§ 3354. Changes in membership; inclusion of additional towns

(a) When a majority of voters of a town, present and voting at a meeting duly warned for that purpose, vote to apply to a consolidated water district for admission as a member of that district, the vote shall be certified by the clerk of the town to the clerk of the consolidated water district and to the Secretary of State. The vote and certification, if accepted by the consolidated district within two years after the date of the vote, shall be binding on the town without the subsequent vote in the town contemplated in subsections (b) and (c) of this section.

(b) When it appears to the board of water commissioners that the boundaries of a consolidated water district should be changed to include another town, they may insert an article fully describing the proposed change in the warning for a regular or special meeting of the district, which proposed change shall state the number of additional members to be added to the board of water commissioners if the change is approved.

(c) When a majority of the voters voting at such a meeting vote to include an additional town within the boundaries of the consolidated water district as a member of the district, the board of water commissioners shall notify the legislative body of the additional town of the vote. Upon notification, the legislative body of the additional town proposed to be included shall duly warn a meeting of the town, setting forth in the warning the vote of the consolidated water district and the proposed change in its boundaries. If a majority of the voters voting at the meeting of the additional town vote to be included within the district, the result of that vote and the result of the vote already taken by the consolidated water district shall be certified to the Secretary of State, who shall record the same in his or her office. A certificate of the record shall immediately be filed by the Secretary of State in the office of the clerk of the consolidated water district and of any additional town to be included as a member of the district, which filing shall be notice to all parties of the addition to the consolidated district.

(d) A consolidated water district so enlarged shall have all the powers and responsibilities given it by this chapter. Any vacancy on the board of water commissioners created as a result of the increase in the number of member towns shall be filled as provided in section 3343 of this title. The additional member town shall share in the expenses of the district in the proportion provided in this chapter for other member towns from the date the certificate of the Secretary of State is filed in the office of the clerk of the district and the office of the clerk of the additional town. (Added 1964, No. 20 (Sp. Sess.), § 14, eff. March 10, 1964; amended 1967, No. 209, § 6, eff. April 17, 1967; 2019, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 266.)