Øre (municipality)

Øre is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965 when it was merged into Gjemnes Municipality. The 237 km2 municipality was located south and west of the Batnfjorden, to the northeast of the town of Molde. The administrative centre was the village of Øre.

History
The municipality of Øre was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 September 1882, a part of the neighboring Fredø Municipality (population: 40) was transferred to Øre. On 1 September 1893, the northern part of Øre (population: 226), was separated from Øre and merged with parts of Fredø and Kvernes municipalities to form the newly created Gjemnes Municipality.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the municipality of Øre ceased to exist. Øre Municipality (population: 1,565) was merged with Gjemnes Municipality (population: 697) and all of Tingvoll Municipality that was located west of the Tingvollfjorden (population: 778).

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Øre farm (Eyrar) since the first Øre Church was built there. The name is the plural form of which means "gravel shoal near the mouth of a river".

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.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Øre was made up of 19 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: