130A-51. City governing body acting as sanitary district board.

(a) When the General Assembly incorporates a city or town that includes within its territory fifty percent (50%) or more of the territory of a sanitary district, the governing body of the city or town shall become ex officio the governing board of the sanitary district if the General Assembly provides for this action in the incorporation act and if the existing sanitary district board adopts a final resolution pursuant to this section. The resolution may be adopted at any time within the period beginning on the day the incorporation act becomes law and ending 270 days after that date.

(b) To begin the process leading to the city or town board becoming ex officio the sanitary district board, the board of the sanitary district shall first adopt a preliminary resolution finding that the interests of the citizens of the sanitary district and of the city or town will be best served if both units of local government are governed by a single governing body. This resolution shall also set the time and place for a public hearing on the preliminary resolution.

(c) Upon adoption of this preliminary resolution, the chairperson of the sanitary district board shall publish a notice of the public hearing once at least 10 days before the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation within the sanitary district. This notice shall set forth the time and place of the hearing and shall briefly describe its purpose. At the hearing, the board shall hear any citizen of the sanitary district or of the city or town who wishes to speak to the subject of the preliminary resolution.

(d) Within 30 days after the day of the public hearing, the sanitary district board may adopt a final resolution finding that the interests of the citizens of the sanitary district and of the city or town will be best served if both units are governed by a single board. This resolution shall set the date on which the terms of office of the members of the sanitary district board end and that board is dissolved and service by the ex officio board begins. This date may be the effective date of the incorporation of the city or town or any date within one year after the effective date. At that time, the sanitary district board is dissolved and the mayor and members of the governing body of the city or town become ex officio the board of the sanitary district. The mayor shall act ex officio as chairperson of the sanitary district board.

(e) The chairperson of the sanitary district board that adopts a final resolution shall within 10 days after the day the resolution is adopted, send a copy of the resolution to the mayor and each member of the city or town governing board and to the Department.