Effective 28 Aug 2016

80.570. Disincorporation procedure. — 1. The county governing body of each county shall have power to disincorporate any town or village which they may have incorporated as provided in this section.

2. The county governing body shall order an election upon the question of disincorporation of a town or village upon petition of twenty-five percent of the voters of the town or village.

3. The county governing body shall give notice of the election by publication in a newspaper of general circulation published in the town or village or, if there is no such newspaper in the town or village, then in the newspaper in the county published nearest the town or village. The notice shall contain a copy of the petition and the names of the petitioners. No election on the question of disincorporation shall be held until the notice has been published for eight weeks successively.

4. The question shall be submitted in substantially the following form as the case may be:

5. Upon the affirmative vote of a majority of those persons voting on the question, the county governing body shall disincorporate the town or village.

6. Any county governing body may, in its discretion, on the application of any person or persons owning a tract of land containing five acres or more in a town or village, used only for agricultural purposes, to diminish the limits of such town or village by excluding any such tract of land from said corporate limits; provided, that such application shall be accompanied by a petition asking such change and signed by a majority of the voters in such town or village. And thereafter such tract of land so excluded shall not be deemed or held to be any part of such town or village.

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(RSMo 1939 § 7295, A.L. 1978 H.B. 971, A.L. 1987 H.B. 160, A.L. 2016 S.B. 572)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 7144; 1919 § 8593; 1909 § 9481

(1973) An incorporated city retains its status as a municipal corporation despite long-standing failure to elect officers or exercise governmental functions. The continuance of a municipality does not depend upon the existence of officers and the doctrine of forfeiture of the right to be a corporation for nonuse of its powers does not apply to municipal corporations, and such municipality has perpetual existence unless disincorporated by statutory procedure. County of Platte v. James (Mo.), 489 S.W.2d 216.