The procedure for the sale or lease of a municipally-owned public utility shall be as follows:
1. When the governing body of any municipality, as defined in Section 35-201 of this title, desires to offer for sale or lease any public utility belonging to the municipality, it shall authorize by resolution the proper officers of the municipality to give notice and advertise for bids. The notice shall state that on a specified day the governing body will receive open bids for the sale or lease of the public utility. The notice shall also state the requirements for submission of bids, as provided in Section 35-204 of this title; 2. The notice shall be published in two (2) consecutive issues of a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. The two publications shall be seven (7) days apart, and the first publication of the notice shall be at least fifteen (15) days before open bids will be received;
3. The municipal governing body shall receive bids on the specified date and select the highest and best bid for the sale or lease of the public utility, if satisfactory to the governing body;
4. After selecting the highest and best bidder, the governing body shall, by ordinance, call for an election for the submission of the following propositions to the registered voters of the municipality:
a. the question of the proposed sale or lease of the public utility to the highest and best bidder, and;
b. at the same time, the question of the granting of a franchise to the bidder if such a franchise is required by the Oklahoma Constitution.
The questions shall be submitted on the same day. If a franchise is required by the Oklahoma Constitution, the sale of the utility shall be conditioned upon the franchise being granted to the bidder by vote of the people at the election. The election shall be conducted in the manner provided by law for the granting of franchise; and
5. If the highest and best bidder for the public utility under the procedure herein defined shall be the owner of a competing utility operating under a valid franchise or permit, it shall be necessary only to submit to the registered voters the question of the sale of the municipal utility.
Laws 1977, c. 256, § 35-203, eff. July 1, 1978.
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