§ 18B-703. Merger of local ABC operations.
§ 18B‑703. Merger oflocal ABC operations.
(a) Conditions forMerger. Any city governing body or board of county commissioners may mergeits ABC system with the system of one or more other cities or counties if:
(1) Stores operated bythe systems of those jurisdictions serve the same general area or are in closeproximity to each other; and
(2) The merger isapproved by the Commission.
(b) Appointment ofBoard. Upon merger of ABC systems, the local boards for those systems shallbe replaced by one board appointed jointly by the appointing authorities forthe previous boards.
(c) Distribution ofProfits. Before merger, the cities or counties involved shall agree upon aformula for distribution of the profits of the new merged ABC system, based asclosely as practicable on the distribution previously authorized for theseparate systems. This formula for distribution shall be subject to approval bythe Commission.
(d) Enforcement. Local officers hired by the local ABC board for the merged ABC system shallhave the same territorial jurisdiction that officers for each of the mergedboards would have.
(e) Dissolution. Withthe approval of the Commission, the cities or counties that have merged theirABC systems may dissolve the merged operation at any time and resume theirprior separate operations.
(f) Other DetailsNegotiated. Issues not addressed in this section concerning the merger ordissolution of ABC systems, such as the method of appointment of the mergedboard, the size of the merged board, or the procedure for dissolution, may benegotiated by the affected cities and counties, subject to the approval of theCommission.
(g) Operation FollowsGeneral Law. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the authority andoperation of any local board established under this section shall be the sameas for any other local board.
(h) Agreement for JointStore Operations. With the approval of the Commission, two or more governingbodies of counties and/or municipalities with ABC systems may enter into awritten agreement whereby one or more ABC stores located within the countiesand/or municipalities that are parties to the agreement shall be controlled andoperated by the local ABC board specified in the agreement, even though saidABC store or stores are located outside the boundaries of the county ormunicipality of the local ABC board that will be operating the ABC store orstores that are subject to the agreement. The provisions of this section shallbe effective as to such agreements insofar as is applicable. Issues notaddressed in this section shall be negotiated by the parties, subject to theapproval of the Commission. (1981, c. 412, s. 2; c. 747, s. 51; 2001‑128, s.1.)