Redesignation of planning regions by the secretary. Procedure. Voluntary consolidation.

(b) Any two or more contiguous planning regions that contain a total of fourteen or more municipalities and voluntarily consolidate to form a single planning region shall be exempt from redesignation pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, provided the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management formally redesignates such planning regions prior to January 1, 2014. The secretary may, in his or her discretion, waive the requirement that such redesignated planning region contain a total of fourteen or more municipalities. (c) (1) The secretary shall, not later than January 1, 2014, notify the chief executive officer of each municipality located in a planning region in which the boundaries are proposed for redesignation. If the legislative body of the municipality objects to such proposed redesignation, the chief executive officer of the municipality may, not later than thirty days after the date of receipt of the notice of redesignation, petition the secretary to attend a meeting of such legislative body. The petition shall specify the location, date and time of the meeting. The meeting shall be held not later than sixty days after the date of the petition. The secretary shall make a reasonable attempt to appear at the meeting, or at a meeting on another date within the sixty-day period. If the secretary is unable to attend a meeting within the sixty-day period, the secretary and the chief executive officer of the municipality shall jointly schedule a date and time for the meeting, provided such meeting shall be held not later than two hundred ten days after the date of the notice to the chief executive officer. At such meeting, the legislative body of the municipality shall inform the secretary of the objections to the proposed redesignation of the planning area boundaries. The secretary shall consider fully the oral and written objections of the legislative body and may redesignate the boundaries. Not later than sixty days after the date of the meeting, the secretary shall notify the chief executive officer of the determination concerning the proposed redesignation. The notice of determination shall include the reasons for such determination. As used in this subsection, “municipality” means a town, city or consolidated town and borough; “legislative body” means the board of selectmen, town council, city council, board of alderman, board of directors, board of representatives or board of the warden and burgesses of a municipality; and “secretary” means the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management or the designee of the secretary. (2) Any revision to the boundaries of a planning area, based on the analysis completed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section or due to a modification by the secretary in accordance with this subsection, shall be effective on January 1, 2015.