths vote, adopts a resolution declaring that the public interest requires a modification of or departure from the plans and specifications, which resolution shall contain a statement of the manner in which the modification is required or departure is to be made.

A right of way in or across any public highway, street, or property in the district is hereby granted to the district wherever the right of way is found by the district board to be necessary or convenient for doing any of the work.

(a) There is granted to every district the right to construct, operate and maintain outfall, intercepting and trunk sewerlines, other than ocean outfall lines and other terminal outfall lines, together with pumps and like machinery necessary for sewage transportation, across, along, in, under, over or upon any road, street, alley, avenue or highway within any city, in such a manner as to afford security for life and property. For the purposes of this section the term "terminal outfall lines" means any outfall sewerlines that discharge within the city any effluent from a sewage treatment plant or any sewage. Any use, under this section, of a public highway now or hereafter constituted a state highway shall be subject to the provisions of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 660) of Division 1 of the Streets and Highways Code.
  (b) A district exercising its rights under this section shall restore the road, street, alley, avenue or highway so used to its former state of usefulness as nearly as may be, and shall locate such sewerlines and machinery so as to interfere as little as possible with other existing uses of such road, street, alley, avenue or highway.
  (c) Before any district uses any street, alley, avenue or highway within any city, it shall request the city in which the street, alley, avenue or highway is situated to agree with it upon the location of such sewerlines and machinery and the terms and conditions to which the construction, operation and maintenance of such sewerlines shall be subject.
  (d) If the district and the city are unable to agree on the terms and conditions and location of such sewerlines and machinery within three months after a proposal to do so, the district may bring an action in the superior court of the county in which the street, alley, avenue or highway is situated against the city to have the terms and conditions and location determined. The superior court may determine and adjudicate the terms and conditions to which the use of the street, alley, avenue or highway shall be subject, and the location thereof, and upon the making of the final judgment the district may enter and use the street, alley, avenue or highway upon the terms and conditions and at the location specified in the judgment.

The district board may, by agreement with any city or other public agency, take possession of, or acquire by condemnation or in any other manner any sewerage system, or any sewage or refuse disposal or treatment plant, or any combination of the foregoing necessary or convenient to carry out any of the objects of the district, or may acquire by agreement or in any manner the right to use them, and any city or other public agency may enter into such an agreement with a county sanitation district. A compliance with this chapter is sufficient to authorize such an agreement by either a county sanitation district, city, or other public agency entering into such a contract with a county sanitation district. Whenever any sewerage or refuse disposal system, or sewage or refuse disposal or treatment plant so taken possession of or otherwise acquired was built from the proceeds of a bond issue, the district may assume and pay out of its funds the outstanding bonds of the city or public agency according to their terms, and in that case the principal sum remaining unpaid shall be credited to it and deducted from any sum to be paid by it to the city or public agency. Funds may be obtained by the county sanitation districts to pay the principal and interest on the assumed bonds in the manner as is provided for paying the principal and interest on its own bonds.

Any city or public agency in the district may enter into an agreement with the district for the use, or entire possession and operation, by the county sanitation district of any sewerage or refuse disposal system, or sewage or refuse disposal or treatment plant owned or operated by the city or public agency.

Whenever any area in the district is provided with a sewerage system the governing body of the city in which the area lies may declare the further maintenance or use of cesspools or other local means of sewage disposal to be a public nuisance, and may require all buildings inhabited or used by human beings to be connected with the sewerage system. The board of supervisors may prohibit the use of cesspools or other local means of sewage disposal and declare the same to be a public nuisance in any area in the district which is outside of any incorporated city, and may require all buildings inhabited or used by human beings to be connected with the sewerage system.

All connections of lateral or other sewerlines to the sewerage system of the district, whether within or without any city, shall be made at points and in the manner to be directed by the engineers of the district under instructions from the district board, subject to such terms and conditions as the district board may prescribe. The district board may prescribe standards for installation and maintenance of laterals or sewerlines connecting to the sewerage system of the district, including, but not limited to, installation and maintenance by property owners of cleanouts and backflow protective devices.

All powers of the district shall be exercised by the district board unless otherwise specified.

It may borrow money and incur indebtedness and guarantee the performance of its legal or contractual obligations whether heretofore or hereafter incurred; and also refund or retire any public indebtedness or lien that may exist against the district or any property therein which shall have arisen out of the transaction of the affairs of the district. It shall not, however, incur any bonded indebtedness unless it submits the proposition for incurring the bonded indebtedness to the voters of the district, or if the bonded indebtedness is for an improvement district, to the voters of the improvement district, at a regular election or a special election called for that purpose and at least two-thirds of the votes cast at the election are in favor of incurring the bonded indebtedness as proposed.

Any district, directly or through a representative, may attend the Legislature and any committees thereof and present information to aid the passage of legislation which the district deems beneficial to the district or to prevent the passage of legislation which the governing board of the district deems detrimental to the district. The cost and expense incident thereto are proper charges against the district. Such districts may enter into and provide for participation in the business of associations and through a representative of the associations attend the Legislature, and any committees thereof, and present information to aid the passage of legislation which the association deems beneficial to the districts in the association, or to prevent the passage of legislation which the association deems detrimental to the districts in the association. The cost and expense incident thereto are proper charges against the districts comprising the association. Each member of the district board engaging in such activities on behalf of the district shall be allowed eleven cents ($0.11) per mile, without any constructive mileage, for his expenses of traveling necessarily done by automobile, and his actual traveling expenses when he travels by public conveyance.

The district board may adopt ordinances to carry out the provisions of Sections 5473 to 5473.11, inclusive, of the Health and Safety Code and this chapter; the procedure for the adoption of said ordinances shall be the same as is provided for in Article 7 (commencing with Section 25120), Chapter 1, Part 2, Division 2, Title 3 of the Government Code for counties. In the absence of county or city regulation, the district board may also adopt ordinances for the purpose of exercise and effect of any of it powers, or for the purposes for which it was formed. Any ordinance adopted by the district board shall impose restrictions equal to or greater than those imposed by the State Housing Law, Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 17910), Division 13 of this code, and the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto by the Commission of Housing and Community Development. A violation of a regulation or ordinance of a district is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), imprisonment not to exceed 30 days, or both.

The board of supervisors of any county may adopt a model county sanitation district ordinance. The procedure for the adoption of said ordinance shall be the same as is provided for in Article 7 (commencing with Section 25120) of Chapter 1, Part 2, Division 2, Title 3 of the Government Code for the adoption of county ordinances. The ordinance may be amended by the same procedure used for the adoption of the ordinance. The ordinance and amendments thereto shall be effective only as to districts which have adopted it by reference as hereinafter provided.

The district board is hereby authorized to enact an ordinance which adopts by reference all or any part of a model county sanitation district ordinance. The adopting ordinance may also enact provisions to add to or amend the model sanitation district ordinance as it is applied to that district.

Prior to adoption of any ordinance which adopts by reference all or any part of a model county sanitation district ordinance, the district board shall give notice that copies of the model ordinance being considered for adoption are on file with the clerk of the district and are open to public inspection. Such notice shall be published pursuant to Section 6066 of the Government Code in a newspaper of general circulation in the district. If there is no newspaper of general circulation in the district, the notice shall be posted in the manner as provided for the posting of any proposed ordinance.

Nothing contained in this article shall be deemed to relieve any district from the requirement of publishing in full the ordinance which adopts by reference the model sanitation district ordinance; and all provisions applicable to such publication shall be fully carried out. Such publication shall contain notice that copies of the model county sanitation district ordinance are on file with the clerk of the district and are open to public inspection.

If at any time the model sanitation district ordinance is amended by the county board of supervisors, then the district board may adopt such amendment or amended model sanitation district ordinance by reference as provided in this article; or an ordinance may be enacted in the regular manner, setting forth the entire text of such amendment.

If the board of directors of the district is the board of supervisors, the district may adopt the model county sanitation district ordinance and any amendments thereto by reference without following the procedures contained in Section 4766.3.

A district may destroy a record pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 60200) of Division 1 of Title 6 of the Government Code.

Any county sanitation district may, in addition to its other powers, acquire, construct, control, operate, and maintain waterworks, conduits, reservoirs, storage sites, and other works and facilities for the production, treatment, storage and distribution of a water supply for domestic and other uses. The district may also purchase water from any other utility district, public agency, person, or private company, and distribute it. The district may only distribute and sell to retail customers domestic water supplies outside the district by means of facilities designed primarily to serve inside the district. Before a district may so distribute and sell to retail customers domestic water supplies within the boundaries of another district or municipality which has the same or similar powers with respect to domestic water supplies, it shall secure the consent of the governing body of such other district or municipality to do so.

A district may contract with any state agency to finance any district improvement authorized by Section 4767. The terms of the contract shall be consistent with this chapter. Notwithstanding any other provision in this chapter, the term of the contract may extend up to 30 years.