21-1-53 - Voluntary.
§ 21-1-53. Voluntary.
Any municipal corporation having a population of less than one thousand inhabitants, according to the latest available federal census, may be abolished and dissolved in the manner hereinafter provided. In order to abolish or dissolve such a municipality, the mayor and board of aldermen, or other governing authorities of the municipality, shall first adopt an ordinance declaring their intention to abolish or dissolve such municipality, which ordinance shall set forth in full the reason or reasons why such municipality should be abolished and why the public convenience and necessity would be served by the abolition thereof. When such ordinance shall have been adopted, the municipal authorities shall file a petition in the chancery court in which such municipality is located, which said petition shall recite the fact of the adoption of such ordinance and shall pray that the said municipality be abolished and dissolved as provided in such ordinance. A certified copy of said ordinance shall be attached to said petition as an exhibit thereto. All the provisions of this chapter with regard to proceedings in chancery court on petitions for the creation, enlargement and contraction of municipalities shall apply in like manner to the proceedings for the abolition of a municipal corporation. Notice of the filing of said petition and the time for the hearing thereof shall be given in the manner and for the length of time as is required in cases of petitions for the creation, enlargement or contraction of municipalities. Parties aggrieved by the decree of the chancellor may appeal from such decree in the same manner and within the same time as is provided in cases of decrees on petitions involving the creation, enlargement or contraction of a municipal corporation. If the chancellor shall find from the evidence that the proposed abolition is reasonable and will serve the public convenience and necessity, he shall enter his decree declaring the said municipal corporation to be dissolved and abolished, and said decree shall become effective after the passage of ten days from the date thereof, except in cases of appeal in which cases the decree shall become effective after the passage of ten days from the final determination of the appeal. If the chancellor shall find from the evidence that the proposed abolition is unreasonable and is not required by the public convenience and necessity, he shall enter his decree denying such abolition. The hearing provided for herein may be held either in term time or in vacation.
Whenever a municipal corporation shall be so abolished, the chancery clerk shall, after the expiration of ten days from the date of such decree, if no appeal be taken therefrom, forward to the secretary of state a certified copy of such decree, which shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State and remain a permanent record thereof. The secretary of state shall note on his official records pertaining to such municipal corporation the fact that such corporation has been so abolished. In the event an appeal be taken from such decree and such decree be affirmed, then the certified copy thereof shall be forwarded to the secretary of state within ten days after the receipt of the mandate from the supreme court notifying the clerk of such affirmance.
Sources: Codes, 1892, § 2919; 1906, § 3310; Hemingway's 1917, § 5806; 1930, § 2381; 1942, §§ 3374-23, 3374-24; Laws, 1920, ch. 319; Laws, 1950, ch. 491, §§ 23, 24, eff from and after July 1, 1950.