PART III. JOINT OPERATION OF AIRPORTS.

§8-28-6. Airports maintained jointly; abandonment and sale thereof; suits concerning disposition, etc., of airport.

One or more municipalities or counties or both may join with another or other municipalities or counties or both for the purpose of acquiring, establishing, constructing, leasing, equipping, improving, maintaining and operating an airport. Any such airport may be located at such point as the governing bodies and county courts of the municipalities and counties joining therein may agree upon, and such municipalities and counties may raise, by levy or otherwise as provided in this article, funds for the purpose of acquiring, establishing, constructing, leasing, equipping, improving, maintaining and operating any such airport, and the municipalities and counties shall agree upon the proportionate part of the cost and expense of such airport to be paid by each municipality and county joining therein. The provisions of sections two, three, four, five, seven and eight of this article shall apply to any such joint airport, and as to section five, the rules and regulations authorized therein shall be jointly adopted and promulgated.

In case any such joint airport is abandoned and such airport is owned by such municipalities and counties, the same may be sold with the approval of the governing bodies and county courts of the municipalities and counties jointly owning same. The proceeds of such sale shall be distributed to the municipalities and counties in the proportion to which such municipalities and counties had contributed to the acquisition, establishment, construction, equipment, improvement, maintenance and operation of such airport. In case of a failure of the municipalities and counties to agree upon the disposition of such airport and the equipment thereat or connected therewith or used in its maintenance or operation, any one or more of the municipalities and counties interested therein may bring a suit in the circuit court of the county in which such airport or the major portion thereof is located, and upon a trial of the cause, held in the manner provided by law for other civil actions seeking equitable relief, the court shall make such decree or decrees with reference to the disposition of the property and distribution of the proceeds or other moneys involved as to the court may seem to the best interests of all the parties involved, and an appeal from any such decree or decrees to the Supreme Court of Appeals shall lie as in other civil actions.