Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 7 > Chapter 4 > Part 41 - Municipal Officers in General

• Adequate municipal facilities: means municipally, publicly, or privately owned facilities that supply water, treat sewage, or dispose of solid waste for all or most properties within the boundaries of a municipality and that are operating in compliance with Title 75, chapters 5 and 6, including development plans approved by the department pursuant to 75-6-130. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Agricultural activity: means a condition or activity that provides an annual gross income of not less than $1,500 or that occurs on land classified as agricultural or forest land for taxation purposes. See Montana Code 76-2-902
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Artificial obstruction: means any obstruction that is not a natural obstruction and includes any dam, wall, riprap, embankment, levee, dike, pile, abutment, projection, revetment, excavation, channel rectification, bridge, conduit, culvert, building, refuse, automobile body, fill, or other analogous structure or matter in, along, across, or projecting into any flood plain or floodway that may impede, retard, or change the direction of the flow of water, either in itself or by catching or collecting debris carried by the water, or that is placed where the natural flow of the water would carry the same downstream to the damage or detriment of either life or property. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Board: means the board of environmental review. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Certificate of survey: means a drawing of a field survey prepared by a registered surveyor for the purpose of disclosing facts pertaining to boundary locations. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Certifying authority: means a municipality or a county water and/or sewer district that meets the eligibility requirements established by the department under 76-4-104(7). See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Channel: means the geographical area within either the natural or artificial banks of a watercourse or drainway. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Cluster development: means a subdivision with lots clustered in a group of five or more lots that is designed to concentrate building sites on smaller lots in order to reduce capital and maintenance costs for infrastructure through the use of concentrated public services and utilities, while allowing other lands to remain undeveloped. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Commercial production of farm products: means the growing, raising, or marketing of plants or animals by the owner, owner's agent, or lessee of land that provides an annual gross income of not less than $1,500 or that occurs on land that is classified as agricultural or forest land for taxation purposes. See Montana Code 76-2-902
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dedication: means the deliberate appropriation of land by an owner for any general and public use, reserving to the landowner no rights that are incompatible with the full exercise and enjoyment of the public use to which the property has been devoted. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the department of natural resources and conservation provided for in Title 2, chapter 15, part 33. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Department: means the department of environmental quality. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Designated flood plain: means a flood plain whose limits have been designated pursuant to part 2 of this chapter. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Designated floodway: means a floodway whose limits have been designated pursuant to part 2 of this chapter. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Division of land: means the segregation of one or more parcels of land from a larger tract held in single or undivided ownership by transferring or contracting to transfer title to a portion of the tract or properly filing a certificate of survey or subdivision plat establishing the identity of the segregated parcels pursuant to this chapter. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Drainway: means any depression 2 feet or more below the surrounding land serving to give direction to a current of water less than 9 months of the year and having a bed and well-defined banks. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Establish: means construct, place, insert, or excavate. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Examining land surveyor: means a registered land surveyor appointed by the governing body to review surveys and plats submitted for filing. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Extension of a public sewage system: means a sewerline that connects two or more sewer service lines to a sewer main. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Extension of a public water supply system: means a waterline that connects two or more water service lines to a water main. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Facilities: means public or private facilities for the supply of water or disposal of sewage or solid waste and any pipes, conduits, or other stationary method by which water, sewage, or solid wastes might be transported or distributed. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Final plat: means the final drawing of the subdivision and dedication required by this chapter to be prepared for filing for record with the county clerk and recorder and containing all elements and requirements set forth in this chapter and in regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Flood: means the water of any watercourse or drainway that is above the bank or outside the channel and banks of the watercourse or drainway. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Flood plain: means the area adjoining the watercourse or drainway that would be covered by the floodwater of a flood of 100-year frequency, except for sheetflood areas that receive less than 1 foot of water per occurrence and are considered "zone B" or a "shaded X zone" by the federal emergency management agency. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Floodway: means the channel of a watercourse or drainway and those portions of the flood plain adjoining the channel that are reasonably required to carry and discharge the floodwater of any watercourse or drainway. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: means a board of county commissioners or the governing authority of a city or town organized pursuant to law. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Immediate family: means a spouse, children by blood or adoption, and parents. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Independent reviewer: means a registered sanitarian or registered professional engineer that the department has certified to conduct a review under 76-4-104. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Individual water system: means any water system that serves one living unit or commercial unit and that is not a public water supply system as defined in 75-6-102. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Knowingly: means only a knowledge that the facts exist which bring the act or omission within the provisions of this code. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Minor subdivision: means a subdivision that creates five or fewer lots from a tract of record. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Mixing zone: has the meaning provided in 75-5-103. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Natural obstruction: means any rock, tree, gravel, or analogous natural matter that is an obstruction and has been located within the flood plain or floodway by a nonhuman cause. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Owner: means any person who has dominion over, control of, or title to an obstruction. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Phased development: means a subdivision application and preliminary plat that at the time of submission consists of independently platted development phases that are scheduled for review on a schedule proposed by the subdivider. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Planned unit development: means a land development project consisting of residential clusters, industrial parks, shopping centers, or office building parks that compose a planned mixture of land uses built in a prearranged relationship to each other and having open space and community facilities in common ownership or use. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Plat: means a graphical representation of a subdivision showing the division of land into lots, parcels, blocks, streets, alleys, and other divisions and dedications. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Political subdivision: means any incorporated city or town or any county organized and having authority to adopt and enforce land use regulations. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Preliminary plat: means a neat and scaled drawing of a proposed subdivision showing the layout of streets, alleys, lots, blocks, and other elements of a subdivision that furnish a basis for review by a governing body. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Proposed drainfield mixing zone: means a mixing zone submitted for approval under this chapter after March 30, 2011. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Proposed well isolation zone: means a well isolation zone submitted for approval under this chapter after October 1, 2013. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• public sewage disposal system: means a public sewage system as defined in 75-6-102. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Public utility: has the meaning provided in 69-3-101, except that for the purposes of this chapter, the term includes county or consolidated city and county water or sewer districts as provided for in Title 7, chapter 13, parts 22 and 23, and municipal sewer or water systems and municipal water supply systems established by the governing body of a municipality pursuant to Title 7, chapter 13, parts 42, 43, and 44. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Public water supply system: has the meaning provided in 75-6-102. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: means lands, tenements, hereditaments, and possessory title to public lands. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Regional authority: means any regional water authority, regional wastewater authority, or regional water and wastewater authority organized pursuant to the provisions of Title 75, chapter 6, part 3. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Registered professional engineer: means a person licensed to practice as a professional engineer under Title 37, chapter 67. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Registered sanitarian: means a person licensed to practice as a sanitarian under Title 37, chapter 40. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Responsible political subdivision: means a political subdivision that has enacted land use regulations in accordance with parts 1 through 4. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Reviewing authority: means the department or a local department or board of health certified to conduct a review under 76-4-104. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Sanitary restriction: means a prohibition against the erection of any dwelling, shelter, or building requiring facilities for the supply of water or the disposition of sewage or solid waste or the construction of water supply or sewage or solid waste disposal, facilities until the department has approved plans for those facilities. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sewage: has the meaning provided in 75-5-103. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Solid waste: has the meaning provided in 75-10-103. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subdivider: means a person who causes land to be subdivided or who proposes a subdivision of land. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Subdivision: means a division of land or land so divided that it creates one or more parcels containing less than 160 acres that cannot be described as a one-quarter aliquot part of a United States government section, exclusive of public roadways, in order that the title to the parcels may be sold or otherwise transferred and includes any resubdivision and a condominium. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Subdivision: means a division of land or land so divided that creates one or more parcels containing less than 20 acres, exclusive of public roadways, in order that the title to or possession of the parcels may be sold, rented, leased, or otherwise conveyed and includes any resubdivision, any condominium, townhome, or townhouse, or any parcel, regardless of size, that provides two or more permanent spaces for recreational camping vehicles or mobile homes. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tract of record: means an individual parcel of land, irrespective of ownership, that can be identified by legal description, independent of any other parcel of land, using documents on file in the records of the county clerk and recorder's office. See Montana Code 76-3-103
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Watercourse: means any depression 2 feet or more below the surrounding land serving to give direction to a current of water at least 9 months of the year and having a bed and well-defined banks. See Montana Code 76-5-103
• Well isolation zone: means the area within a 100-foot radius of a water well or a smaller, site-specific radius as approved by the department. See Montana Code 76-4-102
• Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203