When municipal boundaries change, the ordinance must clearly describe the territory, and the municipality must file and send updated boundary materials to the specified courts and state offices within the stated time limits.
§178. Ordinance defining territory excluded or included and description of boundary as changed required to be filed with clerk of district court A. Where the boundaries of a municipality have been enlarged or contracted, the ordinance with reference thereto must define with certainty and precision the territory which is proposed to be included in or excluded from the corporate limits, as the case may be. The ordinance need not contain a description of the entire boundary of the municipality as changed, but, within ten days after the adoption of the ordinance, a description of the entire boundary of the municipality as changed shall be filed by the clerk of the municipality with the clerk of the district court of the parish in which the municipality is located. Such description so filed shall become the official boundary of the municipality on the effective date of the ordinance. B. Whenever the boundaries of the city of Shreveport have been enlarged or contracted, a description of the entire boundary of the municipality as changed shall be filed as provided for in Subsection A of this Section with the clerk of the district court of Caddo Parish, and the description filed in Caddo Parish shall become the official boundary of the city on the effective date of the ordinance. Whenever any of the territory included or excluded by a change in the boundaries of the city of Shreveport is located in Bossier Parish, the description shall also be filed with the clerk of the district court of Bossier Parish. C. Each municipal governing authority shall furnish, by electronic medium, the registrar of voters and the secretary of state a copy of the municipal ordinance enlarging or contracting the boundaries of the municipality within fifteen days after adoption of such ordinance, as well as a map and written description of the entire boundary of the municipality as changed. If the municipal governing authority does not have the ability to submit the information required by this Subsection by electronic medium, the governing authority shall submit the information by certified mail or commercial courier. D. As used in this Section, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them by this Subsection: (1) "Commercial courier" means any foreign or domestic business entity having as its primary purpose the delivery of letters and parcels of any type which acquires a signed receipt from the addressee, or the addressee's agent, of the letter or parcel upon completion of delivery and has no direct or indirect interest in the outcome of the matter to which the letter or parcel concerns. (2) "Electronic medium" means by electronic mail or facsimile. Amended by Acts 1964, No. 499, §1; Acts 1978, No. 304, §1; Acts 1985, No. 411, §1; Acts 2016, No. 294, §1, eff. May 31, 2016.