Title 7, Title 7

Subject to the control and supervision of the city manager in all matters, the director of public service shall: (1) manage and have charge of: (a) the construction, improvement, repair, and maintenance of streets, sidewalks, alleys, lanes, bridges, viaducts, and other public hig…

(1) The commission shall have the power by ordinance to provide for: (a) the construction, reconstruction, repair, and maintenance, by contract or directly by the employment of labor, of all things in the nature of local improvements; and (b) the payment of any part of the cost o…

(1) The director of public service may compel the making of sewer, water, gas, and other connections whenever, in view of the contemplated street improvements or as a sanitary regulation, sewer, water, gas, or other connections should in the director's judgment be constructed. (2…

(1) The director of public service is the supervisor of plats of the municipality. The director shall see that the regulations governing the platting of all lands require all streets and alleys to be of proper width and to be coterminous with the adjoining streets and alleys and …

Subdivisions in the municipality must conform to the provisions of Title 76, chapter 3.

(1) No streets or alleys except those laid down on such plat and bearing the approval of the supervisor of plats, as hereinbefore provided, shall subsequently in any way be accepted as public streets or alleys by the municipality or shall any public funds be expended in the repai…

(1) The commission shall provide by ordinance for the care, supervision, control, and improvement of public highways, streets, avenues, alleys, sidewalks, public grounds, bridges, aqueducts, and viaducts within the municipality and shall cause them to be kept open, in repair, and…

(1) The commission, in vacating any street or part of a street or changing the name of any street, may include in one ordinance the change of name or the vacation or narrowing of more than one street, alley, or avenue. Before vacating any street or part thereof or narrowing any s…

The commission shall have all powers to grant rights to occupy or use the streets, highways, bridges, or public places in the municipality that now are or hereafter may be granted to municipalities by the constitution or laws of Montana. Every ordinance or resolution passed by th…

The commission may by ordinance renew any grant for the construction or operation of any utility, at its expiration, subject to petition and referendum as hereinbefore provided.

No exclusive grant or renewal shall ever be granted, and no grant shall be renewed before 2 years prior to its expiration.

(1) The commission shall, in any ordinance granting or renewing any grant to construct and operate a public utility, prescribe the manner in which the streets and public grounds shall be used and occupied. (2) The commission may by ordinance grant to any individual, company, or c…

The commission shall have the power to provide by ordinance for assessing against the abutting property the cost of removing from the sidewalks all accumulation of snow and ice and for assessing against the property the cost of cutting and removing therefrom nuisance weeds and ru…

(1) The head of the department of law must be an attorney who has been admitted to practice in the state of Montana and must be known as the city attorney. (2) The department head is the legal adviser of and attorney and counsel for the municipality and for all the officers and d…

(1) In each municipality having a commission-manager form of government, a city judge must be elected every 4 years in a nonpartisan election held in conjunction with the general municipal election. The city judge shall hold office for a term of 4 years. (2) The qualifications to…

(1) Subject to the supervision and control of the city manager in all matters, the director of public welfare shall manage all charitable, correctional, and reformatory institutions and agencies belonging to the municipality and the use of all recreational facilities of the munic…

(1) Subject to the supervision and control of the city manager in all matters, the director of public safety is the executive head of the division of police and fire. The director is also the chief administrative authority in all matters affecting the inspection and regulation of…

(1) The chief of police has exclusive control of the stationing and transfer of all patrol officers and other officers and employees constituting the police force, under rules that the director of public safety may prescribe. The police force must be composed of a chief of police…

(1) The fire chief shall have exclusive control of the stationing and transfer of all firefighters and other officers and employees constituting the fire force, under such rules as the director of public safety may prescribe. The fire force shall be composed of a chief and such o…

The commission-presiding officer form consists of an elected commission, which may also be referred to as the council, and a commission presiding officer, who may also be referred to as mayor or as president, elected by the members of the commission from their own number and serv…

The plan of government submitted to the qualified electors shall determine the powers of the local government unit by authorizing: (1) general government powers; or (2) self-government powers.

The commission presiding officer: (1) must be recognized as the head of the local government unit, must have the power to vote as other members of the commission, and must be the chief executive officer of the local government; (2) shall enforce laws, ordinances, and resolutions;…

The plan of government submitted to the qualified electors shall further define the structural characteristics of the form by including one item from each of the choices listed in 7-3-512 through 7-3-517.

The commission shall be: (1) elected at large; (2) elected by districts in which candidates must reside and which are apportioned by population; (3) elected at large and nominated by a plan of nomination that may not preclude the possibility of the majority of the electors nomina…

Local government elections shall be conducted on a: (1) partisan basis; or (2) nonpartisan basis.

The commission presiding officer: (1) shall appoint one or more administrative assistants to assist in the supervision and operation of the local government, and the administrative assistants are answerable solely to the presiding officer; or (2) may appoint one or more administr…

Commission members shall be elected for: (1) concurrent terms of office; or (2) overlapping terms of office.

The size of the commission, which shall be a number not less than five, shall be established when the form is adopted by the voters, and: (1) community councils of at least three members shall be elected within each district to advise the commissioner from that district. Local go…

The term of office of elected officials may not exceed 4 years and shall be established when the form is adopted by the voters.

(1) The town meeting form consists of an assembly of the qualified electors of a town, known as a "town meeting", an elected town presiding officer, who must be a qualified elector, and an optional elected town meeting moderator. (2) The town meeting form may be adopted only by i…

The plan of government submitted to the qualified electors shall determine the powers of the local government unit by authorizing: (1) general government powers; or (2) self-government powers.

(1) Towns adopting this form shall convene an annual town meeting on the first Tuesday of March. Special town meetings may be called by the town presiding officer or upon petition of 10% of the qualified electors of the town, but not by less than 10 qualified electors. (2) All qu…

An agenda of the town meeting and a list of all elective and appointive offices to be filled must be prepared by the town presiding officer, who shall publish the notice as provided in 7-1-4127. Upon written petition of at least 10% of the qualified electors of the town but not l…

The first agenda of the first town meeting following the adoption of this form must be established by the local study commission. At that town meeting the presiding officer of the local study commission shall preside over the election of the presiding officer of the town, after w…

(1) The town meeting shall elect a town presiding officer for a term of not less than 1 year or more than 2 years. An unexpired term of a town presiding officer must be filled at the next annual or special town meeting. (2) The town presiding officer is the chief executive office…

Permanent committees to advise the town presiding officer or the town meeting may be established and dissolved by ordinance. The town presiding officer may establish temporary committees to advise the presiding officer.

The plan of government submitted to the qualified electors shall further define the structural characteristics of the form by including one item from each of the choices listed in 7-3-612 and 7-3-613.

The town meeting shall: (1) elect a town meeting moderator for a term of 1 year, who is the presiding officer of all annual and special town meetings but who does not have other governmental powers; or (2) designate the town presiding officer as presiding officer of all annual an…

(1) The town presiding officer: (a) shall appoint an administrative assistant to assist in the supervision and operation of the affairs of the town; or (b) may appoint an administrative assistant to assist in the supervision and operation of the affairs of the town. (2) The admin…

(1) The purpose of this part is to comply with Article XI, section 5(1), of the Montana constitution, which provides: "The legislature shall provide procedures permitting a local government unit or combination of units to frame, adopt, amend, revise, or abandon a self-government …

A charter form of government shall possess self-government powers.

(1) Charter form of government shall be established by a charter which is a written document defining the powers, structures, privileges, rights, and duties of the unit of local government and limitations thereon. (2) The enumeration of powers in a charter shall not be construed …

(1) The charter shall provide for an elected legislative body (called a commission or council) or shall provide for a legislative body comprised of all qualified electors. For elected legislative bodies, the charter shall specify the number of members thereof, their term of offic…

(1) The charter must specify which official of the local government will be the chief administrative and executive officer, the method of the officer's selection, the term of office (except that it may be at the pleasure of the selecting authority if the officer is not elected by…

The charter shall specify the date on which the charter will take effect, except that provisions may be made for temporary partial effectiveness consistent with an orderly transition of government.

(1) The charter may establish other legislative, administrative, and organizational structures. (2) The charter may contain prohibitions on the exercise of power by a unit of local government. (3) The charter may include such provisions as may be necessary to permit an orderly tr…