A weather modification authority shall be created by resolution and five commissioners appointed thereto for ten-year terms of office, by the board of county commissioners. A board of county commissioners shall not adopt a resolution creating an authority until it has received a valid petition signed by at least fifty-one percent of the qualified electors of a county, as determined by the vote cast for the office of governor at the last preceding general election. The board of county commissioners shall appoint five residents of the county as weather modification authority commissioners from those names set forth in the petition and designated by the petitioners to be appointed weather modification authority commissioners. In the event any one of the five candidates named in the petition to be appointed weather modification authority commissioner is unable or refuses for any reason to accept appointment as commissioner, or is disqualified by not meeting residence requirements, as a qualified elector in the county, the board of county commissioners shall name its own appointee for a ten-year term of office in place of any disqualified candidate selected by the petitioners. If any weather modification authority commissioner submits a resignation in writing to the board of county commissioners or becomes unable or disqualified for any reason, after accepting office, the board of county commissioners shall name its appointee as a commissioner to the weather modification authority. All vacancies occurring otherwise than by expiration of term of office shall be filled for the unexpired term.

Any weather modification authority created pursuant to this section shall expire ten years after the date of the initial appointment of the commissioners thereto. Any unexpended funds remaining in the name of the weather modification authority, after all proper bills and expenses have been paid, shall be transferred into the county general fund by the officers of the weather modification authority on or before the ten-year termination date provided by this section. However, all unexpended funds remaining in the name of the weather modification authority, after all proper bills and expenses have been paid, shall remain in the name of the weather modification authority if the board of county commissioners of such county by resolution creates a weather modification authority and all its powers in accordance with section 61-04.1-27.

Nothing in this section shall prevent continuation or reinstatement of a weather modification authority, provided the authority is renewed for another ten years by petition of the qualified electors in the same manner as the initial weather modification authority was created by petition of qualified electors as provided for in this chapter.

     In the event more than one petition is filed with the board of county commissioners on or about the same time, the petition with the highest percentage of the qualified electors of the county voting for the office of governor at the last preceding general election shall be selected by the board of county commissioners. However, the petition with the highest percentage must have the signatures of at least forty percent of the qualified electors in the county and the sum total of all qualified electors signing all petitions filed must equal at least sixty percent of the qualified electors in the county. In no case shall the name of the same qualified elector appear on two or more petitions, but in such event, the name shall be stricken from both petitions.