ORS 222.230: Form and contents of petition; filing; meeting of city governing bodies.

(1) Before circulating a petition to create a city from adjoining or nonadjoining cities or unincorporated territory, the petitioners shall file with the county clerk of the county in which the proposed city lies or, should it lie in more than one county, to the county clerk of the county in which the largest part of its territory lies, a petition for consolidation in a form prescribed by rule of the Secretary of State. If the economic feasibility statement required by ORS 222.225 is submitted with the petition, the county clerk shall immediately date and time stamp the prospective petition and shall authorize the circulation of the petition. The county clerk shall retain the prospective petition and economic feasibility statement and shall immediately send a copy of the prospective petition to each city included in the proposed consolidation. (2) The petition shall be addressed to the governing bodies of the cities to be included in the proposed city. The petition shall state the name of the city, which may be, but need not be, the name of any of the cities to be included in the city. If it is proposed to include one or more unincorporated areas, the petition shall describe the boundaries of each of them, in addition to designating the incorporated cities to be included in the proposed city. The petition may be filed in the office of the clerk or recorder of any of the cities to be included in the proposed city. However, a petition shall not be accepted for filing unless all the signatures on the petition were obtained within the one-year period immediately following the date on which the petition was filed under subsection (1) of this section. (3) The petition shall state the proposed permanent rate limit for operating taxes for the city that is to be created. The proposed permanent rate limit shall be the rate that would produce the same tax revenue as the existing city or cities would have cumulatively produced within the city or cities’ territorial boundaries were the consolidation not to take effect, and not taking into account any applicable statutory rate limit on operating taxes. (4) When a petition to create a city pursuant to ORS 222.210 to 222.310 contains the required number of signatures and has been so filed, the governing bodies of the cities to be included in the proposed city shall meet in joint convention at the usual place of meeting of the governing body of that one of the cities having the largest population as shown by the last federal census, as soon after the filing of the petition as is convenient, but not more than 20 days after the filing of the petition. At that meeting the governing bodies shall examine the petition and determine: (a) Whether it is in proper form and contains the required number of qualified signers; and (b) Whether the incorporation of the consolidated city proposed in the petition complies with goals adopted under ORS chapters 195, 196, 197 and 197A. [Amended by 1971 c.761 §3; 1985 c.702 §23; 1989 c.92 §34; 1997 c.541 §356; 2001 c.672 §6]