Title 40, Municipal Government

A change in the form of organization of a municipality shall not change its legal identity as a municipal corporation. All ordinances and resolutions in force therein at the date of such change shall continue in full force and effect until repealed or amended.

All bonds, contracts, and conveyances of a municipality, except as otherwise provided, shall be signed by the executive officer and countersigned by the auditor or clerk, as the case may be.

Lands, houses, moneys, claims receivable, and property and assets of every kind and description belonging to a municipality shall be exempt from taxation and from sale on execution.

No person may remove a building from any lot or tract of land in any municipality, unless it is assessed as personalty or exempt from taxation, until after the taxes and special assessments then due have been paid, nor until the owner shall have paid into the sinking fund for the…

The official newspaper as chosen by the electors of the county shall be the official newspaper of the municipality in which it is published, and such official notices and legal publications as the municipality is required to publish by law shall be published therein. In municipal…

Beginning with the 1996 biennial municipal elections, and every four years thereafter, all cities in North Dakota, regardless of their form of government, must put on the ballot the question of whether the minutes of its governing body shall be published in its official newspaper…

After any ordinance, notice, resolution, or other proceeding has been published, a copy of the publication, together with the affidavit of publication stating the length of time it has been published, shall be filed with the city auditor. Such affidavit shall be conclusive eviden…

Whenever any ordinance, notice, or other instrument is required by law to be published in a city or park district in which no official newspaper is published, such publication may be made or such notice given by publication of such ordinance, notice, or other instrument in the of…

No account or claim against a municipality to be paid from any fund, including a municipal utilities fund, shall be allowed by the governing body thereof until a full itemized statement in writing has been filed with the governing body or unless otherwise authorized by the govern…

No account or claim shall be paid by a municipality unless the same has been audited and allowed by the governing body thereof. Approval by the governing body shall be recorded in the record of its proceedings and this shall be sufficient to indicate approval without requiring a …

The officers of a municipality which consists of territory located in more than one county may maintain an office for the performance of their duties in any portion of the municipality. All official proceedings shall be headed with the name of the municipality and of each county …

In any municipality which contains territory located in more than one county, an assessor shall be elected or appointed in accordance with the law applicable to such form of municipality for that portion of the municipality situated in each county. Such assessor must be a residen…

The auditor of a municipality embracing territory in more than one county shall transmit the appropriate assessment books, with a certified copy of the minutes showing the proceedings of the board of equalization, to the county auditor of each county in which the municipality is …

If a municipality contains territory located in more than one county, the county treasurer of each county in which such municipality is located shall perform the same duties in relation to all property returned as assessed by the municipality in the county of which the treasurer …

The holding of elections, organization of the board of elections, the election and term of office of the original officers, and the powers and duties of officers of a city embracing territory in more than one county shall be governed by the provisions of this title relating to ci…

All cities in North Dakota shall be governed by the provisions of this title.

No city or other political subdivision within the state shall adopt daylight saving time or any other seasonal standard of time which varies from the time in effect in such city or political subdivision during the greater portion of the year. All ordinances, resolutions, or other…

The executive officer of a city and a sixty percent majority of the members-elect of a city's governing body at a regular meeting of such body may remove any member of an appointive agency, board, or commission which has spending, borrowing, or eminent domain powers and acts in a…

All immunity of the state from the provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act [Act July 2, 1890, c.647; 26 Stat. 209; 15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.] is hereby extended to any city or city governing body acting within the scope of the grants of authority contained in sections 40-05-01, 40-05-0…

1. Cities incorporated under the statutes of North Dakota are hereby authorized upon motion of the city governing body to organize and participate in an organization of city governments. 2. The organization or organizations authorized hereunder must be organized pursuant to chapt…

Notwithstanding section 39-10-34 or any other provision of law, a city, by resolution, may permit permanent, on-duty or off-duty, full-time firefighters employed by the city or volunteers serving the city to solicit charitable contributions from motorists under the following cond…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a city may not adopt or enforce an ordinance, resolution, or policy that prohibits or impedes, or has the effect of prohibiting or impeding, the connection or reconnection of an electric, natural gas, propane, or other energy utility se…

Any contiguous territory in this state, not exceeding four square miles [1036.00 hectares] in area, not already included within the corporate limits of any incorporated municipality, may become incorporated as a city whether such territory is located in one or more counties, unde…

Prior to the commencement of any proceedings to incorporate territory as a municipality, the persons intending to submit the petition for incorporation shall cause a census of the resident population of the territory to be taken not more than sixty days previous to the time when …

The persons intending to make application for the incorporation of a municipality as provided in this chapter shall cause to be made an accurate survey and map of the territory intended to be embraced within the limits thereof. The survey shall be made by a practical surveyor and…

The survey, map, and census required under the provisions of this chapter, when completed and verified, shall be left for a period of not less than thirty days at some convenient place within the territory described therein for examination by those having any interest in the appl…

A petition for the incorporation of a municipality under this chapter shall be addressed to the board of county commissioners of the county in which the proposed municipality is located and if such municipality is located in more than one county, to the board of county commission…

Before hearing the petition, the board of county commissioners shall require proof, either by affidavit or by oral examination of witnesses before it, that notice as required by section 40-02-05 was given and that the survey, map, and census were subject to examination in the man…

Any final action taken by a board of county commissioners on a petition for incorporation may be appealed to the district court in accordance with the procedure provided in section 28-34-01. The review on appeal extends only to the determination of whether the board of county com…

The board of county commissioners to which a petition is submitted under this chapter shall give notice of the election on the question whether or not the municipality described in the petition shall be organized. The notice shall be published in one issue of a newspaper or newsp…

At the election called to vote on the question of incorporation of a municipality under this chapter, the polls shall be opened at nine a.m. on the day specified in the notice and shall be kept open until seven p.m. At such election, the voters first shall proceed to the election…

The ballots to be used at an election to pass upon the question of the organization of a municipality under the provisions of this chapter shall be in substantially the following form: Shall ______________ (city under the council form of government, or city under the commission s…

The election officials acting in each place in which votes are cast in an election held under this chapter shall return to the board of county commissioners which ordered the election a verified statement of the results of the election showing the number of votes cast for and aga…

If a majority of the votes cast on the question at the election provided for in this chapter favored incorporation as a city, the board of county commissioners that ordered the election shall, if the territory has been incorporated as a city under the council form of government, …

An order of incorporation of a city under the council form of government, under the provisions of this chapter, as made by the board of county commissioners to which the petition for incorporation is addressed, shall be conclusive evidence of the incorporation of the territory de…

If the municipality organized under the provisions of this chapter is a city under the commission system of government, the board of county commissioners shall make returns to the secretary of state, and a patent shall be issued by the governor in accordance with the applicable p…

The territory embraced within the boundaries of a municipality organized under this chapter shall be divided by the board of county commissioners which made the order of incorporation into election precincts. If the municipality is situated in more than one county, there shall be…

If a municipality is organized under the provisions of this chapter from territory which has been a part of a civil township, any property owned, and any debts owed, by the township prior to the separation shall be divided between the municipality and the township in the proporti…

If the officers of a township and of a municipality which has been organized from territory situated therein cannot agree upon the valuation of any real estate, or of any indivisible property which is held jointly, or upon the just apportionment of the joint indebtedness, the off…

Any city in this state having a population of not less than five hundred inhabitants may become incorporated as a city under the commission system of government as provided in this section. If one-tenth of the qualified electors of the municipality, based upon the votes cast for …

Notice of an election to be held under this chapter shall be given by the executive officer of the city by publication in the official newspaper of the city as provided in section 40-01-09 for at least twenty days.

The ballots to be used at such election shall be in substantially the following form: Shall the city of ________________ (naming the city) become organized as a city under the commission system of government? Yes ☐ No ☐

The officials of an election held under the provisions of this chapter shall make a return of such election to the governing body of the city and such governing body shall canvass such returns and cause the result of the canvass to be entered upon the records of the city. If a ma…

Upon the certification of the matters described in section 40-04-04, the government shall issue letters patent, under the great seal of the state, reciting the facts, defining the boundaries of the city, and constituting the city a body corporate and politic by the name of the ci…

A patent issued by the governor under the provisions of this chapter shall be recorded in the office of the secretary of state. Any patent so issued and recorded and the record thereof, or a certified copy thereof, shall be conclusive evidence in all courts and places of the due …

Within twenty days after the issuance of a patent incorporating any city under the provisions of this chapter, the executive officer of the city voting such incorporation shall call a special election for the purpose of electing the first board of city commissioners. The election…