7-82-201 - Petition for creation.
7-82-201. Petition for creation.
(a) A petition for the incorporation of a utility district shall be filed with the utility management review board for review and approval and to the county mayor of any county in which the proposed district is situated, the petition to be signed by not less than twenty-five (25) owners of real property, who shall reside within the boundaries of the proposed district. The petition shall include:
(1) A statement of the service or services to be supplied by the proposed district and the necessity for such service or services;
(2) The proposed corporate name and boundaries of the district;
(3) A statement showing why existing utility districts, or municipal or county services, could not adequately provide the needed service because of cost, time, or other service delivery factors; and
(4) An estimate of the costs of the acquisition or construction of the facilities of the district, which estimate shall not, however, serve as a limitation upon the financing of improvements, or extensions of the facility; an estimate of the costs of operating the proposed facilities; an estimate of anticipated personnel needs; and an estimated schedule of rates and charges for the services to be rendered; and
(5) The nomination of three (3) residents of the district for appointment as commissioners of the district. The petition shall be signed in person by the petitioners with the addresses of their residences and shall be accompanied by a sworn statement of the person or persons circulating the petition, who shall state under oath that they witnessed the signature of each petitioner, that each signature is the signature of the person it purports to be, and that, to the best of their knowledge, each petitioner was, at the time of signing, an owner of real property within and a resident of the proposed district.
(b) Nonprofit property owners associations whose membership is constituted by at least ten thousand (10,000) owners of lots of residential property, which associations own, operate or maintain water or sewer service systems for the exclusive use of those associations, and which are unable to obtain such services from the local utility district, shall be entitled to petition the county mayor of the county in which they are located for incorporation as a utility district. If the association is located within the service area of an existing utility district that does not provide both water and sewer service, the association may petition the county mayor for exclusion from such utility district and for recognition and incorporation as a separate and independent utility district providing the service that the existing district does not provide. The initial commissioners of such utility districts shall be the officers of the association and shall serve initial terms as set forth in § 7-82-307. The successors to such initial commissioners shall serve four (4) year terms as set forth in § 7-82-307, but shall be selected by the management board of the property association, as long as that board is itself elected by a vote of all the property owners in the association. If the management board is not elected by vote of the property owners, successor commissioners shall be appointed by the county mayor as set forth in § 7-82-307. Commissioners shall serve in office until their successors are elected and qualified.
[Acts 1937, ch. 248, § 2; C. Supp. 1950, § 3695.27; Acts 1968, ch. 529, § 1; impl. am. Acts 1978, ch. 934, §§ 16, 36; Acts 1979, ch. 195, § 2; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 6-2602; Acts 1991, ch. 63, § 1; 1995, ch. 64, §§ 1, 2; 2003, ch. 90, § 2; 2009, ch. 320, § 1.]