5. a. Within 5 days following any election at which the voters of the municipality shall have adopted a charter, or an amendment thereof, or a form of government requiring the division of the municipality into a number of wards, the ward commissioners shall meet and, having first taken and subscribed, before an officer authorized to administer oaths, an oath to faithfully and impartially perform their duties, shall proceed to divide the municipality into wards as required by the charter or form of government and this act.

b. Within 30 days following the final adoption pursuant to law by the municipal governing body of any ordinance which by its terms requires that the municipality be divided into wards, or that the existing wards of the municipality be increased or decreased, or that the existing ward boundaries of the municipality be adjusted to allow for the annexation or deannexation of territory, the ward commissioners shall meet in the manner provided in subsection a. of this section and proceed to divide the municipality into wards, or to make such adjustments in ward boundaries, as shall be required to conform with the provisions of the ordinance and this act.

c. Within 3 months following the receipt by the Governor of each federal decennial census, the ward commissioners shall meet in the manner provided in subsection a. of this section and proceed to make such adjustments in ward boundaries as shall be necessary to conform them to the requirements of this act.

L.1981, c. 496, s. 5, eff. Jan. 12, 1982; 2021, c.369, s.5.