§ 704 — Notice of hearing on petition or joint resolution to initiate annexation of territory

§ 704. Notice of hearing on petition or joint resolution to initiate\nannexation of territory. 1. In the event it is proposed to annex\nterritory, the governing board or boards of the local government or\ngovernments to which it is proposed to annex such territory and the\ngoverning board or boards of the affected local government or\ngovernments in which such territory is situated shall, within twenty\ndays after receipt of a petition or adoption of a joint resolution to\ninitiate annexation, respectively cause a notice to be published once in\nits or their official newspapers, or, if there be no official newspaper,\nin a newspaper published in the county and having general circulation\nwithin the area of such local government or governments, as the case may\nbe. The governing board of each affected local government in which such\nterritory is situated also shall cause a copy of such notice to be\nmailed to each person or corporation owning real property in such\nterritory as shown by the last preceding assessment roll and to all\npersons residing in such territory qualified to vote for officers of the\ncity, town or village, as the case may be, in which such territory is\nsituated as their names appear upon the register of voters for the last\npreceding general election. Where the territory to be annexed is\nsituated wholly or partly within a village, the governing board of such\nvillage and the governing board of a town or towns in which such\nterritory is wholly or partly situated may provide by agreement for\njoint publication and mailing of such notice. Failure to mail such\nnotice or failure of any addressee to receive the same shall not in any\nmanner affect the validity of the petition or joint resolution to\ninitiate annexation of territory or of any proceedings taken thereon\nprovided that the municipalities that adopted a joint resolution to\ninitiate annexation have demonstrated a good faith attempt to mail such\nnotice to each person or corporation owning real property as required by\nthis section. Such notice shall state that a petition for the annexation\nof territory or a joint resolution to initiate annexation of territory\nto the local government or governments (naming it or them and briefly\ndescribing the territory proposed to be annexed thereto) has been\nproposed, that at a specified place in one of such local governments on\na specified day not less than twenty days nor more than forty days after\nthe publication and mailing of such notice, which place and date shall\nbe specified therein, a joint hearing will be had upon such petition or\njoint resolution to initiate annexation by such governing boards. Each\nof such governing boards shall cause a copy of such notice to be mailed\nnot less than ten days prior to the date of such joint hearing to the\nschool authorities of any school district in which all or part of the\nterritory proposed to be annexed is situated and, where it is proposed\nto annex territory to a city, to the school authorities of any school\ndistrict (a) adjoining the territory proposed to be annexed and (b)\nlocated wholly or partly within such city. Each of such governing boards\nshall also cause a copy of such notice to be posted on the website of\nthe local government, if one exists.\n 2. In a case where it is proposed to annex territory in a town or\ntowns to another local government or governments, the town board or\nboards in which such territory is situated shall cause a copy of such\nnotice to be mailed not less than ten days prior to the date of such\njoint hearing to the board of commissioners or other governing body of\neach fire district or other district corporation, public benefit\ncorporation, and town improvement district operated by a separate board\nof commissioners, situated wholly or partly in the territory to be\nannexed.\n 3. In the event that any affected local government shall fail to\npublish and mail such notice as required by subdivision one of this\nsection or in the event that the town board of a town shall fail to\ncause copies thereof to be mailed as required by subdivision two of this\nsection, the governing board or boards of any other affected local\ngovernment or governments, if it or they deem it to be desirable, may,\nduring an additional twenty days following the forty day period now\nprovided in subdivision one of this section, amend and republish its or\ntheir notices and, on behalf of such local government, town board, or\nboth, publish and mail such notices.\n