Oxford Village’s petition to incorporate as a city was received by the state Boundary Commission Monday, but don’t look for it to turn up on a meeting agenda any time soon.
‘It will easily, easily be after the first of the year,? said Commission Manager Christine Holmes. ‘It will be some time before this is on the commission’s monthly agenda for determining legal sufficiency.?
Before the cityhood process can proceed, the state Boundary Commission must first determine if the petition is legally sufficient.
That means checking to see if the approximately 346 people who signed the petition are both eligible voters and property owners in the village. It also means checking over the maps, boundaries and legal descriptions of the area to be incorporated.
Once the commission’s staff reviews all this, then it will be placed on a meeting agenda where the petition’s legal sufficiency to move forward in the incorporation process is determined.
Unfortunately, it appears the village picked an inopportune time to file its petition.
‘It’s the newest of four (petitions) filed within a week’s time,? according to Holmes.
Prior to the village’s filing, the commission received two petitions for annexations and one for a large area seeking to incorporate as a village.
‘Petitions are pretty much processed in the order they come in,? Holmes said.
Add to those four the existing petitions in various stages of the process and the commission has a pretty full workload. But that doesn’t mean all the petitions ahead of the village’s have to be finished before the commission gets to Oxford’s.
‘Even though we’ve got (petitions) from one and two years ago that are still going through the process, we don’t have to close those out to start these (four new petitions),? Holmes explained.
If the petition is found not to be legally sufficient, the commission rejects it and the village has to start the whole process over again.
‘It would have to be a new petition,? Holmes said.
If the petition is determined to be legally sufficient, the commission would then conduct a public hearing on the cityhood matter in the village, Holmes said. Setting up such a public hearing could take ‘several months,? according to Holmes.
Following the hearing, people have 30 days to submit written information and comments to the commission. This is for people who either couldn’t attend the hearing or did not wish to speak during it, Holmes said.
Following this, there is a seven-day period in which the ‘involved parties? ? such as the village and township ? may submit ‘rebuttals? to commission, Holmes said.
The Boundary Commission then adjudicates the matter and adopts its findings as a recommendation to the director of the Department of Labor and Economic Growth, who issues a final order.
If the commission’s recommendation and director’s order is against the incorporation effort, the process ends.
If the recommendation and order are in favor of moving forward with the incorporation process, then Holmes said there is a 45-day period before the final order take effect, when the public may petition for a referendum. This referendum would allow voters to decide whether to overturn the director’s order.
If no referendum petition is filed, the incorporation process would move forward with the election of a charter commission to draft the proposed city’s charter, which would also require future voter-approval.
After the date of the director’s order, voters have two opportunities within a two-year period to approve a city charter. ‘If it fails both times, then the proceedings are done,’she said.