40:43-66.40. Petition for formation of joint municipal consolidation study commission; certification of sufficiency; transmittal

The registered voters of any municipality may, by petition, propose the formation of a joint municipal consolidation study commission. The petition, or each petition paper, as the case may be, shall state the purpose of the petition, and shall name the municipalities for which a consolidation study is proposed. The petition to be sufficient shall be signed by the registered and qualified voters of the municipality in a number at least equal to 10% of the total votes cast in the municipality at the last preceding general election at which members of the General Assembly were elected. The petition shall be filed with the clerk of the municipality who shall, upon said filing, forthwith ascertain and certify the number and validity of the signatures affixed thereto. If the petition is determined to be insufficient, the person designated in the petition for such purpose shall have 10 days from the notification of insufficiency to file a supplementary petition designed to rectify such insufficiency, which shall be in the same form and shall be filed in the same manner as the original petition. If no supplementary petition is filed within 10 days after such notification of insufficiency, or if the clerk shall, within 5 days after such a supplementary petition is filed, examine it and determine it to be still insufficient, the clerk shall file his certificate of insufficiency in his office and notify such person of the insufficiency. A finding of insufficiency shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose, provided that such new petition otherwise conforms to the requirements of this act.

If the petition is determined to be sufficient, the clerk of the municipality shall so certify, and shall forthwith transmit a certified copy to the governing body of the municipality, to the municipal clerk of each of the other municipalities named in the petition, and to the clerk of the county in which such municipalities are located.

L.1977, c. 435, s. 6, eff. March 1, 1978.