2001 Minnesota Statutes

     414.041 Consolidation of municipalities. 

    Subdivision 1.    Initiating the proceeding.  Two or 
 more municipalities may be the subject of a single proceeding 
 provided that each municipality abuts at least one of the 
 included municipalities.  The proceeding shall be initiated in 
 one of the following ways:  

    (a) Submitting to the executive director a resolution of 
 the city council of each affected municipality; 

    (b) Submitting to the executive director a petition signed 
 by five percent or more of the resident voters of a municipality 
 who voted for governor at the last general election; or 

    (c) By the board on its own motion.  

    The petition or resolution shall set forth the following 
 information about each included municipality: name, description 
 of boundaries, the reasons for requesting the consolidation and 
 the names of all parties entitled to mailed notice under section 
 414.09.  The party initiating the proceeding shall serve copies 
 of the petition or resolution on all of the included 
 municipalities. 

    Subd. 2.    Consolidation commission.  Upon receipt of a 
 petition or a resolution requesting consolidation or upon the 
 board's own motion, the board shall appoint a consolidation 
 commission from a list of ten candidates submitted by each 
 affected city council.  The commission shall be composed of not 
 fewer than five members from each affected municipality.  From a 
 separate list of three persons submitted by each affected city 
 council, the board shall appoint a commission chair who is not a 
 resident of an affected municipality but who resides in an 
 affected county.  

    No person is disqualified from serving on a consolidation 
 commission by reason of holding other elected or appointed 
 office.  Consolidation commission members shall hold office 
 until a consolidation report has been issued by the commission.  
 The board shall fill vacancies in the commission by 
 appointment.  The consolidation commission shall make rules with 
 reference to its operation and procedures including quorum 
 requirements with reference to its operations and procedures.  

    Subd. 3.    Commission's hearing and report.  The 
 consolidation commission shall conduct hearings regarding the 
 proposed consolidation.  The hearings shall include, but are not 
 limited to, the following subjects:  

    (a) The contents of any city charter for the proposed 
 consolidated city or the form of government of the proposed 
 consolidated city; 

    (b) Analysis of whether a ward system shall be included in 
 the form of government of the proposed consolidated city; and 

    (c) Each factor considered by the board under section 
 414.02, subdivision 3.  

    Based on these factors and upon other matters which come 
 before the consolidation commission, the commission shall issue 
 a report to the municipal board with findings and 
 recommendations within two years from the date of the board's 
 initial appointment of the commission.  

    Subd. 4.    Board's hearing and notice.  Upon receipt of 
 the commission's report, the executive director shall designate 
 a time and a place for a hearing in accordance with section 
 414.09. 

    Subd. 5.    Board's factors, order.  In arriving at its 
 decision, the board shall consider the factors in section 
 414.02, subdivision 3. 

    The board shall consider and may accept, amend, return to 
 the commission for amendment or further study, or reject the 
 commission's findings and recommendations based upon the board's 
 written determination of what is in the best interests of the 
 affected municipalities.  

    The board shall order the consolidation if it finds that 
 consolidation will be for the best interests of the 
 municipalities.  In all cases, the board shall set forth the 
 factors which are the basis for the decision.  

    If the board orders consolidation, it shall provide for 
 election of new municipal officers in accordance with section 
 414.09.  If the most populous of the included municipalities is 
 a statutory city, the new municipality shall be a statutory city 
 and the plan of government shall be Optional Plan A, provided 
 that an alternate plan may be adopted pursuant to section 
 412.551, at any time.  If the most populous of the included 
 municipalities is a home rule charter city or organized under a 
 statute other than chapter 412, the new municipality shall be 
 governed by its home rule charter or the statutory form under 
 which it is governed except that any ward system for the 
 election of council members shall be inoperable.  If the 
 commission's findings and recommendations include a proposed 
 home rule charter for the new municipality, the board may in its 
 order combine the issue of the adoption of the charter and the 
 vote on approval of the order for consolidation into one 
 question on the ballot, and shall submit it in a special or 
 general election as provided in section 410.10.  The ordinances 
 of all of the included municipalities shall continue in effect 
 within their former boundaries until repealed by the governing 
 body of the new municipality. 

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, 
 the board may in its order establish a ward system in the new 
 municipality, in which event it shall establish not less than 
 three nor more than seven wards, each of which shall elect one 
 council member.  When more than two years have elapsed after 
 consolidation, the governing body may, by a four-fifths vote, 
 abolish the ward system. 

    The new municipality shall assume the name of the most 
 populous municipality unless previous to the election another 
 name is chosen by joint resolution of a majority of the included 
 municipalities or by the consolidation commission. 

    The number of license privileges existing in the included 
 municipalities prior to consolidation and pursuant to state law 
 shall not be diminished as a result of the consolidation. 

    If the consolidation is denied or defeated in a referendum, 
 no proceeding for the consolidation of the same municipalities 
 may be initiated within two years from the date of the board's 
 order unless authorized by the board. 

    Subd. 6.    Final approval.  (a) If the consolidation 
 was initiated by a petition of the resident voters of a 
 municipality, the board's order for consolidation shall be final 
 upon approval by resolution of the city councils in each of the 
 affected municipalities unless ten percent or more of the 
 resident voters of an affected municipality who voted for 
 governor at the last general election petition the city council 
 for a referendum on the consolidation.  The petition must be 
 submitted within 90 days of the final date of the board's order 
 or the date of final approval of the board's order by the city 
 councils, whichever is later.  Upon receipt and verification of 
 the petition, the board shall order the municipalities to 
 conduct separate referenda at a general or special election in 
 each municipality on the same day, and the referenda shall be 
 held within six months of the receipt of the petition.  Costs of 
 the respective referenda shall be borne by the respective 
 municipality.  A majority of those voting in each city must 
 approve the proposed consolidation.  The results of the 
 referenda shall be certified to the executive director of the 
 municipal board by the chief election judge within ten days 
 after the referenda.  The executive director shall upon receipt 
 of the certificate notify all parties of the election results. 

    (b) If the consolidation was initiated by a city council 
 resolution of each affected municipality, the board's order for 
 consolidation shall be final unless ten percent or more of the 
 resident voters of an affected municipality petition for a 
 referendum as provided in clause (a).  

    (c) If the consolidation was initiated by the board's own 
 motion, no consolidation order of the board involving existing 
 municipalities shall become effective unless adopted by the 
 council of each affected municipality by a majority vote and 
 unless the consolidation order of the board is approved by the 
 qualified voters of the affected municipalities at a general or 
 special election set according to law.  The form of the ballot 
 shall be fixed by the board; and, if a majority of the votes 
 cast on the question in each municipality are in favor of its 
 adoption, the order of the board shall become effective as 
 provided herein.  

    (d) Notwithstanding a disapproval of the board's order for 
 consolidation by a city council of an affected municipality 
 required to approve the board's order in clause (a) or (c), the 
 board's order for consolidation shall nevertheless be deemed 
 approved by that city council if ten percent or more of the 
 resident voters of that municipality who voted for governor at 
 the last general election petition the city council for a 
 referendum on the consolidation as provided in clause (a), and a 
 majority of those voting in that municipality approve the 
 board's order for consolidation.  

    Subd. 7.    Differential taxation.  Where one 
 municipality is receiving substantially fewer municipal 
 services, the board may provide that the tax rate of the 
 municipality shall be increased in substantially equal 
 proportions over a period of not more than five years to 
 equality with the tax rate in the remainder of the new 
 municipality.  The period shall be determined by the board on 
 the basis of the period reasonably required to provide 
 substantially equal municipal services. 

    Subd. 8.    Effective date.  The consolidation shall be 
 effective upon the election and qualification of new municipal 
 officers, or at such later date as set by the board in its order.

    HIST: 1969 c 1146 s 13; 1973 c 123 art 5 s 7; 1973 c 621 s 5; 
 1975 c 271 s 6; 1978 c 705 s 23; 1979 c 287 s 1; 1986 c 444; 
 1989 c 277 art 4 s 47; 1996 c 303 s 15,16