New November 2007

Download a free PDF of this guide.

Order printed copies

Contents

• I. Background
• II. Officials
• III.The township board
• IV. Clerk powers and duties
• V. Trustee powers and duties
• VI. Collector powers and duties
• VII. Changing township boundaries
• VIII. Abolishing townships
• IX. Meetings, records and votes
• X. Budgets and the budget process
• XI. Bids and the bidding process
• XII. Personnel and records
• XIII. Nepotism: Do not appoint relatives
• XIV. Conflict of interest
• XV. Township planning and zoning
• XVI. Roads and rules
• XVII. CART funds
• XVIII. Tax rates and calculation
• Acknowledgments

Sample PDF forms for townships

• Resolution for appointment of custodian of records
• Treasurer's report
• Accounts payable and payroll check register
• Notice of meeting
• Notice of closed meeting
• Township budget
• Financial statement and instructions
• Township real estate and equipment inventory record
• Telephone bid form

Related pages

• Local government series

Use our feedback form to ask questions or make comments about DM4001.

Publication search

All words Any word

Rules for Missouri Townships, Second Edition

Eber Cude
Editor

Acknowledgments

This manual is, first and foremost, the work of the late John Ballard. This edition would not be possible without the original manual that John conceived and wrote. One mark of John's authorship is his use of stories to teach. Several of those stories are included here.

The effort to preserve and continue John's work depends on many people. First, John's family led the effort by making his work available to University of Missouri Extension. The Local Government Resource Group (LGRG) within the Community Development Program worked diligently to provide the updates necessary to reflect changes since the first edition and devoted many hours to creating and reviewing this edition. The LGRG is led by Judith I. Stallmann, professor, community development extension, agricultural economics, rural sociology and public affairs, University of Missouri.

Other LGRG members

• Ron Higginbotham
  Community development specialist
  Boone County
• Julianne Stone
  Director
  Local Government Partnership
  St. Louis
• Tony DeLong
  University of Missouri Council Relations
  Tri-Lakes Telecommunication Community Resource Center (TCRC)
  Stone County
• Eber Cude
  Community development and local government specialist
  Pulaski County

We also thank MU Extension Publications, particularly George Laur, Ann Robinson and Dennis Murphy.

Practitioners of local government across Missouri also contributed to the update process. Henry County Clerk Gene Pogue and Texas County Clerk Don Troutman contributed valuable advice and provided samples of forms used by their respective county townships. Ivan L. Schraeder, Missouri Association of Counties legal counsel, St. Louis, provided a review from an attorney's perspective. Many others provided advice and comments that greatly improved the quality of the update. We express our deepest appreciation to all who contributed to the work. They provided the quality, any errors are ours alone.

We hope this effort is useful to those who make township government work. This material is current through June 2007. However, laws change and errors slip into even the best efforts. Always check for updates and changes since publication. The following is a list of useful Web sites for this purpose:

• After the effective date of Missouri legislation each year (Aug. 28) township officials are urged to check the legislature's Web site to identify new laws affecting townships. .
• Some, but not all, changes that affect township government
• Missouri Sunshine Law changes
• Changes in eligibility for office.

Eber Cude
June 18, 2007
Waynesville, Mo.

Townships in Missouri
In 2007, 22 counties use the township as an organizing tool for local government. Township organization is an option only open to third- and fourth-class counties in the state.

DM4001, new November 2007