2005 Minnesota Statutes

CHAPTER 368. Towns; special provisions

     368.01 Powers of certain metropolitan area towns. 

    Subdivision 1.    Towns described.  A town that has 
 platted portions where 1,200 or more people reside or a town 
 that has a platted area within 20 miles of the city hall of a 
 city of the first class having over 200,000 population shall 
 have the powers enumerated in this section.  Its town board may 
 adopt, amend, or repeal ordinances and rules for the purposes 
 enumerated.  

    Subd. 1a.    Certain other towns.  A town with a 
 population of 1,000 or more that does not qualify under 
 subdivision 1, shall have the enumerated powers upon an 
 affirmative vote of its electors at the annual town meeting.  
 The population must be established by the most recent federal 
 decennial census, special census as provided in section 368.015, 
 or population estimate by the state demographer made according 
 to section 4A.02, whichever has the latest stated date of count 
 or estimate. 

    Subd. 2.    Buildings.  The town board may construct or 
 acquire structures needed for town purposes, and control, 
 protect, and insure public buildings, property, and records.  

    Subd. 3.    Streets; sewers; sidewalks; public grounds.  
 The town board may:  

    (1) lay out, open, change, widen or extend streets, alleys, 
 parks, squares, and other public ways and grounds and grade, 
 pave, repair, control, and maintain them; 

    (2) establish and maintain drains, canals, and sewers; 

    (3) alter, widen or straighten water courses; and 

    (4) lay, repair, or otherwise improve or discontinue 
 sidewalks, paths and crosswalks.  

 It may by ordinance regulate the use of streets and other public 
 grounds to prevent encumbrances or obstructions, and require the 
 owners or occupants of buildings and the owners of vacant lots 
 to remove snow, ice, dirt, or rubbish from the adjacent 
 sidewalks.  In default of compliance it may remove the 
 encumbrances, obstructions, or substances and assess the cost 
 against the property as a special assessment. 

    Subd. 4.    Parks; trees.  The town board may provide 
 for, and by ordinance regulate, the setting out and protection 
 of trees, shrubs, and flowers in the town or upon its property.  

    Subd. 5.    Cemeteries.  The town board may acquire by 
 purchase, gift, devise, condemnation or otherwise, hold and 
 manage cemetery grounds, enclose, lay out and ornament them and 
 sell and convey lots in them.  It may by ordinance regulate 
 cemeteries and the disposal of dead bodies.  

    Subd. 6.    Waterworks.  The town board may provide and 
 by ordinance regulate the use of wells, cisterns, reservoirs, 
 waterworks and other means of water supply.  

    Subd. 7.    Tourist camps; parking facilities.  The town 
 board may acquire, improve and operate, and by ordinance 
 regulate tourist camps and automobile parking facilities.  

    Subd. 8.    Hospitals.  The town board may provide 
 hospitals.  The town board of a town operating a municipal 
 hospital may by ordinance establish a hospital board with powers 
 and duties to manage and operate the hospital that the town 
 board confers on it.  The town board may, by vote of all its 
 members, abolish the hospital board.  The hospital board shall 
 consist of five members, each appointed by the town board for a 
 term of five years.  Terms of the first members shall be 
 arranged so that the term of one member expires each year.  A 
 vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired term.  A member may be 
 removed by the town board for cause after a hearing.  

    Subd. 9.    Fire prevention.  The town board may 
 establish a fire department, appoint its officers and members 
 and prescribe their duties, and provide fire apparatus.  It may 
 adopt ordinances to prevent, control or extinguish fires.  

    Subd. 10.    Naming and numbering streets.  The town 
 board may by ordinance name or rename town streets and public 
 places and number or renumber its lots and blocks, or part of 
 them.  It may make and record a consolidated plat of the town. 

    Subd. 11.    Transient commerce.  The town board may by 
 ordinance restrain or license and regulate auctioneers, 
 transient merchants and dealers, hawkers, peddlers, solicitors, 
 and canvassers.  

    Subd. 12.    Taxis, haulers, car renters.  The town 
 board may by ordinance license and regulate baggage wagons, dray 
 drivers, taxicabs, and automobile rental agencies and liveries.  
 At a minimum, an ordinance to license or regulate taxicabs or 
 small vehicle passenger service must provide for driver 
 qualifications, insurance, vehicle safety, and periodic vehicle 
 inspections. 

    Subd. 13.    Animals.  The town board may by ordinance 
 regulate the keeping of animals, restrain their running at 
 large, authorize their impounding and sale or summary 
 destruction, establish pounds, and license and regulate riding 
 academies.  

    Subd. 14.    Health.  (a) The town board may by 
 ordinance: 

    (1) prohibit or regulate slaughterhouses; 

    (2) prevent the bringing, depositing, or leaving within the 
 town of any unwholesome substance or deposit of solid waste 
 within the town not otherwise authorized by law; 

    (3) require the owners or occupants of lands to remove 
 unwholesome substances or the unauthorized deposit of solid 
 waste and, if not removed, provide for their removal at the 
 expense of the owner or occupant, which expense shall be a lien 
 upon the property and may be collected as a special assessment; 

    (4) provide for or regulate the disposal of sewage, 
 garbage, and other refuse; and 

    (5) provide for the cleaning of, and removal of 
 obstructions from waters in the town and prevent their 
 obstruction or pollution. 

    (b) The town board may establish a board of health under 
 section 145A.07, subdivision 2, with all the powers of a board 
 of health under the general laws.  

    Subd. 15.    Nuisances.  The town board may by ordinance 
 define nuisances and provide for their prevention or abatement.  

    Subd. 16.    Amusements.  The town board may by 
 ordinance:  

    (1) prevent or license and regulate the exhibition of 
 circuses, theatrical performances, amusements, or shows of any 
 kind, and the keeping of billiard tables and bowling alleys; 

    (2) prohibit gambling and gambling devices; and 

    (3) license, regulate or prohibit devices commonly used for 
 gambling purposes.  

    Subd. 17.  Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

    Subd. 18.    Regulation of buildings.  The town board 
 may by ordinance regulate the construction of buildings.  

    Subd. 19.    General welfare.  The town board may 
 provide for the government and good order of the town, the 
 suppression of vice and immorality, the prevention of crime, the 
 protection of public and private property, the benefit of 
 residence, trade, and commerce, and the promotion of health, 
 safety, order, convenience, and the general welfare by 
 ordinances consistent with the Constitution and laws of the 
 United States and this state as it deems expedient.  

    Subd. 20.    Departments; boards.  The town board may 
 create departments and advisory boards and appoint town 
 officers, employees, and agents as deemed necessary for the 
 proper management and operation of town affairs.  It may 
 prescribe the duties and compensation of all officers, 
 appointive and elective, employees, and agents, if not otherwise 
 prescribed by law.  It may require any officer or employee to 
 furnish a bond conditioned for the faithful exercise of duties 
 and the proper application of, and payment upon demand of, all 
 money officially received by the officer or employee.  Unless 
 otherwise prescribed by law, it shall fix the amount of the 
 bonds.  The bonds furnished by the clerk and treasurer shall be 
 corporate surety bonds.  It may provide for the payment from 
 town funds of the premium on the official bond of any town 
 officer or employee.  It may, except as otherwise provided, 
 remove any appointive officer or employee when in its judgment 
 the public welfare will be promoted by the removal.  This 
 provision does not modify the laws relating to veterans 
 preference or to members of a town police or fire civil service 
 commission or public utilities commission. 

    Subd. 21.    Enactment of ordinances.  Every ordinance 
 shall be enacted by a majority vote of all the members of the 
 town board unless a larger number is required by law.  It shall 
 be signed by the chair of the town board, attested by the clerk 
 and published once in a qualified newspaper having general 
 circulation within the town.  If the town board determines that 
 publication of the title and a summary of an ordinance would 
 clearly inform the public of the intent and effect of the 
 ordinance, the town board may by a two-thirds vote of its 
 members, or a four-fifths vote in a town having a five-member 
 board, direct that only the title of the ordinance and a summary 
 be published with notice that a printed copy of the ordinance is 
 available for inspection by any person during regular office 
 hours of the town clerk and at any other location which the town 
 board designates.  A copy of the entire text of the ordinance 
 shall be posted in the community library, if there is one, or if 
 not, in any other public location which the town board 
 designates.  Before the publication of the title and summary the 
 town board shall approve the text of the summary and determine 
 that it clearly informs the public of the intent and effect of 
 the ordinance.  Publishing the title and summary shall fulfill 
 all legal publication requirements as completely as if the 
 entire ordinance is published.  The text of the summary shall be 
 published in a body type no smaller than eight-point type.  
 Proof of the publication shall be attached to and filed with the 
 ordinance.  Every ordinance shall be recorded in the ordinance 
 book within 20 days after publication of the ordinance or its 
 title and summary.  All ordinances shall be suitably entitled 
 and shall be substantially in the style:  "The Town Board of 
 Supervisors of ........ ordains:". 

    Subd. 22.    Penalties.  The town board may declare that 
 the violation of any ordinance is a penal offense and prescribe 
 penalties for it.  No penalty shall exceed that provided by law 
 for a misdemeanor, but the costs of prosecution may be added.  

    Subd. 23.    Financing purchase of certain equipment.  
 The town board may issue certificates of indebtedness within 
 debt limits to purchase fire or police equipment or ambulance 
 equipment or street construction or maintenance equipment.  The 
 certificates shall be payable in not more than five years and be 
 issued on terms and in the manner as the board may determine.  
 If the amount of the certificates to be issued to finance a 
 purchase exceeds 0.24177 percent of the market value of the 
 town, excluding money and credits, they shall not be issued for 
 at least ten days after publication in the official newspaper of 
 a town board resolution determining to issue them.  If before 
 the end of that time, a petition asking for an election on the 
 proposition signed by voters equal to ten percent of the number 
 of voters at the last regular town election is filed with the 
 clerk, the certificates shall not be issued until the 
 proposition of their issuance has been approved by a majority of 
 the votes cast on the question at a regular or special 
 election.  A tax levy shall be made for the payment of the 
 principal and interest on the certificates as in the case of 
 bonds.  

    Subd. 24.    Parks; parkways; recreational facilities.  
 A town may establish, improve, ornament, maintain and manage 
 parks, parkways, and recreational facilities and by ordinance 
 protect and regulate their use.  

    Subd. 25.    Vacation of streets.  The town board may by 
 resolution vacate all or part of any street, alley, public 
 grounds or public way on its own motion or on petition of a 
 majority of the owners of land abutting the street, alley, 
 public grounds, public way, or part to be vacated.  When there 
 has been no petition, the resolution may be adopted only by a 
 vote of four-fifths of all members of the board of supervisors.  
 No such vacation shall be made unless it appears in the interest 
 of the public to do so after a hearing preceded by two weeks' 
 published and posted notice.  The board shall cause written 
 notice of the hearing to be mailed to each property owner 
 affected by the proposed vacation at least ten days before the 
 hearing.  The notice must contain, at minimum, a copy of the 
 petition or proposed resolution as well as the time, place, and 
 date of the hearing.  In addition, if the street, alley, public 
 grounds, public way, or any part of it, terminates at or abuts 
 upon any public water, no vacation shall be made unless written 
 notice of the petition or proposed resolution is served by 
 certified mail upon the commissioner of natural resources at 
 least 30 days before the hearing on the matter.  The notice to 
 the commissioner of natural resources is for notification 
 purposes only and does not create a right of intervention by the 
 commissioner.  After a resolution of vacation is adopted, the 
 clerk shall prepare a notice of completion of the proceedings 
 which shall contain the name of the town, an identification of 
 the vacation, a statement of the time of completion thereof and 
 a description of the real estate and lands affected.  The notice 
 shall be presented to the county auditor who shall enter it in 
 the transfer records and note upon the instrument, over the 
 auditor's official signature, the words "entered in the transfer 
 record."  The notice shall then be filed with the county 
 recorder.  Failure to file the notice shall not invalidate the 
 vacation proceedings. 

    Subd. 26.    Fines and penalties.  All fines, 
 forfeitures, and penalties recovered for violation of a statute 
 or ordinance to which the town is entitled by law shall be paid 
 into the town treasury.  Every court or officer receiving money 
 for a violation, shall return it under oath in accordance with 
 law, and be entitled to duplicate receipts for the amounts 
 paid.  One of the receipts shall be filed with the town clerk. 

    Subd. 27.    Right of eminent domain.  A town that has 
 special powers under this section may acquire private property 
 within or without its limits by eminent domain for any purpose 
 for which it is authorized by law to take or hold property by 
 purchase or gift.  It may also acquire by eminent domain a 
 right-of-way for sewerage or drainage purposes and an outlet for 
 sewerage or drainage within or without its limits.  The 
 procedure shall be that prescribed by chapter 117. 

    Subd. 28.  Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

    Subd. 29.    Savings clause.  This section shall not be 
 construed to repeal or rescind the powers of any town provided 
 by other law. 

    Subd. 30.    Notice to auditor, secretary of state; 
 filing.  The town clerk of each town exercising special powers 
 under this section shall so notify in writing the county auditor 
 of the county in which the town is located and the secretary of 
 state.  The written notice shall be filed by the county auditor 
 and the secretary of state as a public record. 

    Subd. 31.    Continuing authority to exercise powers.  
 If a town exercises a power under this section it may continue 
 to exercise the power notwithstanding any later change in 
 population.  

    HIST: (1003, 1004) 1907 c 193 s 1; 1907 c 397 s 1; 1949 c 722 
 s 1; 1953 c 462 s 1; 1959 c 686 s 14; Ex1959 c 75 s 1,2; 1961 c 
 46 s 1; 1963 c 257 s 1; 1965 c 574 s 1; 1971 c 24 s 46; 1973 c 
 48 s 1; 1973 c 123 art 5 s 7; 1976 c 181 s 2; 1976 c 239 s 112; 
 1981 c 219 s 2; 1982 c 507 s 3-6; 1983 c 359 s 53; 1984 c 562 s 
 39-43; 1985 c 65 s 2; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 309 s 24; 1988 c 719 
 art 5 s 84; 1989 c 329 art 13 s 20; 1Sp1989 c 1 art 20 s 23; 
 1990 c 401 art 2 s 1; 1990 c 433 s 1; 1990 c 480 art 9 s 9; 1991 
 c 345 art 2 s 54; 1999 c 238 art 2 s 72 

     368.015 Towns; census. 

    A town board may by resolution, in any year, request the 
 United States Bureau of the Census to take a special census of 
 the town to qualify to exercise the powers contained in section 
 368.01 as provided by section 368.01, subdivision 1a.  The town 
 shall bear the cost of the census.  

    HIST: 1984 c 562 s 44; 1985 c 65 s 3; 1990 c 401 art 2 s 1 

  368.02 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.03 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.04 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.05 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.06 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.07 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.08 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.09 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.10 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.11 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48 

  368.12 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.121 Repealed, 1989 c 9 s 5 

  368.13-368.38 Omitted, applies to towns having not less 
  than 1,500, and not more than 2,000 inhabitants, and having an 
  assessed valuation of more than $1,200,000, and less than 
  $1,750,000, and having an area of not less than 23,000, nor more 
  than 26,000 acres. 

  368.39 Repealed, 1973 c 650 art 27 s 1 

  368.40 Repealed, 1973 c 650 art 27 s 1 

  368.41 Repealed, 1973 c 650 art 27 s 1 

  368.42 Repealed, 1973 c 650 art 27 s 1 

  368.43 Repealed, 1945 c 271 s 3 

DISSOLUTION

  368.44 Local; temporary; Koochiching County. 

  368.45 Local; temporary; Koochiching County. 

  368.46 Local; temporary; Koochiching County. 

     368.47 Towns may be dissolved. 

    (1) When the voters residing within a town have failed to 
 elect any town officials for more than ten years continuously; 

    (2) when a town has failed for a period of ten years to 
 exercise any of the powers and functions of a town; 

    (3) when the market value of a town drops to less than 
 $165,000; 

    (4) when the tax delinquency of a town, exclusive of taxes 
 that are delinquent or unpaid because they are contested in 
 proceedings for the enforcement of taxes, amounts to 12 percent 
 of its market value; or 

    (5) when the state or federal government has acquired title 
 to 50 percent of the real estate of a town, 

 which facts, or any of them, may be found and determined by the 
 resolution of the county board of the county in which the town 
 is located, according to the official records in the office of 
 the county auditor, the county board by resolution may declare 
 the town, naming it, dissolved and no longer entitled to 
 exercise any of the powers or functions of a town. 

    In Cass, Itasca, and St. Louis Counties, before the 
 dissolution is effective the voters of the town shall express 
 their approval or disapproval.  The town clerk shall, upon a 
 petition signed by a majority of the registered voters of the 
 town, filed with the clerk at least 60 days before a regular or 
 special town election, give notice at the same time and in the 
 same manner of the election that the question of dissolution of 
 the town will be submitted for determination at the election.  
 At the election the question shall be voted upon by a separate 
 ballot, the terms of which shall be either "for dissolution" or 
 "against dissolution."  The ballot shall be deposited in a 
 separate ballot box and the result of the voting canvassed, 
 certified, and returned in the same manner and at the same time 
 as other facts and returns of the election.  If a majority of 
 the votes cast at the election are for dissolution, the town 
 shall be dissolved.  If a majority of the votes cast at the 
 election are against dissolution, the town shall not be 
 dissolved.  

    When a town is dissolved under sections 368.47 to 368.49 
 the county shall acquire title to any telephone company or other 
 business conducted by the town.  The business shall be operated 
 by the board of county commissioners until it can be sold.  The 
 subscribers or patrons of the business shall have the first 
 opportunity of purchase.  If the town has any outstanding 
 indebtedness chargeable to the business, the county auditor 
 shall levy a tax against the property situated in the dissolved 
 town to pay the indebtedness as it becomes due. 

    HIST: (1002-1) 1925 c 40 s 1; 1933 c 377; 1935 c 342 s 1; 1937 
 c 419 s 1; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 147 s 2; 1988 c 719 art 5 s 84; 
 1989 c 329 art 13 s 20; 1990 c 401 art 2 s 1; 1990 c 480 art 9 s 
 11 

     368.48 Copy of resolution for secretary of state. 

    A certified copy of the resolution shall forthwith, after 
 its adoption by the county board, be forwarded by the county 
 auditor to the secretary of state, who shall on receipt make an 
 appropriate record of the dissolution of the town.  

    HIST: (1002-2) 1925 c 40 s 2; 1986 c 444; 1990 c 401 art 2 s 1 

     368.49 Town funds with county go to town road and bridge 
  expense. 

    Subdivision 1.    Otherwise to general fund.  Any town 
 funds in, or coming into, the treasury of the county, shall be 
 disposed of as follows: 

    Road or bridge funds shall be expended by the county for 
 road and bridge improvements wholly within the limits of the 
 town and any other funds shall be credited to the county general 
 fund.  

    Subd. 2.    Unencumbered debt retirement.  If a 
 dissolved town has unexpended money in its bond and interest 
 funds and there are no bonds or indebtedness outstanding, the 
 money shall be spent for road and bridge improvements or other 
 legal expenditures within the town.  

    HIST: (1002-3) 1925 c 40 s 3; 1949 c 326 s 1; 1990 c 401 art 2 
 s 1 

  368.50 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.51 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.52 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.53 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.54 Repealed, 1955 c 500 s 5 

  368.55 Repealed, 1955 c 500 s 5 

  368.56 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.57 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.58 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.59 Inoperative 

  368.61 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.62 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.63 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.64 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.65 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.66 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.67 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.68 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.69 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.70 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.71 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.72 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.73 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.74 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.75 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.76 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.77 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.78 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.79 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.80 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.81 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.82 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.83 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

  368.84 Repealed, 1976 c 44 s 70 

FIRE PROTECTION

     368.85 Fire protection. 

    Subdivision 1.    Special fire protection district.  A 
 town may, by resolution adopted by the town board and approved 
 by a majority of the electors residing within the territory 
 affected, establish a special fire protection district within 
 the town in the following manner.  The town board shall adopt a 
 resolution particularly describing the territory, district or 
 area which shall constitute a special fire protection district 
 and be entitled to receive fire protection to be paid for from 
 the taxation of the property within the district.  Each district 
 shall consist of contiguous and compact territory and be 
 constituted so that at least 25 percent of the total net tax 
 capacity of taxable real property in it consists of property 
 classified as homestead property and buildings or other 
 structures.  

    Subd. 2.    Submission at annual meeting; notice.  The 
 resolution shall provide for the submission of the question 
 whether the special fire protection district shall be 
 established to the voters residing within the proposed district 
 at the next annual town meeting or at a special town meeting 
 which the town board may call for that purpose.  The notice of 
 the annual or special meeting shall contain a notice that the 
 question will be submitted to the electors residing in the 
 proposed district and a statement that all cost of fire 
 protection for the district will be borne by a tax on the 
 property in it.  The meeting shall be held at the usual place of 
 holding town meetings.  

    Subd. 3.    Manner of voting.  For the election the town 
 board shall provide a separate ballot box where the electors 
 residing within the proposed district shall deposit their 
 ballots.  Only electors residing in the proposed district may 
 vote on the question.  

    Subd. 4.    Ballot.  The town board shall provide 
 ballots which shall read "Shall the territory described in the 
 resolution adopted by the town board on the ......... day of 
 ............., ......., constitute a special fire protection 
 district?"  The question shall be followed with a line with the 
 word "Yes" and a square after it and another line with the word 
 "No" and a square after it.  The voters shall indicate their 
 choice by placing a cross mark in one of the squares, and a 
 direction to so indicate their choice shall be printed on the 
 ballot.  

    Subd. 5.    Counting and canvassing of votes.  The votes 
 cast at the special election in the special ballot box shall be 
 counted and canvassed by the town board or by the judges 
 presiding at the election.  If the proposition receives a 
 majority of the votes cast by the electors residing within the 
 proposed district, that result shall be recorded in the minutes 
 of the meeting, and the territory described in the town board's 
 resolution shall then be a special fire protection district.  

    Subd. 6.    Tax levy.  The town board shall annually 
 levy a tax in an amount necessary on the net tax capacity of all 
 property located within the district to provide fire protection 
 for it.  The tax, with a certified copy of the resolution 
 establishing the district, shall be certified by the town board 
 to the county auditor who shall spread the tax against the 
 property located within the district.  The tax shall be 
 collected as other taxes. 

    Subd. 7.    Disbursement of funds.  When the tax is 
 collected, it shall be paid to the town and disbursed upon the 
 order of the town board to provide fire protection in the 
 district.  The town board may order the money, or part of it, to 
 be paid to a municipality or volunteer fire department which 
 agrees to furnish and has its fire department headquarters 
 located so as to be able to conveniently furnish fire protection 
 to the property within the district. 

    Subd. 8.    Plural districts.  More than one special 
 fire protection district may be established in a town.  
 Districts shall be designated by consecutive numbers in the 
 order of their establishment.  

    Subd. 9.    Dissolution.  A special fire protection 
 district may be dissolved in the following manner.  The town 
 board may submit the question of dissolution of a district at 
 any annual town meeting.  It must submit that question at the 
 next annual town meeting on the signed petition of electors 
 residing in the district equal in number to at least one-half of 
 the number of landowners in the district according to the tax 
 record in the county auditor's office filed with the town clerk 
 not less than 45 days before the annual meeting.  Notice that 
 the question will be submitted shall be posted by the town clerk 
 in three public places within the special district not less than 
 two weeks before the annual meeting at which it will be 
 submitted.  Only voters residing in the district shall vote on 
 the question of dissolution.  A separate ballot box shall be 
 provided for votes on the question.  The town board shall 
 provide ballots for the question of dissolution which shall be 
 in the same form as provided in subdivision 4 except that the 
 question shall be "Shall Special Fire Protection District No. 
 .....  be dissolved?".  If a majority vote of those voting on 
 the question vote in the affirmative, the district shall be 
 dissolved.  In that event the results of the election shall be 
 certified by the chair of the town board to the county auditor.  
 There shall be no further special levy for fire protection in 
 the district, but dissolution shall not relieve the property in 
 the special district from any taxes levied under this section 
 before dissolution. 

    HIST: 1949 c 204 s 1-9; 1965 c 18 s 1; 1971 c 271 s 2; 1973 c 
 773 s 1; 1985 c 301 s 2; 1986 c 444; 1988 c 719 art 5 s 84; 1989 
 c 329 art 13 s 20; 1990 c 401 art 2 s 1; 2004 c 228 art 2 s 14 

  368.86 Repealed, 1984 c 562 s 48; 1984 c 593 s 46