Iowa Code 6B.4 – Commission to assess damages
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1. Annually the board of supervisors of a county shall appoint not less than twenty-eight residents of the county and the names of such persons shall be placed on a list and they shall be eligible to serve as members of a compensation commission. One-fourth of the persons appointed shall be owner-operators of agricultural property, one-fourth of the persons appointed shall be owners of city property, one-fourth shall be licensed real estate salespersons or real estate brokers, and one-fourth shall be persons having knowledge of property values in the county by reason of their occupation, such as bankers, auctioneers, property managers, property appraisers, and persons responsible for making loans on property.
Terms Used In Iowa Code 6B.4
- Applicant: means a person authorized to regularly lend moneys to be secured by a mortgage on real property in this state, a licensed real estate broker, a licensed attorney, a participating abstractor, or a licensed closing agent. See Iowa Code 16.92
- Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
- property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
2. a. The chief judge of the judicial district or the chief judge’s designee shall select by lot six persons from the list, who shall constitute a compensation commission to assess the damages to all property to be taken by the applicant and located in the county, as follows:
(1) Two persons who are owner-operators of agricultural property when the property to be condemned is agricultural property.
(2) Two persons who are owners of city property when the property to be condemned is other than agricultural property.
(3) Two persons from each of the remaining two representative groups.
b. The chief judge or the judge’s designee shall name a chairperson from the persons selected and may appoint such alternate members and chairpersons to the commission as are deemed necessary and appropriate under the circumstances. A person shall not be selected as a member or alternate member of the compensation commission if the person possesses any interest in the proceeding which would cause the person to render a biased decision. The applicant shall mail a copy of the list of commissioners and alternates appointed by the chief judge by certified mail to the property owner at the owner’s last known address. The applicant shall also cause the list of commissioners and alternates to be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, not less than four nor more than twenty days before the meeting of the compensation commission to assess the damages. Service of the list of commissioners and alternates by publication shall be deemed complete on the day of publication. In lieu of mailing and publishing the list of commissioners and alternates, the applicant may cause the list to be served upon the owner of the property in the manner provided by the Iowa rules of civil procedure for the personal service of original notice. The list of commissioners and alternates shall be mailed and published or served, as above provided, prior to or contemporaneously with service of the notice of assessment as provided in section 6B.8.
3. Written instructions for members of compensation commissions shall be prepared under the direction of the chief justice of the supreme court and distributed to the sheriff in each county. The sheriff shall transmit copies of the instructions to each member of a compensation commission, and such instructions shall be read aloud to each commission before it commences its duties.