(a) Each county in this state whose voters have adopted a charter form of government and the principal city within its boundaries may create and establish a unified government to perform all of the governmental and corporate functions now, or hereafter authorized to be, performed by the county government and by the government of the principal city in the manner and with the consequences provided for in this chapter. The government of a smaller city within the county may initially or subsequently merge into the unified government by complying with § 7-21-107 or § 7-21-204(c). Any municipality lying in two (2) or more counties may unify with the county in which the majority of its territory lies.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 7-21-105

  • Charter: means a document containing a unified government structure, pursuant to this chapter, that constitutes the fundamental law of the unified government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
  • County: means any county whose voters have adopted a county charter government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
  • Municipality: means an incorporated city or town located within the boundaries of a county whose voters have adopted a county charter government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Principal city: means that municipality having the largest population of any municipality in a particular county. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
  • 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.
  • Smaller city: means any municipality within a county other than the principal city. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
  • 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
  • unified: means consolidation or consolidated pursuant to this chapter and that power granted by the Constitution of Tennessee, Article XI, §. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
  • Unified government: means the governmental entity created by the unification of the governmental and corporate functions of a charter county government with the governmental and corporate functions of one (1) or more municipalities within that county's boundaries. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
  • Unified municipality: means a former municipality that has merged into a unified government pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
(b) After unification of a charter county government with a municipality, no functions of the governing bodies of the county and the unified municipality, or of the officers of the governing bodies, shall be retained and continued, unless otherwise so provided either in the charter of the unified government or the Constitution of Tennessee.
(c) After the unification, no officer or agency of the county or the unified municipality shall retain any right, power, duty or obligation, unless so provided either in the charter of the unified government or the Constitution of Tennessee; provided, that nothing contained in this chapter shall impair the rights and obligations of notaries public commissioned according to law by the county prior to unification, and such notaries public shall continue to serve for the remainder of their terms as originally commissioned.
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