Chapter 350 – Code of Iowa
Chapter 350 (formerly
Chapter 111A)
350.1 Purposes.
The purposes of this chapter are to create a county conservation board and to
authorize counties to acquire, develop, maintain, and make available to the
inhabitants of the county, public museums, parks, preserves, parkways,
playgrounds, recreational centers, county forests, wildlife and other
conservation areas, and to promote and preserve the health and general welfare
of the people, to encourage the orderly development and conservation of natural
resources, and to cultivate good citizenship by providing adequate programs of
public recreation.
350.2 Petition - Board Membership.
Upon a petition to the board of supervisors which meets the requirements of
section 331.306, the board shall submit to the voters at the next general
election the question of whether a county conservation board shall be created
as provided for in this chapter. If at the election the majority of votes
favors the creation of a county conservation board, the board of supervisors
within sixty days after the election shall create a county conservation board
to consist of five bona fide residents of the county. The members first
appointed shall hold office for the term of one, two, three, four, and five
years respectively, as indicated and fixed by the board of supervisors.
Thereafter, succeeding members shall be appointed for a term of five years,
except that vacancies occurring otherwise than by expiration of term shall be
filled by appointment for the unexpired term. When a member of the board,
during the term of office, ceases to be a bona fide resident of the county, the
member is disqualified as a member and the office becomes vacant. Members of
the board shall be selected and appointed on the basis of their demonstrated
interest in conservation matters, and shall serve without compensation, but may
be paid their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of
their official duties. Members of the county conservation board may be removed
for cause by the board of supervisors as provided section 331.321 subsection 3,
if the cause is malfeasance, nonfeasance, disability, or failure to participate
in board activities as set forth by the rules of the conservation board.
350.3 Meetings - Records - Annual Report.
Within thirty days after the appointment of members of the board, the board
shall organize by selecting from its members a president and secretary and such
other officers as are deemed necessary, who shall hold office for the calendar
year in which elected and until their successors are selected and qualify.
Three members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of
business. The board shall hold regular meetings. Special meetings may be called
by the president, and shall be called on the request of a majority of members,
as the necessity may require. The county conservation board shall have the
power to adopt bylaws, to adopt and use a common seal, and to enter into
contracts. The county board of supervisors shall provide suitable offices for
the meetings of the county conservation board and for safekeeping of its
records. Such records shall be subject to public inspection at all reasonable
hours and under such regulations as the county conservation board may prescribe.
The board shall annually make a full and complete report to the county board of
supervisors of its transactions and operations of the preceding year. Such
report shall contain a full statement of its receipts, disbursements, and the
program of work for the period covered, and may include such recommendations as
may be deemed advisable.
350.4 Powers and Duties.
The county conservation board shall have the custody, control, and management
of all real and personal property heretofore or hereafter acquired by the
county for public museums, parks, preserves, parkways, playgrounds, recreation
centers, county forests, county wildlife areas, and other county conservation
and recreation purposes and is authorized and empowered:
1. To study and ascertain the county's museum, park, preserve, parkway, and
recreation and other conservation facilities, the need for such facilities, and
the extent to which such needs are being currently met, and to prepare and
adopt a co-ordinated plan of areas and facilities to meet such needs.
2. To acquire in the name of the county by gift, purchase, lease, agreement,
exchange, or otherwise, in fee or with conditions, suitable real estate within
or without the territorial limits of the county for public museums, parks,
preserves, parkways, playgrounds, recreation centers, forests, wildlife, and
other conservation purposes and for participation in watershed, drainage, and
flood control programs for the purpose of increasing the recreational resources
of the county. The natural resource commission, the county board of
supervisors, or the governing body of any city, upon request of the county
conservation board, may transfer to the county conservation board for use as
museums, parks, preserves, parkways, playgrounds, recreation centers, play
fields, tennis courts, skating rinks, swimming pools, gymnasiums, rooms for
arts and crafts, camps and meeting places, community forests, wildlife areas,
and other recreational purposes, any land and buildings owned or controlled by
the department of natural resources or the county or the city and not devoted
or dedicated to any other inconsistent public use. In acquiring or accepting
land, due consideration shall be given to its scenic, historic, archaeological,
recreational, or other special features, and land shall not be acquired or
accepted unless, in the opinion of the board, it is suitable or, in the case of
exchange, is suitable and of substantially the same value as the property
exchanged from the standpoint of its proposed use. An exchange of property
approved by the county conservation board and the board of supervisors is not
subject to section 331.361 subsection 2.
3. The county conservation board shall file with the natural resource
commission all acquisitions or exchanges of land within one year.
4. To plan, develop, preserve, administer and maintain all such areas, places
and facilities, and construct, reconstruct, alter and renew buildings and other
structures, and equip and maintain the same.
5. To accept in the name of the county gifts, bequests, contributions and
appropriations of money and other personal property for conservation purposes.
6. To employ and fix the compensation of a director who shall be responsible to
the county conservation board for carrying out of its policies. The director,
subject to the approval of the board, may employ and fix the compensation of
assistants and employees as necessary for carrying out this chapter.
7. To charge and collect reasonable fees for the use of the parks, facilities,
privileges and conveniences as may be provided and for admission to amateur
athletic contests, demonstrations and exhibits, and other noncommercial events.
The board shall not allow the exclusive use of a park by one or more
organizations.
8. To operate concessions or to lease concessions and to let out and rent
privileges in or upon any property under its control upon such terms and
conditions as are deemed by it to be in the public interest.
9. To participate in watershed projects of soil and water conservation
districts and the federal government and in projects of drainage districts
organized under the provisions of chapter 467c and chapter 468, subchapter 1,
parts 1 through 5, and subchapter 11, parts 1, 5, and 6, for the purpose of
increasing the recreational resources of the county.
Any agreement for such participation by or with a board of supervisors or
trustees concerning drainage districts shall be in writing, shall be duly
adopted by a resolution of the board of supervisors or trustees and shall be
spread in its entirety upon the permanent records of the drainage district or
districts affected.
10. To furnish suitable uniforms for the director and those employees as the
director may designate to wear uniforms, when on official duty. The cost of the
uniforms shall not exceed three hundred dollars per person in any year. The
uniforms shall at all times remain the property of the county.
350.5 Regulations - Penalty - Officers.
The county conservation board may make, alter, amend or repeal regulations for
the protection, regulation, and control of all museums, parks, preserves,
parkways, playgrounds, recreation centers, and other property under its
control. The regulations shall not be contrary to, or inconsistent with, the
laws of this state. The regulations shall not take effect until ten days after
their adoption by the board and after their publication as provided in section
331.395 and after a copy of the regulations has been posted near such each gate
or principal entrance to the public ground to which they apply. After the
publication and posting, a person violating a provision of the regulations
which are then in effect is guilty of a simple misdemeanor. The board may
designate the director and those employees as the director may designate as
police officers who shall have all the powers conferred by law on police
officers, peace officers, or sheriffs in the enforcement of the laws of this
state and the apprehension of violators upon all property under its control
within and without the county. The board may grant the director and those
employees of the board designated as police officers the authority to enforce
the provisions of chapter 321G, 461A, 462A, 481A, and 483A on land not under
the control of the board within the county.
350.6 Moneys - Contracts - Bonds
Upon request of the county conservation board, the board of supervisors shall
establish a reserve for county conservation land acquisition and capital
improvement projects. The board of supervisors may periodically credit an
amount of money to the reserve. Moneys credited to the reserve shall remain in
the reserve until expended for the projects upon warrants requisitioned by the
county conservation board. The interest earned on moneys received from bequests
and donations in the reserve account which are invested pursuant to section
12C. shall be credited to the reserve account.
Annually, the total amount of money credited to the reserve, plus moneys
appropriated for conservation purposes from sources other than the reserve,
shall not be less than the amount of gifts, contributions, and bequests of
money, rent, licenses, fees, charges, and other revenues received by the county
conservation board. However, moneys given, bequeathed, or contributed upon
specified trusts shall be held, appropriated, and extended in accordance with
the trust specified.
Grants provided by the natural resource commission from its county conservation
board fund shall be expended solely for the purposes of carrying out the
provisions of this chapter.
The county auditor shall keep a complete record of the appropriations and shall
issue warrants on them only on requisition of the county conservation board.
The county conservation board is subject to contract letting procedures in
section 331.341, subsections 1, 2, and 4. Upon request of the county
conservation board, the board of supervisors may issue general county purpose
bonds for the purposes in section 331.441, subsection 2, paragraph
"c", subparagraph (2), as provided in chapter 331, division IV, part
3.
350.7 Joint Operations.
Any county conservation board may co-operate with the federal government or the
state government or any department or agency thereof to carry out the purposes
and provisions of this chapter. Any county conservation board may join with any
other county board or boards to carry out this chapter, and to that end may
enter into agreement with each other and may do any and all things necessary or
convenient to aid and co-operate in carrying out the chapter. Any city, village
or school district may aid and co-operate with any county conservation board or
any combination of boards in equipping, operating and maintaining museums,
parks, preserves, parkways, playground, recreation centers, and conservation
areas, and for providing, conducting ands supervising programs of activities,
and may appropriate moneys for such purposes. The natural resource commission,
county engineer, county agricultural agent, and other county officials shall
render assistance which does not interfere with their regular employment. The
board of supervisors may be reimbursed to the credit of the proper fund from
county conservation funds for actual expense of operations of county-owned
equipment, use of county equipment operators, supplies, and materials of the
county, or for the reasonable value for the use of county real estate made
available for the use of the county conservation board.
350.8 School Property Used.
The governing body of any school district may grant the use of any buildings,
grounds, or equipment of the district to any county conservation board for the
purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter whenever such use of the
school buildings, grounds or equipment for such purposes will not interfere
with the use of the buildings, grounds, and equipment for any purpose of the public
school system.
350.9 Advise and Assistance.
The natural resource commission and the department of education shall advise
with and may assist any county or counties in carrying out the purposes of this
chapter.
350.10 Statutes Applicable.
Sections 461A.35 through 461A.57 apply to all lands and waters under the
control of a county conservation board, in the same manner as if the lands and
waters were state parks, lands, or waters. As used in sections 461A.35 through
461A.57, "natural resource commission" includes a county conservation
board, and "director" includes a county conservation board or its
director, with respect to lands or waters under the control of a county
conservation board. However, sections 461A.35 through 461A.57 may be modified
or superseded by rules adopted as provided in section 350.5.
350.11
Notwithstanding the referendum specified in section 350.1, the board of
supervisors of any county in which a county conservation board has not been
established as of January 1, 1989, shall create a county conservation board to
become effective July 1, 1989. The membership of a county conservation board
created pursuant to this section, shall be appointed during the month of
January 1989, for the purposes of organizing, planning, and budgeting for the
fiscal year beginning July 1, 1989. A county conservation board created as
provided in this section shall become fully operational as of July 1, 1989.
350.12
1. A county conservation board may establish an
2. A county conservation board shall coordinated its
