CHAPTER 198
MUNICIPAL POWER AND WATER DISTRICTS
198.02 District, creation, powers.
198.025 Plan for district.
198.03 Procedure for organizing district.
198.05 Subdistricts, boundaries.
198.07 Board of directors, boundaries.
198.09 Vacancies, declared, filled.
198.11 Compensation and expenses of directors.
198.12 Corporate powers of district.
198.13 Acquisition of private utilities; dissolution of power district.
198.14 Powers of district board.
198.145 District legislature, ordinances, officers.
198.165 District clerk, treasurer, attorney, duties.
198.167 Certified accountant; annual report.
198.17 Eminent domain procedure.
198.19 Annexation of territory.
198.20 Consolidation of districts.
198.21 District obligations inviolate.
198.22 Municipal water districts.
198.01
198.01
Definitions. In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
198.01(1)
(1) "Board of directors," "directors" or "board" means the board of directors of a municipal power district selected as provided in this chapter, duly constituted and organized and acting as a board.
198.01(2)
(2) "Chief executive" means mayor or city manager, village president, or chairperson of the town.
198.01(3)
(3) "Commission" means the public service commission and any other body, commission or agency of the state which may at any time hereafter succeed to the general powers and jurisdiction of said commission.
198.01(4)
(4) "Governing body," whenever used in relation to any municipality, means in the case of any town or village, the town or village board, and, in the case of any city, the common council or commissioners, as the case may be, of such city, and shall be held to include the mayor or other chief executive officer of such municipality in any case wherein the concurrence or approval of such officer is required by the law governing such municipality for the adoption of any municipal ordinance or resolution or other municipal act provided for in this chapter.
198.01(5)
(5) "Municipality" means any town, city or incorporated village.
198.01(6)
(6) "Municipal power district," "power district" or "district" means a municipal power district organized under this chapter, either as originally organized or as the same may be from time to time altered or amended.
198.01(7)
(7) "Public utility" or "utility" means the plant, equipment, materials, supplies and any other or different property, including contract rights, used and useful primarily for the production, transmission or furnishing of electric power to or for the public for any purpose by a person, firm, association, corporation or a municipality and whether operated by a person, firm, association, corporation, a municipality or by trustees or by receivers appointed by any court.
198.01(8)
(8) "Voters" means vote for governor at the last general election.
198.01 History
History: 1983 a. 189;
1989 a. 56 s.
258.
198.02
198.02
District, creation, powers. A municipal power district may be created as provided in this chapter and when so created shall be considered a municipal corporation and may exercise the powers herein granted. Any two or more municipalities, whether contiguous or otherwise or in the same or different counties, may organize and incorporate as a municipal power district, but no municipality shall be divided in the formation of such a district, nor shall any municipality be included therein unless approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon at an election on such proposition.
198.025
198.025
Plan for district. It shall be the duty of the public service commission upon request of the governing body of any city, village or town to work out with such municipality, or with any group of municipalities interested with it in the creation of a municipal power district, a feasible working plan for a proposed district.
198.03
198.03
Procedure for organizing district. The procedure for organizing, incorporating, and creating a municipal power district under the provisions of this chapter is as follows:
198.03(1)
(1) Initial resolution. The governing bodies of one-half or more of the municipalities proposed to be included in the district shall first pass resolutions, declaring that public interest or necessity demands the creation and maintenance of a municipal power district to be known as "the (giving the name) municipal power district". Such resolutions shall name the municipalities to be included in the proposed district. Certified copies of such resolutions shall next be presented to the county clerk of the county containing the largest number of voters within the proposed district, requesting said clerk to call an election without delay for determining whether such district shall be created.
198.03(2)
(2) Petition in lieu of resolution. In lieu of the resolutions provided for by
sub. (1), a petition may be presented to the county clerk of said county signed by at least ten per cent of the voters in said proposed district. Such petition shall declare that, in the opinion of the petitioners, public interest or necessity demands the creation and maintenance of a municipal power district. The petition may be on separate sheets of paper, but each sheet shall contain the affidavit of the person who circulated the same, certifying that each name signed thereto is the true signature of the person whose name it purports to be.
198.04(1)(1)
Notice to commission. Upon receipt of the certified copies of resolutions or the petition mentioned in
s. 198.03, such county clerk shall forthwith notify the public service commission in writing that the municipalities filing said resolutions or those named in said petition as constituting the proposed power district had petitioned the county clerk to call an election without delay for determining whether such district should be created.
198.04(2)
(2) Report of commission. Within ninety days after receipt of said notice of the county clerk the public service commission shall file in writing with said clerk its recommendations as to the feasibility or nonfeasibility of the proposed district with reasons therefor. Certified copies of such recommendations shall at the same time be filed by the commission with the clerk of each municipality included within said proposed district.
198.04(3)
(3) Election called. Upon receipt of such recommendations of the commission, or upon expiration of the ninety day period referred to in
sub. (2), said county clerk shall call without delay an election within the proposed district for the purpose of determining whether the proposed district shall be created.
198.04 History
History: 1993 a. 482.
198.05
198.05
Subdistricts, boundaries. Every petition or resolution provided for in
s. 198.03 shall divide the proposed district into five subdistricts, giving each a number, except as provided in
s. 198.07 (3). In the event that the boundaries of the district as originally proposed are changed at the election, provided for by
s. 198.06, and approved by the commission pursuant to
s. 198.06 (5), the commission shall make such adjustments in the boundaries of the subdistricts as may be necessary to comply with
s. 198.07.
198.06(1)(1)
Notice of election, publication. Upon the establishment of subdistricts the county clerk shall give notice of an election to be held within the proposed district for the purpose of determining whether the proposed district shall be created. Such notice shall state the name of the proposed district, and describe its boundaries. The notice shall be published once a week for at least 3 consecutive weeks before the day of the election in some newspaper or newspapers having a general circulation within the proposed district.
198.06(2)
(2) Ballot requirements. The ballot for the election shall be in such form and contain such instructions and shall be of the size required by
ss. 5.51 and
5.64 for the referendum ballot, except that there shall appear on the ballot the following:
Shall the.... (giving the name thereof) "municipal power district" be created and established?
YES ⍽ NO ⍽
198.06(3)
(3) Election procedure, electors, canvass. The election, and all matters pertaining to the election not otherwise provided for in this section, shall be conducted and the result ascertained in accordance with the election laws governing the conduct of local elections in the several election districts embraced in such proposed municipal power district, as nearly as may be, and no person may vote at the election unless he or she is a qualified elector of the territory included in the proposed district. The election may be held on the same day as any other state, city, village, town or county election and may be consolidated therewith. The ballots shall be transmitted by the local election authorities to the county board of canvassers of the county containing the largest number of voters within the proposed district, within 5 days after the election.
198.06(4)
(4) County canvass of votes, declare result. The county board of canvassers of the county shall meet on the Monday next succeeding the day of the election and shall canvass the votes cast, and in so doing shall canvass the returns of each municipality separately, and shall order and declare the district created of the municipalities in which a majority of those voting on the proposition voted in favor of the creation of the district, provided, that the total number of voters in the approving municipalities shall be not less than two-thirds of the number of voters within the district as first proposed.
198.06(5)
(5) Order of canvassers, filing, effect of reduced area, creation complete. The board of canvassers shall cause a certified copy of the order declaring the result of the election to be filed in the office of the secretary of state. A certified copy of the order shall also be filed with the clerk of each municipality included in the district, with the county clerk, and with the public service commission. In case the district as finally constituted comprises a smaller area than originally proposed, because of the failure of one or more municipalities to approve the district at the election, then, within 10 days following the filing with the commission, the commission shall file its approval or disapproval of the district as created by the election with the secretary of state, the clerk of each municipality included in the district and the county clerk. In such case, from and after the filing by the commission the creation and incorporation of the district shall be deemed complete, or the district shall be deemed dissolved, as the approval or disapproval of the commission shall determine, and in the case of municipal water districts created under
s. 198.22, unless objection thereto is made to the public service commission by one or more of the governing bodies of the municipalities which would otherwise be included in the district. If a district has been approved by all the municipalities within the district as proposed, the creation and incorporation of the district shall be deemed complete from and after the filing of the result of the election with the secretary of state by the board of canvassers.
198.06(6)
(6) Expenses of election, payment. All amounts properly incurred and actually expended by any municipality or the clerk thereof in publishing notices of any primary or election, in employing persons to conduct the election or in performing other duties imposed upon the municipality or upon the clerk thereof by any provision of this chapter shall be paid as other similar expenses of the municipality are paid and shall be a charge in favor of the municipality against the district to be repaid, together with interest thereon at the rate of 6% per year, upon the presentation of proper vouchers therefor by the clerk of the municipality to the district, when and as the district has funds available for that purpose.
