Section 1. Definitions 

• (A) “Date the dissolution is effective” means the date the election result is certified under Section 7 or Section 8 of this Act, or the date the attorney general files a certified copy of a court’s order of dissolution with the secretary of state, auditor of state, and county recorder, as applicable.  
• (B) “Period when a dissolution is in question” means the period beginning on the date a petition under Section 7 of this Act is presented, the date an unsatisfactory finding under Section 8 of this Act is provided to a village, or the date a legal action is filed by the attorney general, and ending the date the result of the election under Section 7 or Section 8 of this Act is certified or the decision of the court of common pleas is declared.  
• (C) “Transition period” means the period beginning on the date the dissolution is effective and ending on the date the transition supervisory board determines all outstanding debts, obligations, and liabilities of the dissolved village have been resolved, all real and personal property of the dissolved village has been transferred or otherwise disposed of, and all utility property and utility services have been transferred.  
• (D) “Utility services” means electric, water, sewer, and other similar utilities.  

Section 2. Publication Rates and Requirements 

• (A) For the publication of advertisements, notices, and proclamations required to be published by a public officer of a county, municipal corporation, township, school, or other political subdivision, publishers of newspapers shall establish a government rate. The government rate shall not exceed the lowest classified advertising rate and lowest insert rate paid by other advertisers.  
• (B) Legal advertising appearing in print shall be set up in a compact form, without unnecessary spaces, blanks, or headlines, and printed in not smaller than six-point type. The type used must be of such proportions that the body of the capital letter M is no wider than it is high and all other letters and characters are in proportion.  
• (C) All legal advertisements, notices, and proclamations shall be printed in a newspaper of general circulation and shall be posted by the publisher of the newspaper on the newspaper’s internet web site, if the newspaper has one. A publisher of a newspaper shall establish a government rate, which shall not exceed the lowest classified advertising rate and lowest insert rate paid by other advertisers, for posting legal advertisements, notices, and proclamations that are required by law to be published in a newspaper of general circulation on the newspaper’s internet web site.  
• (D) Whenever a notice or advertisement is required by statute or an administrative rule to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, or posted by the publisher of the newspaper on the newspaper’s internet web site, the notice or advertisement also shall be posted on the official public notice web site established under Section 5 of this Act, by the publisher of the newspaper.  

Section 3. Abbreviated Second Publication 

• (A) If a statute or administrative rule requires a state agency or a political subdivision to publish a notice or advertisement two or more times in a newspaper of general circulation, the first publication of the notice or advertisement shall be made in its entirety in a newspaper of general circulation, but the second publication otherwise required may be made in abbreviated form in a newspaper of general circulation and on the newspaper’s internet web site, if the newspaper has one. The state agency or political subdivision may eliminate any further newspaper publications required, provided that the second, abbreviated notice or advertisement meets all of the following requirements:  
  1. It is published in the newspaper of general circulation in which the first publication of the notice or advertisement was made;  
  2. It is posted by the publisher of the newspaper on the official public notice website established under Section 4 of this Act;  
  3. It includes a title, followed by a summary paragraph or statement that clearly describes the specific purpose of the notice or advertisement; and  
  4. It includes a statement that the notice or advertisement is posted in its entirety on the:  
     • (a) Official public notice web site;  
     • (b) State agency internet website; or  
     • (c) Political subdivision website.  
• (B) It includes the internet address of the official public notice web site and the name, address, telephone number, and electronic mail address of the state agency, political subdivision, or other party responsible for publication of the notice or advertisement. 
• (C) A notice or advertisement published under this section on an internet web site shall be published in its entirety in accordance with the statute or administrative rule that requires the publication. 
• (D) If the official public notice web site established under Section 4 of this Act is not operational, the state agency or political subdivision shall not publish a notice or advertisement under this section, but instead shall comply with the original publication requirements of the applicable statute or administrative rule.  

Section 4. {Official Public Notice Web Site 

• (A) A [State] trade association that represents the majority of newspapers of general circulation shall operate and maintain the official public notice web site.  
• (B) In all cases in which a notice or advertisement is required by statute or an administrative rule to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, the notice or advertisement also shall be posted on the official public notice web site by the publisher of the newspaper.  
• (C) The operator of the official public notice web site shall:  
  1. Use a domain name for the web site that will be easily recognizable and remembered by and understandable to users of the web site;  
  2. Maintain the web site on the internet so that it is fully accessible to and searchable by members of the public at all times, other than during maintenance or acts of God outside the operator’s control;  
  3. Not charge a fee to a person that accesses the web site to view notices or advertisements or to perform searches of the web site, provided that the operator may charge a fee for enhanced search and customized content delivery features;  
  4. Ensure that notices and advertisements continue to be displayed on the web site for not less than the length of time required by the relevant provision of the statute or rule that requires the notice or advertisement;  
  5. Maintain an archive of notices and advertisements that no longer are displayed on the web site;  
  6. Enable notices and advertisements, both those currently displayed and those archived, to be accessed by key word, by party name, by case number, by county, and by other useful identifiers;  
  7. Maintain adequate systemic security and backup features, and develop and maintain a contingency plan for coping with and recovering from power outages, systemic failures, and other unforeseeable difficulties;  
  8. Provide access to the web site to the publisher of any [State] newspaper that qualifies under applicable law to publish notices and advertisements, for the posting of notices and advertisements at no cost, or for a reasonable, uniform fee for the service; and  
  9. Provide, if requested, a regularly scheduled feed or similar data transfer to the department of administrative services of notices and advertisements posted on the web site, provided that the operator of the web site shall not be required to provide the feed or transfer more often than once every business day.  
• (D) An error in a notice or advertisement posted on the official public notice web site, or a temporary web site outage or service interruption preventing the posting or display of a notice or advertisement on that web site, does not constitute a defect in making legal publication of the notice or advertisement, and publication requirements shall be considered met if the notice or advertisement published in the newspaper is correct.  
• (E) The official public notice web site shall not contain any political publications or political advertising.  
• (F) The publisher of a newspaper of general circulation that maintains a web site shall include on its web site a link to the official public notice web site.  

Section 5. Village Dissolution 

The process for dissolving a village, whether the dissolution is determined under this Act or applicable law, shall be conducted in accordance with this Act.  

Section 6. Voluntary Village Dissolution 

• (A) Villages may voluntarily dissolve upon the petition to the legislative authority of the village, or, in the alternative, to the board of elections of the county in which the largest portion of the population of the village resides as provided in subsection (B) of this section, of at least thirty percent of the electors thereof, to be determined by the number voting at the last regular municipal election, and by an affirmative vote of a majority of the electors at the next general election held in an even-numbered year occurring after the period ending ninety days after the filing of the petition with the legislative authority. If the result of the election is in favor of the surrender, the village clerk or, in the alternative, the board of elections shall certify the result to the secretary of state, the auditor of state, and the county recorder, who shall record it in their respective offices.  
• (B) If the legislative authority of a village fails to act upon the petition within thirty days after receipt of the petition, the electors may present the petition to the board of elections to determine the validity and sufficiency of the signatures. The petition shall be filed with the board of elections of the county in which the largest portion of the population of the village resides. A petition filed under this division is only valid if filed during an even-numbered year on or after the first day of July, and at least ninety days before the next general election. If the petition is sufficient, the board of elections shall submit the question “Shall the village of [NAME] surrender its corporate powers?” for the approval or rejection of the electors of the village at the next general election held in an even-numbered year occurring after the period ending ninety days after the filing of the petition with the board. If the result of the election is in favor of the surrender, the board of elections shall certify the results to the secretary of state, the auditor of state, and the county recorder, who shall record it in their respective offices.   
• (C) In addition to filing the petition with the board of elections as provided in subsection (B) of this section, a copy of the petition shall be filed with the board of township trustees of each township affected by the surrender.  

Section 7. County-Initiated Village Dissolution Evaluation 

• (A) Not later than the last day of the year that is immediately after the year the results of a federal decennial census are released, the county auditor, county treasurer, and one member of the board of county commissioners selected by the board of county commissioners, jointly shall evaluate each village located within the county to determine if, over the approximate ten-year period beginning the day the results of the preceding federal decennial census were released and ending the day the most recent federal decennial census results were released, both of the following are true:  
  1. The village itself provided, the village contracted with a private nongovernmental entity to provide, or the village contracted with a regional council of governments that includes three or more political subdivisions at least two of which are municipal corporations to provide, at least five of the following services:  
     • (a) Police protection;  
     • (b) Fire-fighting services;  
     • (c) Garbage collection;  
     • (d) Water service;  
     • (e) Sewer service;  
     • (f) Emergency medical services;  
     • (g) Road maintenance;  
     • (h) Park services or other recreation services;  
     • (i) Human services; and/or  
     • (j) A public library established and operated solely by the village.  
  2. At each election at which an elected village position was voted upon, at least one candidate appeared on the ballot for each elected village position. If a village is located in more than one county, the village shall be evaluated only by the county officials of the county wherein the largest portion of the population of the village resides.  
• (B) Before beginning the evaluation, the county officials shall request, in writing, information from each village to assist the officials in making their determination. The request shall indicate the applicable evaluation period. Each village shall submit the information, in the manner requested by the county officials, not later than thirty days after receiving the request. The village shall include information about the services provided over the evaluation period, the manner by which such services were provided, a copy of the final appropriation budget or budgets applicable to the evaluation period, information on candidates on the ballot for village elected offices during the evaluation period, any documentation regarding the matters in subsection (A) of this section during the evaluation period, and any other information specifically requested by the county officials. After receiving the information, if necessary, the county officials may request additional information, which the village shall provide not later than ten days after receiving the request. The county officials shall base their finding on the information provided from the village.  
• (C) The county officials shall notify the legislative authority of the village of the county officials’ finding not later than the last day of the year that is immediately after the year the results of a federal decennial census are released.  
• (D) If the county officials find a village failed to provide services or field candidates as specified in subsection (A) of this section, the county officials shall file the finding with the board of elections of the county in which the largest portion of the population of the village resides. The board of elections shall submit the question “Shall the village of __________ surrender its corporate powers?” for the approval or rejection of the electors of the village at the next general election, in any year, occurring after the period ending ninety days after the filing of the finding with the board. If the result of the election is in favor of the surrender, the board of elections shall certify the results to the secretary of state, the auditor of state, and the county recorder, who shall record it in their respective offices.  
• (E) The procedure in this section is in addition to the voluntary dissolution procedure under Section 7 of this Act.  

Section 8. Public Notice of Property Forfeiture.  

• (A) After the entry of a forfeiture order, the prosecutor shall attempt to identify any person with an interest in the property subject to forfeiture by searching appropriate public records and making reasonably diligent inquiries. The prosecutor shall give notice of the forfeiture and proposed disposal of the forfeited property to any person known to have an interest in the property. The prosecutor also shall publish notice of the forfeiture and proposed disposal of the forfeited property once each week for two consecutive weeks using at least one of the following methods:  
  1. In the print or digital edition of a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the property was seized;  
  2. On the official public notice web site established under Section 5 of this Act;  
  3. On the web site and social media account of the county.  
• (B) For civil forfeiture actions, the prosecutor shall cause a similar notice to be published once each week for the two consecutive weeks immediately after the filing of the complaint using at least one of the following methods:  
  1. In the print or digital edition of a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the property is located;  
  2. On the official public notice web site established under Section 5 of this Act  
  3. On the web site and social media account of the county.  
• (C) The published notice shall contain the date and location of the seizure of the property and an itemized list of the property seized that is sought to be forfeited in the complaint.  

Section 9. Notice for Law Enforcement Custody of Property.  

A law enforcement agency with custody of property to be disposed of shall make a reasonable effort to locate persons entitled to possession of the property, to notify them of when and where it may be claimed, and to return the property to them at the earliest possible time. In the absence of evidence identifying persons entitled to possession, it is sufficient notice to advertise using at least one of the following methods:  

1. In the print or digital edition of a newspaper of general circulation in the county;  
2. On the official public notice web site established under Section 5 of this Act  
3. On the web site and social media account of the county.  

The notices shall briefly describe the nature of the property in custody and invite persons to view and establish their right to it.