Mo. Rev. Stat. § 64.401 — MO Code / Chapter 64 / Section 64.401
64.401 Extension of municipal park system to adjacent area — petition, procedure, ...
Status: in_force

64.401. Extension of municipal park system to adjacent area — petition, procedure, approval — hearing, notice — election, ballot, form, procedure, resubmission — representation on board, appointment — if more than one county, procedure. — 1. Persons residing in an area adjacent to and within three miles of a municipality that has formed and established a park system under sections 90.010 to 90.020 and 90.500 to 90.570 may petition to become part of the park system in the manner prescribed in this subsection. The petition shall include a description of the territory to be embraced by the park system, the provision for a tax to support the park system at the rate of tax which residents of the municipality are required to pay to support the park system, and the signatures of five percent of the qualified voters within the area outside the municipality as determined by the county clerk on the basis of the number of votes cast in the area for governor in the last election held prior to filing of the petition. The petition shall be filed with the governing body of the municipality and the county clerk. The governing body of the municipality shall within thirty days of receipt of the petition vote to approve or reject the request of the adjacent property owners to become part of the municipal parks system at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing body of the municipality. The governing body of the municipality shall notify the county clerk of its action. If the governing body of the municipality rejects the request, no further action on the matter shall be taken for a period of one year after the date that the governing body rejects the request. After such period of time, the persons residing in the area may submit a new petition pursuant to this subsection. If the governing body of the municipality approves the request, the county clerk shall proceed as prescribed in subsections 2 and 3 of this section.

2. Upon approval of the issue by the governing body of the municipality as prescribed in subsection 1 of this section, the county clerk shall present the petition to the county commission who shall thereupon set the petition for hearing not less than thirty days nor more than forty days after the filing.

3. Notice shall be given by the county commission of the time and place where the hearing will be held, by publication on three separate days in one or more newspapers having a general circulation within the territory proposed to be incorporated as part of the park system, the first of which publications shall be not less that twenty days prior to the date set for the hearing and if there is no such newspaper, then notice shall be posted in ten of the most public places in the territory, not less than twenty days prior to the date set for the hearing. This notice shall include a description of the territory as set out in the petition, the question of incorporation for park system services and the rate of tax which residents within the area outside the municipality would be required to pay to support the park system as set out in the petition.

4. If the county commission finds that the petition and notice meet the requirements of subsections 1, 2 and 3 of this section, and that the boundaries as defined are reasonable boundaries for the incorporation of the area into the park system, the county commission shall order the submission of the question.

5. The question shall be submitted to the voters within the area outside the municipality substantially in the following form:

6. If a majority of the votes cast on the proposal by the qualified voters within the area outside the municipality voting thereon are in favor of the proposal, then the area shall be part of the municipal park system as of the first day of the year following the year of the election.

7. The results of the election shall be certified by the election official of the county not less than thirty days after the election. In the event the proposal fails to receive a majority of the votes within the area outside the municipality in favor of the proposal, then such proposal shall not be resubmitted at any election held within one year of the date of the election the proposal was rejected.

8. If the area outside the municipality votes to join the municipal park system, then such an area shall have proportional representation on the park board in accordance with its population to the population of the municipality, except that such area shall be entitled to at least one representative on the park board. The county clerk shall determine the number of additional representatives by dividing the population of the municipality based on the last decennial census by nine to produce the quotient and shall allocate to the area that has voted to join the district one representative per quotient or part thereof which representative or representatives shall be in addition to the nine representatives from the municipality. The county commission shall appoint board members who shall have resided in the area outside the municipality which is included within the municipal park system for terms of three years. Where the area is in more than one county, the county commissions of each county shall, as nearly as practicable, evenly appoint such members with the county commission of the county having the largest area within the system appointing a greater number of board members if the members cannot be appointed evenly. Residents of such area residing outside the municipal boundaries shall have the same right of access to parks and park facilities in the municipal park system as residents of the municipality.

9. The provisions of sections 90.010 to 90.020 and 90.500 and 90.570 shall apply to all areas outside the municipality that are included in the municipal park system under the provisions of this section.

(L. 1994 H.B. 1200 & 1192 §§ 2 to 6)