The county conservation board controls and manages county conservation property and has authority to acquire, accept, develop, lease, fee, and operate park and recreation resources.
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 coordinated 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 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, archaeologic, 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 the 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. a. 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 161F, chapter 468, subchapter I, parts 1 through 5, and chapter 468, subchapter II, parts 1, 5, and 6, for the purpose of increasing the recreational resources of the county. b. 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. [C58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, S81, §111A.4; 81 Acts, ch 117, §1013] 84 Acts, ch 1097, §1; 86 Acts, ch 1097, §1; 86 Acts, ch 1245, §1867; 89 Acts, ch 191, §1; 89 Acts, ch 239, §1 C93, §350.4 2010 Acts, ch 1061, §180; 2013 Acts, ch 30, §78; 2023 Acts, ch 64, §57, 58 Referred to in §306.42 For requirement to regularly submit an inventory of all land owned or managed by a county conservation board, see 2022 Acts, ch 10742022 Acts, ch 1074