(1) Any territory which is outside the limits of any incorporated city or rural or suburban fire protection district and is adjacent to the boundary of an existing rural or suburban fire protection district may be annexed to such district in the manner hereinafter provided.
(2) The proceedings for the annexation, referred to in subsection
(1) of this section, may be initiated by either (a) the presentation to the county clerk of a petition signed by sixty percent or more of the electors who are owners of any interest in real or personal property assessed for taxation in the territory to be annexed and who are residing within the boundaries of such territory stating the desires and purposes of such petitioners; or (b) the presentation to the county clerk of a petition signed by all of the nonresident owners of any interest in real or personal property assessed for taxation in the territory to be annexed stating the desires and purposes of such petitioners, including the statement that each nonresident petitioner acknowledges and accepts that he or she will not be a qualified elector of the district until he or she becomes a resident of the district. The petition shall contain a description of the boundaries of the territory proposed to be annexed. It shall be accompanied by a map or plat and a deposit for publication costs.
(3) The county clerk shall consult the tax schedules in the office of the county assessor and determine and certify whether or not such petition complies with the requirements of subsection
(2) of this section and that the persons signing the same appear to reside at the addresses indicated by such petition. Thereafter, the county clerk shall forward such petition, map or plat, and certificate to the board of directors of the district concerned.
(4) Within thirty days after receiving the petition, map or plat, and certificate of the county clerk, in accordance with subsection
(3) of this section, from the county clerk, such board of directors shall transmit the same to the proper county board, accompanied by a report in writing approving or disapproving the proposal contained in said petition, or approving such proposal in part and disapproving it in part.
(5) If the report of the board of directors, referred to in subsection
(4) of this section, disapproves the proposal, the petition shall be rejected. If the report is favorable to such proposal, either in whole or in part, the county board shall promptly designate a time and place for a hearing upon the petition and shall give notice thereof in the manner prescribed by section 35-504. At such hearing, any person owning taxable property or residing within the boundaries of the existing district or the territory to be annexed, shall have the opportunity to be heard respecting the proposed annexation.
(6) The county board shall, at or shortly after the hearing referred to in subsection
(5) of this section, determine whether such territory should be annexed to the existing district and shall fix the boundaries of the territory to be annexed. The determination of the county board shall be set forth in a written order which shall describe the boundaries determined upon and shall be filed in the office of the county clerk; PROVIDED, that no area shall be annexed to an existing rural or suburban fire protection district contrary to the recommendation of the board of directors of such existing district.
