(A) If the question of merging one or more municipal corporations and the unincorporated area of a township, as provided in section 709.45 of the Revised Code, is disapproved by a majority of those voting on it in the township or a municipal corporation proposed to be merged or in the municipal corporation with which merger is proposed, no further petitions shall be filed under that section proposing the same merger for at least three years after the date of that disapproval.

If the question of merging is approved by a majority of those voting on it in each political subdivision proposed to be merged and in the municipal corporation with which merger is proposed, the five candidates from each of those political subdivisions shall be elected to the commission to formulate the conditions of merging the political subdivisions. The first meeting of the commission shall be held in the chamber of the legislative authority of the municipal corporation that has the smallest population or, in the case of a merger of the unincorporated area of a township and one or more municipal corporations, in the office of the board of township trustees, at nine a.m. on the tenth day after the certification of the election by the last of the respective boards of elections to make that certification, unless that day is a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, in which case the first meeting shall be held on the next day thereafter which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday.

The clerk of the municipal legislative authority or the fiscal officer of the board of township trustees in whose chamber or office the first meeting of the commission is held shall serve as temporary chairperson until permanent officers are elected. The commission shall elect its own permanent officers and shall proceed to meet as often as necessary to formulate conditions for merger that are satisfactory to a majority of the members of the commission from each political subdivision.

(B) In case of a vacancy on the commission, the vacancy shall be filled by an appointee of the legislative authority of the municipal corporation, or the board of township trustees of the township, that the prior commissioner represented. The person appointed to fill the vacancy shall be an elector of that political subdivision and, if the person is representing a township, shall reside in the unincorporated area of that township.

(C) The costs of the commission shall be divided among the participating political subdivisions in proportion to the population that each participating political subdivision bears to the total population of the territory proposed to be merged. For these purposes, a township's population shall be based solely upon the population of the unincorporated area of the township proposed to be merged. It shall be a proper public purpose for a municipal corporation or township to expend general fund moneys for these payments.

(D) All meetings of the commission shall be subject to the requirements of section 121.22 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 09-29-1994; 04-07-2005; 12-20-2005 .