Town of Greenfield v. City of Milwaukee
| Decision Date | 03 April 1956 |
| Citation | 272 Wis. 610,76 N.W.2d 320 |
| Parties | TOWN OF GREENFIELD, a body corporate, Respondent, v. CITY OF MILWAUKEE, a municipal corporation, Appellant. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
Walter J. Mattison, City Atty., Richard F. Maruszewski, Asst. City Atty., John F. Cook, Asst. City Atty., Milwaukee, for appellant.
Paul Gauer, Milwaukee, Robert J. Buer, Samuel P. Murray, Milwaukee, of counsel, for respondent.
There is no dispute in the facts. The petition for annexation was signed by the owners of all the taxable property within the area according to the last tax roll. There were no signatures of electors on the petition, although at the time it was circulated and filed two electors, Rudolph and Laura Brunn, tenants of an owner who signed, resided within the area. When the petition was circulated said electors were intending to move out of the territory. The petition was filed with the city clerk on September 7, 1954 and on that same date an ordinance of annexation was introduced before the common council and the petition referred to committee. Thereafter the proposed ordinance was published as required by law and was adopted by the council on November 16, 1954.
The trial court held that the petition was invalid when it was filed and the common council acquired no jurisdiction to act upon it. We agree.
The power granted by the legislature to municipalities to extend their boundaries must be exercised in strict conformity with the statute conferring it. Town of Madison v. City of Madison, 1955, 269 Wis. 609, 70 N.W.2d 249.
Sec. 62.07(1), Stats. prescribes that territory adjacent to a city may be annexed thereto upon presentation to the council of a petition 'signed by a majority of the electors in such adjacent territory and by the owners of one-half of the real estate within the limits of the territory proposed to be annexed' or 'if no electors reside in the said adjacent territory signed by the owners of one-half of taxable property therein according to the last tax roll' or 'by a majority of the electors and the owners of one-half of the real estate in assessed value.' It also provides that an ordinance annexing said territory shall be introduced at a meeting of the council after the filing of the petition; that it be published once each week for four successive weeks and thereafter be adopted by two-thirds of all the members of the council.
Here the electors in question, the Brunns, resided in the area at the time the petition was circulated; they resided there on September 7, 1954 when the petition was filed, the ordinance introduced and the petition referred to committee. They moved from the territory some time late in October and were not within the area on November 16, 1954 when the ordinance was adopted.
It is appellant's position that if the...
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Town of Windsor v. Village of DeForest
...provision. Town of Madison v. City of Madison, 269 Wis. 609, 615, 70 N.W.2d 249, 252 (1955); Town of Greenfield v. City of Milwaukee, 272 Wis. 610, 611-12, 76 N.W.2d 320, 321 (1956) ("The power granted by the legislature to municipalities to extend their boundaries must be exercised in stri......
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...was filed this court should find that the peninsula was in fact contiguous to the LLL properties. See Town of Greenfield v. City of Milwaukee, 272 Wis. 610, 613, 76 N.W.2d 320 (1956) ("validity of the petition must be determined as of the date it is filed"). In so arguing, however, the City......
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Town of Blooming Grove v. City of Madison
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Town of Wautoma v. City of Wautoma, 97-0294
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