Ogna (municipality)

Ogna is a former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The 104 km2 municipality existed from 1839 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality encompassed roughly the southern third of the present-day municipality of Hå. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Ogna where the Ogna Church is located.

History
The municipality of Ogna was established in 1839 when it was split off from the (much larger) municipality of Egersund landdistrikt, the rural municipality surrounding the town of Egersund. Initially, there were 825 residents of Ogna. During the 1960s, there were many major municipal changes across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the three neighboring municipalities of Nærbø, Varhaug, and Ogna were all merged into one large municipality called Hå. Prior to the merger, Ogna municipality had 1,470 residents.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Ogna farm (Ógna) since the first Ogna Church was built there. The name comes from the verb which means "to threaten", likly referring to the local river since it has strong currents and it is prone to flooding in the spring. Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Ogne. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Ogna.

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 Ogna was made up of 15 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: