(1) In case a majority of resident landowners in a prescribed district have signed a cooperative agreement to destroy rodents on their lands, public notice may be given by publication by the boards of county commissioners wherein the lands are located at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the counties affected to the effect that lands within the boundaries of such prescribed area, lying in one or more counties, are infested by said pests, or some kind thereof, in such numbers that in the opinion of the said department the same are liable to materially injure and imperil agricultural or horticultural crops within such area, and that such lands are about to be treated, under the provisions of this part 1, for the control and eradication of the pests. If, within thirty days after the publication of such notice, any owner of lands infested by the pests within the prescribed area fails to destroy the same, or to enter into a cooperative agreement for their control or eradication, then, at the time operations are instituted on such lands, it is the duty of the department, or its agents, to enter upon the lands and to destroy the pests thereon at the expense of the owner of such lands.
(2) If the owner, after ten days' written notice to him in person or by mail to his last known post office address, fails, neglects, or refuses to reimburse the department, or its agents, in the amount of such expenses, the department shall certify an itemized statement thereof, together with a description of such lands sufficient to identify the same to the board of county commissioners of the county wherein the same is situated. Thereupon, such an account shall be audited, allowed, and paid in like manner as provided in section 35-7-110. Public notices in this section provided for shall designate as accurately as may be the boundaries of the area to be treated; shall make specific reference to this statute and shall call upon all owners, known or unknown, of lands within the prescribed area to proceed at once to destroy the pests mentioned in such notice or to enter into cooperative agreements for their control or eradication; and shall designate reasonable times and places within or near such area where and when the federal agency, or other agents, and the department, or its agents, will be present for the purpose of entering into such cooperative agreements and proceeding with their execution.
Source: L. 27: p. 620, § 11. L. 31: p. 709, § 3. CSA: C. 5, § 55. CRS 53: § 6-7-12. C.R.S. 1963: § 6-7-12. L. 2002: (2) amended, p. 1031, § 62, effective June 1.