By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
The state legislature is requiring annexation policies
of all communities and has assembled a list of requirements
for those policies.
"The information is being mailed to me from the League
of Cities and Towns," said Rick Schnurr. "We have to adopt
an annexation policy and plan by Dec. 31, 2002."
A time-line had been prepared by state officials, he
said, as had a calendar to help the recorder get all legal
notices posted and to help council members stay on-task.
While the 20 months between now and the adoption date
seemed to give the council enough time to prepare and adopt
the ordinance, it may be that the time will not seem
adequate when the policy is actually being worked on.
A city annexation plan has been discussed at several
council meetings in the past, said Schnurr.
"It will be good to get the timeline and calendar," he
said. Legal help in preparing and writing the policy will
probably be required as well.
One thing has become clear, he said, there is really
no way about knowing whether there is a protest to an
annexation until the council has given preliminary approval
to the proposal. Then the proposal is noticed and once that
is done, protests may be filed during the resultant comment
period.
"We can then deny the petition during the next council
meeting," he said.
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