Konsmo (municipality)

Konsmo is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The 107 km2 municipality existed from 1911 until its dissolution in 1964. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Konsmo where Konsmo Church is located. The municipality was located in what is now the municipality of Lyngdal in Agder county.

History
The municipality of Konsmo was established on 1 January 1911 when the old municipality of Nord-Audnedal was divided into Konsmo (population: 782) and Vigmostad (population: 923). There were many municipal mergers across Norway during the 1960s due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Konsmo municipality was merged with the neighboring municipality of Grindheim and the Ågedal and Midtbø areas from Bjelland municipality to create the new municipality of Audnedal. Before the merger Konsmo had a population of 712.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Konsmo farm (Konungsmór) since the first Konsmo Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of which means "king". The last element is which means "moorland" or "heath". This name in modern Norwegian would be Kongsmoen, meaning "King's moor". Over time, the name was corrupted to Konsmo.

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 Konsmo 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.