Before a commissioner takes any action on any application to locate, establish and construct any drain, there shall first be filed with him an application to lay out and designate a drainage district with reference to a proposed drain therein; such application shall tentatively describe the location and route of such proposed drain. The application shall be signed by not less than 10 freeholders of the township or townships in which such proposed drain or the proposed lands to be drained thereby may be situated: Provided, That 5 or more of said signers shall be the owners of land liable to an assessment for the construction of such proposed drain: Provided further, If it shall appear to the drain commissioner on filing an application to lay out and designate a drainage district that said district might not include 20 freeholders whose lands would be liable for such assessment, in such case such application shall be received if any one of the signers is a freeholder liable to an assessment for the construction of such proposed drain. The eligibility of the signers to such application shall be determined by the drain commissioner according to their interest of record in the office of the register of deeds, in the probate court or in the circuit court of the county in which such lands are situated at the time such application is filed. The board of supervisors, by resolution, may instruct the drain commissioner to refuse any application to lay out a drainage district unless a cash deposit, sufficient to cover the preliminary costs, accompanies the application. If the drain is completed, the cost advanced shall be returned to the depositor or his personal representative out of the first tax collections on the drain. If uncompleted, any excess above costs shall be so returned. In lieu of an application signed by freeholders as aforesaid, such an application may be signed solely by the board of health of the county if the proposed drain is necessary for the public health of any part of the county, or may be signed solely by any city, village or township when duly authorized by its governing body, if the proposed drain is necessary for the public health of such municipality and if such municipality will be liable for an assessment at large against it for a percentage of the cost of the proposed drain. The entry of an order designating a drainage district, as hereinafter provided, shall be deemed a determination of the sufficiency of such application.