(a) All corporate, legislative, and other powers of the city, except as otherwise provided in chapters 30-36 of this title, shall be vested in a council, and the council shall be composed of members to be elected as provided in this section: One (1) member of the council shall be elected from each voting precinct of the incorporated area, to be voted on exclusively by the members of that particular voting precinct, and no person not a resident of the voting precinct shall be eligible to run for the office of council member from that voting precinct. In the event the incorporated area takes in a portion or a part of a voting precinct, that portion or part shall be considered, so far as this section is concerned, as a complete voting precinct. For the purposes of complying with chapter 30 of this title, each voting precinct shall be known as a councilmanic district.
City: means any city or territory to be incorporated that may adopt chapters 30-36 of this title. See Tennessee Code 6-30-102
County: means the county in which any such city or territory to be incorporated under chapters 30-36 of this title is located, or in which the major portion of the population of any such city or territory to be incorporated is located as indicated by the last federal census. See Tennessee Code 6-30-102
Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) If an area to be incorporated, or that has been incorporated under chapters 30-36 of this title, lies in two (2) or more counties, the county election commissions of the counties in which the area lies shall jointly conduct elections under chapters 30-36 of this title.(c) If the area to be incorporated includes inactive voting precincts or portions of inactive voting precincts, or both, the inactive voting precinct or portions of the inactive precincts, or both, shall be included in a contiguous voting precinct. An inactive precinct is one in which a general state election has not been held for five (5) years prior to the date of filing the petition for incorporation.(d) In no event shall the membership of the council be less than seven (7), and in the event there are not sufficient voting precincts to elect a minimum of seven (7) members, the additional members of the council shall be elected at large. Council members from the city at large shall be voted on by the electors in all voting precincts.(e) Any city operating under this charter may elect all such council members from the city at large, at its option. The option may be exercised by a private act of the general assembly providing for such when ratified as provided for by article XI, § 9 of the Constitution of Tennessee.(f) Election to the board of education shall be as provided in chapter 36 of this title.
