§ 45-58-30.11 — Enlargement of Districts

Alabama § 45-58-30.11

• Jurisdiction: Alabama
• Title 45: Local Laws
• Ch. 58: Shelby County
• Art. 3: Boards and Commissions
• Part 1: Library Board and Districts

Text

(a) A district may be enlarged by consent pursuant to subsection (b) or by petition and referendum pursuant to subsection (c), provided, that no area lying within a municipality or another library district at the time of the enlargement shall be brought within the district.
(b) Property may be brought within a district by consent pursuant to the following:
(1)
If the owners of property located and contained within an area contiguous to the existing boundary of the district shall sign and file a written petition with the board of trustees requesting that the property or territory be included within the district and accepting every service charge in effect within the district at the time of filing the petition, and the board of trustees adopts a resolution assenting to the inclusion of the property within the district, the limits of the district shall be enlarged and rear-ranged so as to embrace and include the property and the property or territory shall become a part of the area of the district upon the date of recording the resolution and petition with the office of the judge of probate.
(2)
The petition required by this subsection shall contain an accurate description of the property or territory proposed to be included within the district together with a map of the territory showing its relationship to the boundary of the district to which the property is proposed to be included and the signatures of all the owners of the property or territory described. It shall be the duty of the board of trustees to file a description of the property or territory in the office of the judge of probate.
(c)(1) The term ‘‘proposed area,’’ as used in this subsection, means an area which is proposed to be brought within a district by enlargement of the district. When the board of trustees of a district determines that the inclusion of a proposed area within the district would be to the advantage of the district and also to the advantage of the majority of the property owners of the proposed area, the board of trustees may file in the office of the judge of probate a petition that there be an election at which there shall be submitted to the qualified property owners within the proposed area, both of the following:
a.
The question of whether the proposed area shall be included within the district.
b.
The question of whether every service charge in effect within the district at the time of the election is approved.
(2) Upon the petition being filed, except as provided in subdivision (4), the judge of probate, not less than 10 nor more than 15 days from the date of the filing of the petition, shall make and enter an order upon the minutes of the court, directing and ordering an election at which election the qualified property owners within the proposed area shall vote on the two foregoing questions. The election shall be held as provided in Section 45–58–30.02. The district shall give notice of the holding of the election by publication in a newspaper published within the county. The notice shall state the day on which the election will be held and the boundaries within which voters must reside to vote, and the notice shall give a description of the proposed area and shall state that a map of the proposed area is on file in the office of the judge of probate, open to the inspection of the public.
(3)
Each qualified elector who has resided within the boundaries of the proposed area for three months next preceding the election may vote at the election, and shall vote at the voting place or places designated by the judge of probate.
(4)
If within 10 days from the date of the filing of the petition provided in subdivision (1), each of the property owners in the proposed area appears before the judge of probate and consents in writing to include the proposed area within the district and approving every service charge in effect within the district at the time of the election, then no election shall be held. Upon determining that each of the property owners in the proposed area has so consented, the judge of probate shall make and enter an order on the records of the probate court setting forth the findings and adjudging and decreeing the boundaries of the district to be extended so as to embrace the proposed area described in the petition and designated on the plat or map attached to the petition and shall cause the petition and map and all orders or decrees or judgments to be recorded in the records in the probate office, and from the time of the entry of the order the proposed area shall be a part of and within the boundaries of the district.
(5)
The plat or map filed with the petition shall show accurately the proposed area to be embraced within the boundaries of the district, including all subdivisions into lots, blocks, streets, and alleys within the proposed area, if any, and an accurate description by metes and bounds of the boundary of the proposed area, which proposed area shall be contiguous to the boundary of the district and may extend to or around the boundary line of any city or town, but is not to embrace any territory within the corporate limits of any municipality. No platted or unplatted territory shall be included within the boundary unless there are at least two qualified electors residing, according to a government survey, on each quarter of each quarter section or part thereof of platted or unplatted land who assent thereto in writing by signing the petition, together with the consent of the persons, firms, or corporations owning at least 60 percent of the acreage of the platted or unplatted land, the consent to be indicated by signing the petition. Proof of residence and qualification as electors of petitioners and of persons affected shall be made to the judge of probate by affidavit or otherwise as the judge of probate may direct. When determining the ownership of the land within the proposed area, the persons, firms, or corporations assessing the same for taxation shall be accepted by the judge of probate as prima facie the owners thereof.

Legislative History

(Act 88–258, p. 393, § 13; Act 2000–358, p. 557, § 1.)