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TOWNSHIP QUESTION 1 (Baytown Twp)
Recommendation for Town Board to Incorporate Baytown as a City?
Would you recommend the Baytown Township Board of Supervisors pass a resolution to file a petition under Minn. Stat. § 414.02 to incorporate Baytown as a city?
If you vote “yes” on this ballot question, that means you recommend that the Town Board of Supervisors file a petition to incorporate as a city. Note, however, that the results of the vote are not binding on the Town Board.
As a metropolitan area town under Minnesota Statutes Chapter 368, Baytown Township possesses many of the same powers and duties as a city. For instance, the town board passes ordinances that are unique to the needs of the community and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its residents, and the Township employs a town clerk and contracts for planning, engineering, finance, and legal services. If Baytown Township is incorporated as a city, it would result in certain changes to the administration of Baytown, including but not limited to, whether to contract for additional law enforcement coverage and prosecution services. Incorporating as a city would also result in a different statutory process for annexation of land within the township. For example, Minn. Stat. §§ 414.031 and 414.033 govern the annexation of “unincorporated” land in a town. While annexation petitions for unincorporated land typically originate from the property owner, § 414.031, subd. 1(a) authorizes a city to annex by resolution unincorporated land that abuts the city. Minn. Stat. §§ 414.06 and 414.061 govern the detachment and annexation of incorporated land in a city and do not allow an adjoining city to pass a resolution to detach and annex land from another city.
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