Chapter 3. Operation Of New District of California Water Code >> Division 12. >> Part 9.1. >> Chapter 3.

Except as in this part expressly provided, the new Costa Mesa County Water District shall be in all respects operated, managed and governed, its directors and officers shall be elected or appointed, and its revenue shall be raised and expended, as provided by law for county water districts generally.

Any and all actions and proceedings pending by or against any of the districts dissolved hereby at the time of their dissolution and merger into the new district may be prosecuted to final judgment for or against said districts, or the new Costa Mesa County Water District may be substituted as a party.

After the effective date of the dissolution and merger of the districts into the new Costa Mesa County Water District, no action or proceeding shall be brought for or against the dissolved and merged districts or their directors or officers or employees, but shall be prosecuted by or against the Costa Mesa County Water District.

All outstanding bonded and other indebtednesses of the dissolved and merged districts are hereby assumed by the Costa Mesa County Water District, and all bondholders and creditors of such districts may enforce any rights they may have against the Costa Mesa County Water District in like manner as if the districts had not been dissolved and merged into the Costa Mesa County Water District. All property subject to taxation or assessment for the payment of the principal of or interest on any such outstanding bonded and other indebtedness shall, until such principal and interest is paid or provision is made for the payment thereof, continue to be subject to such taxation or assessment as fully as though said districts had not been merged or dissolved, and all provisions of law which could have been used against the legislative bodies and officers of the merged or dissolved districts to compel the levy and collection of such taxes or assessments had the merger or dissolution not occurred can be used against the board of directors and officers of the Costa Mesa County Water District. As the City of Costa Mesa has no present bonded indebtedness, the new Costa Mesa County Water District is not assuming any present or future indebtedness of the City of Costa Mesa.

Upon the dissolution of the named districts, their merger into the Costa Mesa County Water District, and the transfer of the water system by the City of Costa Mesa to the Costa Mesa County Water District as in this part provided, there shall be transferred to the General Fund of the Costa Mesa County Water District a sum equal to three dollars ($3) for each connected consumer by each of the districts and the City of Costa Mesa. All other funds of the district shall be transferred to special accounts for the payment of bond principal and interest of the respective assessment districts as provided in this part. Any surplus remaining after the payment of all bonded indebtedness or after setting aside sufficient funds to pay all bonded indebtedness shall remain in the special fund for the benefit of the territory of the district from which the funds were collected, and shall be used from time to time, until expended, for capital improvements within such territory.

The boards of directors of the Newport Heights Irrigation District, the Fairview County Water District, and the Newport Mesa County Water District, and the city council of the City of Costa Mesa, shall, on or before the first day of the first month following the sixty-first day after this part becomes effective, appoint by resolution a director to serve as a director of the Costa Mesa County Water District. The four directors so appointed shall, within 60 days thereafter, appoint the fifth director. If they for any reason should fail to appoint such a director within the time allowed, the board of supervisors of the County of Orange shall appoint such director. If any of the districts or the city fail to appoint a director as herein provided, the directors who are appointed as herein provided shall consider such office vacant and make an appointment therefor. The directors so appointed shall proceed as provided in Water Code Sections 30520 and following, to organize the board, elect officers, and proceed to govern the affairs of the Costa Mesa County Water District. Any director so appointed must qualify as provided by county water district law, and the first directors shall classify themselves by lot as provided in Water Code Section 30501.

The board of directors of the Costa Mesa County Water District shall, as soon as possible after the formation of the district, cause an appraisal to be made of all operating (other than pipelines, wells, reservoirs and appurtenances) and non-operating assets acquired from each district and the city. The non-operating assets shall be sold as soon as practicable and the proceeds therefrom credited to the district or city from which received. The operating assets necessary for the proper functioning of the integrated system shall be retained and all surplus operating property shall be sold and the proceeds therefrom credited to the agency from which received. It is the intention of the Legislature that the Costa Mesa County Water District equalize as much as reasonably possible the contribution of retained operating property (other than pipelines, wells, reservoirs and appurtenances) by each of the agencies.

The Board of Directors of the Costa Mesa County Water District shall, by January 1, 1977, adopt a resolution dividing the Costa Mesa County Water District into five divisions as nearly equal in population as practicable for the purpose of electing directors thereafter by divisions, as provided in Article 1 (commencing at Section 30730) of Chapter 2, Part 4, Division 12 of the Water Code.

The districts and the city shall, pursuant to this part, execute any and all documents necessary to complete the transfer of assets as herein provided.

The Board of Directors of the Costa Mesa County Water District shall enforce the same or similar provisions as Ordinance No. 122 of the City of Costa Mesa, respecting extension of water mains and costs thereof and the requirement of annexation to the City of Costa Mesa for water service in the area formerly served by the city system and the contiguous area northerly and easterly thereof, until the full amount of the funds advanced or hereafter advanced by the city for mainline extension, reservoir or well purposes has been collected and refunded to the city.