Several deadlines lie ahead in boundary agreement
By Gail Peckler-Dziki
Correspondent
The Town of Salem and the Village of Silver Lake are on a tight timeline with the boundary agreement that is being hammered out between the two.
Both the town and village passed the authorizing resolution for the cooperative boundary agreement in early May and met the deadline of May 5 to inform neighboring municipalities, county clerk, school districts and county zoning within five miles of the borders of both municipalities of the authorizing resolution.
The draft of the cooperative plan will be sent to the Department of Administration for tweaking and review by June 1 by Salem Town Administrator Pat Casey.
A class-three combined public hearing notice will be published in the newspaper on June 19, 26 and July 3; each of the three weeks prior to the joint public hearing scheduled for July 6.
This hearing is scheduled 60 days from the authorizing resolutions and 60 days prior to submission to the DOA.
After the joint public hearing, there is a 20-day period before either municipality can approve the plan on July 27.
There are two measures residents of both municipalities can take to become more involved in that process. One is for a three-fourths majority vote of the board to approve the agreement.
The other is for a non-binding advisory referendum on the issue.
Residents of either municipality can file a petition for either if 10 percent of the number of electors that voted in the last gubernatorial election signs it.
Aug. 26 is the deadline for a three-fourths board majority initiative and Aug. 30 is the deadline for referendum submission for the November 8 presidential election.
The town and village boards have the authority, given in the state statutes, to approve the plan and create the new village.
The town and village must pass 2017 budgets and tax levies on Nov. 14. The maximum due date for DOA approval of the cooperative plan. Casey said he hopes to have DOA approval prior to Dec. 1, the day nomination paper circulation for the April election for combined village elected positions begins.
Jan. 3 is the deadline for the April election nomination papers to be submitted to the village clerk.
If all goes well, the town and village would combine to become one municipality on Feb. 14 and there would be a primary on Feb. 21 if necessary.
In 2017, combined village elections would take place, with three trustees and a village president on the ballot. April 17 would be the first board meeting of the combined village.
At that meeting, the new board would need to adopt an amended charter ordinance to establish the name of the combined village and appoint boards and commissions.