The clerk shall, on the filing of petition and bond, appoint a disinterested and competent civil and drainage engineer and two resident freeholders of the county or counties in which the lands are located as a board of viewers to examine the lands described in the petition and make a preliminary report thereon. The drainage engineer shall be appointed upon the recommendation of the Department of Environmental Quality; and no member of the board of viewers so appointed shall own any land within the boundaries of the proposed district. In the selection of the two members of the board of viewers, other than the engineer, the clerk before making the appointment shall make careful inquiry into the character and qualifications of the proposed members, to the end that the members so appointed shall possess the necessary character, capacity, fitness, and impartiality for the discharge of their important duties. (1909, c. 442, s. 2; 1917, c. 152, s. 1; C.S., s. 5317; 1961, c. 614, s. 4; c. 1198; 1973, c. 1262, s. 23; 1977, c. 771, s. 4; 1989, c. 727, s. 218(157); 1997-443, s. 11A.123; 2015-241, s. 14.30(u).)