Bristol residents got an update on the effort to have an annexation referendum at a public information meeting Wednesday at the municipal building.
Town/village attorney William White also gave the about 50 audience members a review of the history of the incorporation effort and answered audience questions.
The village has published its intent to ask for an annexation referendum. Between April 2 and 16 the village can apply for a court hearing to set a referendum date. If approved, the election would come within 40 to 75 days from the hearing. That timing might put the referendum in June, White said.
A previous effort to get the referendum as part of the April 6 election failed when the court rejected Bristol’s petition due problems in the legal description.
The referendum would ask town residents if they would like to be annexed into the village. A simple majority of votes cast that day would decide the issue.
If the referendum passes, the village would then pass an ordinance completing the annexation. After that action, the village and town would again be one municipality.
“We suspect Pleasant Prairie would contest that,” White said of Bristol’s municipal neighbor to the east.
Bristol and Pleasant Prairie are currently engaged in talks about the proposed mass annexation, which Pleasant Prairie contends violates a 1997 contract between the municipalities that set out boundaries and included a stipulation that there would be no incorporation effort involving the eastern half of Bristol. White said Bristol contends the agreement has not been violated and that the present situation was not considered by the contract.
If the referendum fails, there would continue to be a separate town and village of Bristol.
Note: We will have some video tomorrow of White answering questions and addressing some other points. Please check back if you’re interested.
