Within ten (10) days after receipt of a certified copy of the chief engineer’s report approving the petition, or the petition as amended, the chairman of the steering committee of the proposed district shall call a meeting of the committee by mailing a written notice fixing the time and place of such meeting to each member of the committee at least five (5) days in advance of the time so fixed, unless such notice is duly waived. The committee shall meet at the time and place fixed in said notice and shall thereupon constitute the initial board of directors of the district who shall hold their offices until their successors are elected and qualified. This board of directors shall elect from their number a president, a vice-president, a secretary, and a treasurer: Provided, One person may hold the offices of secretary and treasurer. The board shall, by resolution, provide for the calling of an election of the qualified voters of the district residing outside of the corporate limits of cities for the purpose of submitting the question of whether the district should be organized and created in accordance with the petition or the petition as amended or revised by the chief engineer. Such proposition shall not be submitted to the qualified voters residing within the corporate limits of any city which have approved the formation of said district at an election called under the provisions of Kan. Stat. Ann. § 24-660.

The board shall designate at least one voting place in each county and within the proposed district and shall name and appoint three (3) judges and two (2) clerks for each voting place designated, which judges and clerks shall take an oath to faithfully perform their duties as judges and clerks respectively, and shall each receive compensation of eight dollars ($8) per day for their services, and the board shall cause a notice of said special election to be published for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in each of the counties in which a part of said proposed district is located, the first publication to be not less than twenty-one (21) days prior to such election. Such notice shall set forth the time and place or places of holding the election, the proposition to be voted on, and shall be signed by the president and attested by the secretary of the board. Any qualified voter residing within the proposed district but outside of the corporate limits of any city shall be entitled to vote at such election. The vote at such election shall be by ballot, and such ballot shall comply with the usual requirements for an official ballot for public office insofar as such requirements are applicable thereto.

Upon such ballot shall be printed the proposition submitted, preceded by the words, “Shall the following be adopted?” and followed by the words “To vote in favor of the proposition make a cross × mark in the square after the word ‘Yes.'” “To vote against the proposition make a cross × mark in the square after the word ‘No.'” Returns from such election shall be made to the board of directors who shall canvass the votes cast at such election on the second Friday following the date of said election, and said board shall immediately certify the results of said election to the secretary of state. If a majority of those voting on the proposition voted in favor of the organization and creation of the district, the secretary of state shall thereupon issue to the board of directors a certificate of incorporation for said district, which shall be filed of record in the office of the register of deeds of each county in which a portion of the district lies. Upon such recordation of the certificate of incorporation the district shall be authorized to function in accordance with the provisions of this act and its certificate of incorporation. If a majority of those voting on the proposition voted against the organization and creation of the district, the secretary of state shall endorse that fact on the face of the petition and the proceedings shall be closed.

No action attacking the legal incorporation of any joint drainage district organized under this section shall be maintained unless filed within ninety (90) days after the issuance of the certificate of incorporation for such district by the secretary of state, nor shall the alleged illegality of the incorporation of any such joint drainage district be interposed as a defense to any action brought after such time.