1. Within sixty days after organizing the board of supervisors shall appoint a competent civil engineer as chief engineer, who may be an individual, copartnership or corporation, and who shall engage such assistants as the board of supervisors may approve. The chief engineer shall have control of the engineering work in said district. The chief engineer may, by and with the consent of the board of supervisors, consult any eminent engineer or engineers and obtain his or their opinion and advice concerning the reclamation of lands in said district.

2. The said engineer or engineers shall make all necessary surveys of the lands within the boundary lines of said district, as described by the articles of association, and of all lands adjacent thereto that may or will be improved or reclaimed in part or in whole by any system of drainage or levees that may be outlined and adopted, and said engineer or engineers, shall make a report in writing to the board of supervisors with maps and profiles of said surveys, which report shall contain a plan for draining, leveeing and reclaiming the lands and property described in the articles of association or adjacent thereto from overflow of or damage by water; said maps and profiles shall also indicate, so far as necessary, the physical characteristics of the lands, and location of any public roads, railroads and other rights-of-way, roadways and other property or improvements located on such lands.