Xenia Rural Water Dist.
v.
City of Johnston
In litigation between a municipality and a rural water district over the provision of public water supply services in certain areas, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa has certified the following questions to the Iowa Supreme Court pursuant to Iowa Code section 684A.1 (2020): (1) Whether an Iowa Code section 357A.2 rural water district, before amendments to section 357A.2(4) in 2014, had a legal right to provide water service to portions of an area described in its county board of supervisors resolution, see Iowa Code § 357A.2(1), when those portions were also within two miles of the limits of a municipality, see § 357A.2(3), and when the municipality had not waived its rights to provide water service to the area, see § 357A.2(4); (2) Whether Iowa Code section 357A.2(4), as amended by the Iowa legislature in 2014: (a) exempts a rural water district from following notice-of-intent procedures when the area the district seeks to serve is within the district’s boundaries as designated in the county board of supervisors’ resolution creating 20–1027.2 the water district, and/or (b) otherwise provides the rural water district a legal right to serve such areas when the municipality has not waived its rights. If so, whether the 2014 amendment to section 357A.2(4) had retroactive effect; and (3) Whether an Iowa Code section 504A nonprofit corporation created in 1977 had a legal right to provide water service anywhere within the state of Iowa. If so, whether a section 504A nonprofit corporation that reincorporated (including through articles of dissolution for the section 504A entity) as a section 357A.2 rural water district in 1990 retained the legal right to provide water service anywhere within the state of Iowa (including outside its boundaries as specified in its county board of supervisors resolution and within two miles of a municipality), prior to and following the 1991 amendment to section 357A.2.
Appellant
Xenia Rural Water Dist.
Appellee
City of Johnston
Attorneys for the Appellant
Steven M. Harris
Michael D. Davis
Frank M. Smith
Stephen H. Locher
Attorneys for the Appellee
William J. Miller
Manuel A. Cornell
Amy Beattie
Allison Steuterman
Supreme Court
Oral Argument Schedule
15-5-15-5-5
Apr 15, 2021 9:00 AM
