2023 Code of Alabama › Title 11 - Counties and Municipal Corporations. › Title 3 - Provisions Applicable to Counties and Municipal Corporations. › Chapter 89 - Water, Sewer, Solid Waste Disposal and Fire Protection Districts. › Article 1 - General Provisions. › Section 11-89-4 - Filing of Certificate of Incorporation, Copies of Resolutions of Governing Bodies, etc., With Probate Judge; Contents and Execution of Certificate of Incorporation; Notification of Secretary of State of Recordation of Certificate of Incorporation by Probate Judge.

Section 11-89-4
Filing of certificate of incorporation, copies of resolutions of governing bodies, etc., with probate judge; contents and execution of certificate of incorporation; notification of Secretary of State of recordation of certificate of incorporation by probate judge.
(a) Within 40 days following the adoption of an authorizing resolution or, in the event an application was filed with more than one governing body within 40 days following the adoption of an authorizing resolution by that governing body that was the last to adopt an authorizing resolution, but if and only if each other governing body with whom such application was filed has theretofore adopted an authorizing resolution, the applicants shall proceed to incorporate a district by filing for record in the office of the judge of probate of the county in which the principal office of the district is to be located, as specified in the certificate of incorporation provided for in this section, a certificate of incorporation which shall comply in form and substance with the requirements of this section and which shall be in the form and executed in the manner provided in this section; provided, that any district incorporated prior to November 14, 1975, and which, according to the provisions of its certificate of incorporation, is authorized to render sewer service and own and operate a sewer system, shall be authorized to own and operate a solid waste collection and disposal system in the service area in which it is authorized to render sewer service and own and operate a sewer system, without any further action or authorization and without amending its certificate of incorporation, and without changing its name to indicate the additional service it is authorized to render.
(b) The certificate of incorporation of the district shall state:
(1) The names of the persons forming the district and that each of them is a duly qualified elector of an authorizing subdivision or of a county which is served in whole or in part by an authorizing subdivision;
(2) The period for the duration of the district (if the duration is to be perpetual, subject to the provisions of Section 11-89-17, that fact shall be stated);
(3) The name of each authorizing subdivision, together with the date on which the governing body thereof adopted an authorizing resolution;
(4) The location of the principal office of the district, which shall be the same as that stated in the applications required by Section 11-89-3;
(5)(i) A concise legal description of the area or areas in which the district proposes to render water service, sewer service, and fire protection service or any thereof and a designation of the type or types of service proposed to be rendered in such area or in each of such areas, or, (ii) if the district is to be a supply district, the name of each county, municipality, and public corporation proposed to be served;
(6) The total number of directors and the number of directors which the governing body of each authorizing subdivision shall be entitled to elect; and, if the district will be a supply district, any provision to give the directors proportional voting power based upon the quantity of water to be taken or paid for by the entities which will elect the directors, the percentage of indebtedness of the district for which the entities electing the directors will be guarantors, or any other measure for establishing proportional voting power of directors;
(7) A plan for apportioning the properties of the district upon its dissolution among the authorizing subdivisions, but only if such plan was stated in the application filed with the governing bodies of the authorizing subdivisions in accordance with the provisions of Section 11-89-3;
(8) A statement that the application filed with the governing body of each of the authorizing subdivisions in accordance with Section 11-89-3 was identical to the copy thereof attached to said certificate of incorporation; and
(9) Any other matters relating to the district that the incorporators may choose to insert and that are not inconsistent with this chapter or with the laws of the state.
(c) To the extent that any matter required by the provisions of subsection (b) of this section to be included in the certificate of incorporation of a district is also required or permitted to be included in the application theretofore filed with the authorizing subdivisions in accordance with the provisions of Section 11-89-3, including, but without limitation to, any matter relating to the type or types of service proposed to be rendered by the district, any service area, the number and method of electing directors, the location of the principal office of the district and apportioning the properties of the district upon its dissolution, the provisions of the certificate of incorporation with respect to such matter shall be in strict accordance with the corresponding provisions of such application.
(d) The certificate of incorporation shall be signed and acknowledged by the incorporators before an officer authorized by the laws of the state to take acknowledgments to deeds. When the certificate of incorporation is filed for record, there shall be attached to it a copy of the application as filed with the governing body of each of the authorizing subdivisions in accordance with the provisions of Section 11-89-3, a certified copy of the authorizing resolution adopted by the governing body of each authorizing subdivision and a certificate by the Secretary of State that the name proposed for the district is not identical to that of any other corporation organized under the laws of the state or so nearly similar thereto as to lead to confusion and uncertainty. Upon the filing for record of the said certificate of incorporation and the documents required by the preceding sentence to be attached thereto, the district shall come into existence and shall constitute a public corporation under the name set forth in said certificate of incorporation. The judge of probate shall thereupon send a notice to the Secretary of State that the certificate of incorporation of the district has been filed for record.
(Acts 1970, Ex. Sess., No. 29, p. 2630, §4; Acts 1975, 4th Ex. Sess., No. 104, p. 2785, §1; Acts 1976, No. 540, p. 714; Acts 1979, No. 79-818, p. 1520; Acts 1989, No. 89-745, p. 1494, §3.)