Pre-filed January 7, 1997, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.

Read 2nd time January 20, 1997, and referred to the Committee on Local Government and Economic Development.

Reported from the Committee February 10, 1997, with recommendation that the bill do pass with Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 and be placed on the Consent Calendar.

Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 adopted February 19, 1997.

Taken up February 19, 1997. Read 3rd time and placed upon its final passage; bill passed.

TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.

S0846.01P

To repeal section 247.220, RSMo 1994, relating to public water supply districts, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:

     Section A. Section 247.220, RSMo 1994, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 247.220, to read as follows:

     247.220. 1. Proceedings for the dissolution of a public water supply district shall be substantially the same as proceedings for the formation of such a district, as follows: A petition describing the boundaries of the district sought to be dissolved shall be filed with the clerk of the circuit court of the county wherein the subject district is situate, or with the clerk of the circuit court of the county having the largest acreage within the boundaries of the subject district, in the event that the subject district embraces lands in more than one county. Such petition, in addition to such boundary description, shall allege that further operation of the subject district is inimicable to the best interests of the inhabitants of the district, that the district should, in the interest of the public welfare and safety, be dissolved, that an alternative water supplier is available and better able to supply water to the inhabitants of the district, and such other information as may be useful to the court in determining whether or not the petition should be granted and a decree of dissolution entered. Such petition shall be accompanied by a cash deposit of fifty dollars as an advancement of the costs of the proceeding and the petition shall be signed by not less than one-fifth of the registered voters from each subdistrict, or fifty registered voters from each subdistrict, whichever is less, within the subject district. The petition shall be verified by at least one of the signers thereof.

     2. Upon the filing of the petition, the same shall be presented to the circuit court, and such court shall fix a date for a hearing on such petition, as provided in this section. Thereupon, the clerk of the court shall give notice of the filing of the petition in some newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the proceedings are pending, and if the district extends into any other county or counties, such notice shall also be published in some newspaper of general circulation in such other county or counties. The notice shall contain a description of the subject boundary lines of the district and the general purposes of the petition, and shall set forth the date fixed for the hearing on the petition, which shall not be less than fifteen nor more than twenty-one days after the date of the last publication of the notice and shall be on some regular judicial day of the court wherein the petition is pending. Such notice shall be signed by the clerk of the circuit court and shall be published in three successive issues of a weekly newspaper or in twenty successive issues of a daily newspaper.

     3. The court, for good cause shown, may continue the case or the hearing thereon from time to time until final disposition thereof.

     4. Exceptions to the dissolution of a district may be made by any voter of the subject district; provided, such exceptions are filed not less than five days prior to the date set for the hearing on the petition. Such exceptions shall specify the grounds upon which the exceptions are filed and the court shall take them into consideration in passing upon the petition and shall also consider the evidence in support of the petition and in support of the exceptions made.

     5. Should the court find that it would not be to the public interest to dissolve a district, the petition shall be dismissed at the costs of the petitioners. If, however, the court should find in favor of the petitioners, the court shall enter its interlocutory decree of dissolution which decree shall provide for the submission of the question to the voters of the district in substantially the following form:

     Shall .... Public Water Supply District be dissolved?

     6. The decree of dissolution shall not become final and conclusive until it shall have been submitted to the voters residing within the boundaries described in such decree and until it shall have been assented to by a majority of four-sevenths of the voters of the district voting on the proposition. The decree shall provide for the submission of the question and shall fix the date thereof. The returns shall be certified by the election authority to the circuit court having jurisdiction in the case and the court shall thereupon enter its order canvassing the returns and declaring the result of such election.

     7. If, upon canvass and declaration, it is found and determined that the question shall have been assented to by a majority of [two-thirds] four-sevenths of the voters of the district voting on such proposition then the court shall, in such order declaring the result of the election, enter a further order declaring the decree of dissolution to be final and conclusive. In the event, however, that the court should find that the question had not been assented to by the majority required, the court shall enter a further order declaring such decree of dissolution to be void and of no effect. No appeal shall lie from any of the aforesaid orders. In the event that the court declares the decree of dissolution to be final, as provided in this section, the clerk of the circuit court shall file certified copies of such decree of dissolution and of such final order with the secretary of state of the state of Missouri, and with the recorder of deeds of the county or counties in which the district is situate and with the clerk of the county commission of the county or counties in which the district is situate.

     8. Notwithstanding anything in this section to the contrary, no district shall be dissolved until after all of its debts shall have been paid, and the court, in its decree of dissolution, shall provide for the disposition of the property of the district.