Øvrebø (municipality)

Øvrebø is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed twice during the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally, from 1838 until 1865, the 398 km2 municipality encompassed roughly the same boundaries as the present-day municipality of Vennesla. The second iteration of the municipality was only 109 km2 and it corresponded to the central part of present-day Vennesla municipality. The municipal centre was the village of Skarpengland. The small village of Øvrebø is located about 3 km west of Skarpengland, and this is where the Øvrebø Church is located.

History
The parish of Øvrebø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). It existed as a municipality until 1865, when it was dissolved and split into two: the southeastern part of the municipality (population: 1,103) became the new municipality of Vennesla and the remainder of the municipality became Øvrebø og Hægeland (population: 1,829). On 1 July 1896 the municipality of Øvrebø was re-created when the municipality of Øvrebø og Hægeland was divided into two separate municipalities: Øvrebø (population: 888) and Hægeland (population: 843).

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the Eikeland area (population: 39) of Øvrebø was transferred to neighboring Songdalen municipality, while the rest of Øvrebø (population: 925) was merged with Hægeland and Vennesla to form a new, larger municipality of Vennesla.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Øvrebø farm (Øfribœr) since the first Øvrebø Church was built there. The first element comes from the word which means "upper". The last element is which means "farm" or "farmstead" (it is cognate with the Dutch language word "boer" which means "farmer"). The name therefore means "the upper farm".

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 Øvrebø was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Øvrebø (incomplete list):


 * 1838-1839: Aksel Christian Pharo
 * 1842-1843: Aksel Christian Pharo
 * 1861-1861: Alf A. Robstad
 * (1865-1896: Municipality dissolved)
 * 1896-1901: Terje Horrisland
 * 1902-1907: Lars O. Røyneland
 * 1908-1914: O.G. Homme
 * 1914-1916: Lars O. Røyneland
 * 1917-1940: O.S. Ilebekk
 * 1941-1945: Anders Skarpengland
 * 1945-1947: O.S. Ilebekk
 * 1948-1955: Torjus Eikeland
 * 1956-1959: Anders Skarpengland
 * 1960-1963: Tellef Lie