Go to: OVERVIEW
(SaveOurCounty) DETAILS
(listener)
PLANNING SCHOOLS ENVIRONMENT EROSION
Report corrections &
broken links to Webmaster Get updates on local issues
Law on creating a government for a new "town" (under 2,000 people - simpler) or "city" (over 2,000 people - besides the steps below, you elect a committee to write a charter, which the public then votes on). You can get to this & other WV Laws from http://www.listener.homestead.com)
§§8-1-3. Classification of municipal corporations.
Pursuant to the mandate of the "Municipal Home Rule Amendment" to the
constitution of this state, all municipal corporations are hereby classified by
population into four classes, as follows:
(1) Every municipal corporation with a population in excess of fifty thousand
shall be a Class I city;
(2) Every municipal corporation with a population in excess of ten thousand but
not in excess of fifty thousand shall be a Class II city;
(3) Every municipal corporation with a population in excess of two thousand but
not in excess of ten thousand shall be a Class III city; and
(4) Every municipal corporation with a population of two thousand or less shall
be a Class IV town or village.
...
ARTICLE 2. CREATION OF MUNICIPALITIES.
PART I. GENERAL
§§8-2-1. Requirements for incorporation; size and character of
territory; population.
Any part of any county or counties, not within any municipality, urban in
character, and containing at least one hundred inhabitants (if such part
contains less than one square mile), and an average of not less than five
hundred inhabitants per square mile (if such part contains one square mile or
more), provided such part does not include an amount of territory
disproportionate to the number of inhabitants thereof, may be incorporated,
depending upon population, as a city, either a Class I, Class II or Class III
city, or as a Class IV town or village, as classified in section three, article
one of this chapter, upon the conditions and in the manner hereinafter
prescribed: Provided, That the exact extent of the territory
or portions thereof to be included or excluded shall be within the reasonable
discretion of the county court, taking into consideration the topography
thereof, the benefits thereto from incorporation, the amount of uninhabited
land required for parks and recreational use and normal growth and development
and the present and probable future uses thereof, so as to prevent hardships
and inequities.
§§8-2-2. Petition; survey and map.
A proceeding to incorporate any such city, town or village shall be initiated
upon petition addressed to and filed with the county court of the county in
which the territory is located, or if in more than one county in which the
major portion of the territory is located, indicating whether the territory
sought to be incorporated will be upon incorporation, depending upon
population, a Class I, Class II or Class III city or a Class IV town or
village. Such petition shall be signed by at least thirty percent of the
freeholders of the territory to be incorporated.
Such petition shall be verified by at least one of the petitioners and shall be
accompanied by a map made by a professional engineer registered under the laws
of this state, which map shall be based upon an actual and accurate survey of
the territory to be incorporated showing the courses, distances and the area of
the territory to be incorporated.
Such map shall be verified and shall be left at the residence or place of
business within the territory to be incorporated of some individual residing or
some person doing business therein, and shall be subject to examination at all
reasonable hours by every person interested in such application for a period of
at least ten days prior to the hearing on such petition as provided for in
section three of this article.
§§8-2-3. Hearing on petition; notice; dismissal.
Upon the filing of such petition, the county court shall set the same for
hearing not sooner than ten days and not later than thirty days thereafter, and
the petitioners shall cause notice of the filing of said petition and of the
date, time and place of hearing thereon to be published as a Class II legal
advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter
fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be
the territory sought to be incorporated.
Upon the date set for hearing, the county court shall hear evidence for and
against the proposed incorporation, and if it shall determine that the
requirements of sections one and two of this article have not been met, it
shall forthwith enter an order dismissing said petition.
§§8-2-4. Census; bond; appointment and duties of enumerators.
If the court shall determine after hearing that the requirements of sections
one and two of this article have been met, the petitioners shall provide bond
in penalty prescribed by the court, with good and sufficient surety thereon,
conditioned to pay all costs of taking a census, determining the qualification
of electors, holding an election and ascertaining the results thereof, in the
event a majority of the qualified electors vote against incorporation; and
thereupon the court shall fix a day or days for taking a census of the
inhabitants and for determining those who are qualified electors of said
territory. For the purpose of taking said census, and determining the
qualifications of the electors, said court shall appoint four enumerators for
each five hundred inhabitants of said territory based upon the most reliable
estimate obtainable: Provided, That if the territory contains
less than one square mile and the county court believes the territory contains
fewer than five hundred inhabitants, two enumerators shall be appointed. It
shall be the duty of the enumerators so appointed to enumerate all of the
inhabitants of said territory and to visit each house or dwelling therein, and
to obtain the name of each known resident thereof. It shall also be the duty of
the enumerators to examine the permanent registration records of the county or
counties in which the territory is situate to determine which of such
inhabitants are qualified electors therein and to compile and file with the
county court a list of such qualified electors. Each enumerator shall receive
for his services a sum per day, to be fixed by the county court, but not to
exceed ten dollars per day, together with all reasonable and necessary expenses
actually incurred in the discharge of such duties, which sum and expenses shall
be paid by the county court and reimbursed to it by the city, town or village
if and when the city, town or village shall become incorporated, as hereinafter
provided; otherwise by the petitioners. The county court shall provide an
opportunity for all qualified individuals residing in such territory, who have
not been previously registered to vote, to become registered prior to the
election hereinafter provided for. Upon the completion of said census and the
listing of qualified electors, said enumerators shall make a report under oath
to the county court that said enumeration and listing are correct, true and
accurate, and do not contain the name of any individual who is not a resident
of the territory, and that the list of qualified electors is true and correct,
which report shall be filed with the county court within the following number
of days after the appointment of said enumerators: Forty days if it is to be a
Class I city, twenty days if it is to be a Class II city, ten days if it is to
be a Class III city and ten days if it is to be a Class IV town or village.
PART II. ELECTION
§§8-2-5. Special election -- Voting precincts; time for election;
supplies; commissioners and clerks; notice.
Upon receiving such a report from said enumerators, the county court shall
forthwith fix a date for a special election, not later than thirty days
thereafter, on which all qualified electors of the territory shall vote upon
the question of incorporation between such hours as may be fixed by order of
said court. For the purpose of holding and conducting said election, the county
court shall divide the territory into one or more precincts, consisting of not
more than five hundred qualified voters in each precinct; shall arrange for and
provide at its expense polling places, registration books, challenges and other
election supplies as provided for by law in general elections; shall appoint
three commissioners of election and two clerks from the qualified electors of
said territory for each precinct so established, dividing the election
officials as nearly as possible equally between those favoring incorporation
and those opposed to incorporation; and shall give notice of the date and place
or places of election and hours for voting by publication of such notice as a
Class II-0 legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article
three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such
publication shall be the territory sought to be incorporated.
§§8-2-6. Same -- Qualified electors; form of ballot or ballot label;
election officials; certification; canvass; declaration of results; recount.
On the date named in such notice for the taking of the vote, each qualified
elector of the territory sought to be incorporated shall have the right to cast
his vote for or against such incorporation at the precinct in which he resides,
by depositing a ballot in a ballot box, or by use of a voting machine, to be
provided by the county court for that purpose. Each ballot, or ballot label
where voting machines are used, shall be without party designation and shall
have written or printed thereon the following words:
/ / For Incorporation
/ / Against Incorporation
The ballot or ballot label shall be a separate, special ballot or ballot label.
Such election shall be held and conducted under the supervision of the
commissioners and clerks of election appointed by the county court as aforesaid
and shall be conducted as nearly as may be in accordance with the laws of this
state governing general elections. The results of such election shall be
certified as in general elections, and the returns shall be canvassed and the
results declared by the county court. In the event any commissioner or clerk
designated to serve in said election shall fail or refuse to serve, such
vacancy may be filled in like manner as vacancies in such positions are filled
in general elections under the laws of this state governing general elections.
A recount may be had, as in general elections, upon the party or parties
desiring such recount providing adequate assurance to the county court that he
or they will pay all costs of such recount.
§§8-2-7. Court order declaring boundaries of city; certificate of
incorporation of town or village; dismissal of proceeding.
If the proceeding be for the incorporation of a city, and it appears to the
county court, upon the returns being canvassed, that a majority of the legal
votes cast on the question of incorporation were in favor of such incorporation
and the court is satisfied that all of the applicable provisions of this
article have been complied with, the court shall by order duly made and entered
of record declare that the territory in question (reciting the boundaries)
shall thereby become a body corporate, and shall thenceforth be known as the
city of ......................, but that until a charter shall be framed and
adopted as provided in article three of this chapter, such city shall have and
exercise no powers of a municipality except the power to frame and adopt a
charter as therein provided.
If the proceeding be for the incorporation of a town or village, and it appears
to the county court, upon the returns being canvassed, that a majority of the
legal votes cast on the question of incorporation were in favor of such
incorporation and the court is satisfied that all of the applicable provisions
of this article have been complied with, the court shall by order duly made and
entered of record, direct the clerk of said court to issue a certificate of
incorporation in form or in substance as follows:
"It appearing to the court that under the provisions of article two,
chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, as amended, at an election duly
held on the .......... day of ..............., 19......., a majority of the
legal votes cast on the question of incorporation by the qualified voters of
the following territory, to wit: Beginning, etc. (here recite the boundaries),
were cast in favor of the incorporation of the town or village of
......................., in the County of .................., bounded as herein
set forth; and it appearing to the satisfaction of the court that all of the
provisions of article two, chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, as
amended, have been complied with by the petitioners for said incorporation,
said town or village is hereby declared to be a body corporate, duly authorized
to exercise all of the corporate powers conferred upon towns or villages by
chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, as amended, from and after the date
of this certificate. (Signed) ............................, Clerk County
Court." Thereupon, the first election of officers shall be held as
provided in sections two, three and four, article five of this chapter.
If on the returns being canvassed on the question of incorporation, a majority
of the legal votes cast be against incorporation, the proceeding shall be
dismissed, and no subsequent proceeding for incorporation of the same territory
or any portion thereof shall be considered or election thereon had within a
period of three years thereafter.