Vatne (municipality)

Vatne is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1902 until its dissolution in 1965. The 139-square-kilometre (54 sq mi) municipality included land and islands surrounding the Midfjorden and Vatnefjorden in what is now part of Ålesund Municipality and Molde Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Vatne where Vatne Church is located.^[3]

Vatne Municipality Vatne herred
Former municipality
View of the Vatne area
Møre og Romsdal within Norway
Vatne within Møre og Romsdal
Coordinates: 62°33′24″N 06°38′13″E
Country	Norway
County	Møre og Romsdal
District	Sunnmøre
Established	1 Jan 1902
• Preceded by	Skodje Municipality
Disestablished	1 Jan 1965
• Succeeded by	Haram Municipality
Administrative centre	Vatne
Area  (upon dissolution)
• Total	139 km2 (54 sq mi)
Demonyms	Vatnebygdar Vatnebygder[1]
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1530[2]
Data from Statistics Norway

History

On 1 January 1902, the northern part of Skodje Municipality was split off to form the new Vatne Municipality. Vatne had an initial population of 1,547. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Vatne Municipality was dissolved. The island of Dryna and the western part of the island of Midøya (population: 334) were merged with Sør-Aukra Municipality to create the new Midsund Municipality. The remainder of Vatne (population: 2,260) was incorporated into Haram Municipality.^[4] Since 2020, the area has been part of Ålesund and Molde municipalities.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vatne farm (Old Norse: Vatnar) since the first Vatne Church was built there. The name is the plural form of vatn which means "water" or "lake" since the farm is located next to a lake.^[5]

Government

While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[6]

Municipal council

The municipal council (Heradsstyre) of Vatne was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Vatne heradsstyre 1964 ^[7]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	17
Total number of members:		17

Vatne heradsstyre 1960–1963 ^[8]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	17
Total number of members:		17

Vatne heradsstyre 1956–1959 ^[9]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	15
Total number of members:		17

Vatne heradsstyre 1952–1955 ^[10]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	14
Total number of members:		16

Vatne heradsstyre 1948–1951 ^[11]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	1
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	15
Total number of members:		16

Vatne heradsstyre 1945–1947 ^[12]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	14
Total number of members:		16

Vatne heradsstyre 1938–1941* ^[13]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	10
Total number of members:		12
Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945.

Mayors

The mayors of Vatne:

• 1902–1910: Rasmus Christian Hagen
• 1911–1934: Bernt K. Fagerli
• 1935–1937: Ivar Sollid
• 1938–1939: Amund K. Fylling
• 1939–1942: Jon P. Slyngstad
• 1942–1945: Carl J. Haugen (NS)
• 1945–1947: Jon P. Slyngstad
• 1948–1951: Ludvik Krogsæter
• 1952–1955: Johannes Fanneløp
• 1956–1963: Øyvind Sæter
• 1963–1965: Mads Skaar

See also

• List of former municipalities of Norway

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
2. Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
3. Thorsnæs, Geir, ed. (2 October 2015). "Vatne - tidligere kommune". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
4. Jukvam, Dag (1999). Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.
5. Rygh, Oluf (1908). Norske gaardnavne: Romsdals amt (in Norwegian) (13 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 169–170.
6. Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (20 September 2022). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
7. "Kommunevalgene 1963" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1964. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
8. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1959" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1960. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
9. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1955" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1957. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
10. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1951" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1952. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
11. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1947" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1948. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
12. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1945" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1947. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
13. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1937" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1938. Retrieved 20 April 2020.